The Many Joys of Multi-Tasking

Saturday we finally ran the yard sale we've been planning on all summer. Something about getting up that early on a weekend just seems... wrong. But I finally managed it and we got alot of good stuff cleaned out of the house. The Mister may even get to have a dining room again...

Since running a yard sale consists mainly of sitting around explaining why a victorian rocker is worth $30 and not $5, I took the opportunity to do a little spinning. Okay, alot of spinning. It was a little windy out, but I do so love spinning outdoors. Besides the wind, the weather was just lovely - cool and sunny. The Mister was amused at the reactions we got when people noticed what I was doing. Some just stood, mesmerized, watching the spindle spin. Others couldn't believe I was actually doing something so... archaic. ;-)

I finished Yarn Baby #3 late in the day and am I ever pleased. I've managed to get a pretty regular thickness, and it came out to 273 yards (low estimate) after washing and setting the twist. I admit I probably overspun this a bit as I had to add two bottles of water to pull out most of the curl.

It's a superwash wool in the colorway Fields of Summer from Sereknity. The colors are absolutely perfect. It turned into beautiful twists and expanses of lavender, spring green, hydrangea blue and white. Thank you thank you thank you Heather! I love this yarn so very muchly.

















I think Booger approves, although he'd prefer I NOT use his prime sunning area as a skein-winding station.















On Sunday, I started spinning the crazy wool/camel/bunny batts I bought at Common Ground. I have to warn you - this is some seriously fugly yarn. The fibers are coarse, a bit tangled, and greasy (the last I consider a good point). I found it impossible to get a decent, even yarn out of it, so I gave up and went with it's inherent ugliness...















It's the sort of yarn baby that only a mother could love. But it's ugliness is very endearing, don't you think? It's coarse and vaguely horrible... but in a very sweet way.

I'll probably spin the whole thing anyways, knit it up into something sturdy... and felt the living begeezus out of it, hoping to beat it into something like softness.

One can always hope. Heh.

;-)

Hello. My name is Linda. And I am one cheap bitch.

I was just having a discussion on Ravelry with some folks and I realized just how cheap I really am. I'm from New England, and half my genes are from Scotland, so I have sort of an inbred frugality, but I also lived in Maine for 10 years, so I have acquired a "make do" attitude on top of that. So here are a few of my el cheapo responses to knitting and spinning paraphenalia. Please, feel free to add your own...

Nostepine: A super cool way to wind a center-pull ball of yarn, but really, it's just a tapered stick. I use a size 19 wooden knitting needle. I also have some scraps of bamboo that look pretty cool.

Niddy Noddy: Another great tool, this enables you to wind a skein of handspun yarn, and know how many yards you've got when you're done (they come in various sizes, like 1/2 yard, 1 yard, etc. You just count your wraps and do a little math.). Again, it's mostly sticks. I use the back of an antique straightback chair we use when sitting at the laptop in the bay window. It's exactly 36" per wrap.

Stitch Holder: Looking like enormous safety pins, they reminded me a little too much of baby items. Ick. I use scrap yarn. It's cheap, it's recycling, and I can try on the item any time I want to.

Drop Spindle: I love my turkish spindles, I really do. But a spindle is really just a round thing with a long straight thing pushed through it. Take an old CD, a rubber grommet from the hardware store, and a length of dowel. Instant spindle.

I don't wanna complain, but...

I've lived in New England all my life, so I should be used to the changeability of the weather by now. The old adage "Don't like the weather? Wait 10 minutes." is very true here, particularly since I live on the coast. So why is it that I have done nothing but bitch and crab for the last two days because it's HOT? I mean, it's really hot. Like humid hot. Like fall in Key West hot. Like...

...well... hot.

Don't get me wrong - I like hot. Hot is good. But it's almost October fer chrissake. October in New England. Apple picking, pumpkins, leaves turning, fairs...

Alright. You want he truth?

I'm pissed because I put the air conditioners into storage last week.

*sigh*