Last night, Nate and I stayed up really late. He skimmed through the 5th and 6th Harry Potter books,

and I finished off the beautiful roving.

It’s gorgeous, almost velveteen in feel and look, and I’m really sad. I only have 314 yards, out of 8 ounces. I was going for a worsted weight yarn, because I thought the colors would get muddy in a thinner one, and it came out as I had hoped. I sectioned it off and spun the colors deliberately, going for a combination of stripes and splotches. I have a scarf pattern picked, (Fiona Ellis’s school scarf from Scarf Style) which I’m still planning to knit it into, but I don’t have enough yarn. I really thought 8 ounces of roving would give me more than this.

Sigh.

So, I’ve spun everything I bought at Black Sheep.

(Hee hee. I think it’ll be years before Marie can say that)!

I’m dying to start knitting with my new yarn but I think, for now at least, I’m going to make myself plow through the Sea Silk Stole first.

It’s hot. It’s 83 degrees in my house right now, which is a cool breeze compared to what it is outside. By tonight, my house will probably be over 90 degrees.

I, however, am not complaining. I enjoy the heat when there’s nothing I have to do. But it is too hot to clean my house. It is too hot to go to the beach. It is even too hot to knit. As I sat pondering what I could do in the heat, my wheel came to mind, and I’m thinking that it isn’t too hot to spin.

Besides, if you’d been walking by this

(which maliciously snuck out of it’s own bag to lay in plain sight and sing its siren song) for the last few days, would you be able to resist?

I think not.

I am hindered by a sewing injury.

It’s rather deep. I didn’t expect sewing to be a dangerous activity. Aside from the ever present possibility of sewing over my finger, which I didn’t do, I wouldn’t have thought it hazardous. But a random blade on a bobbin thingy bit me, and it hurts.

If it does, in fact, end up being too hot or painful to spin, I’ll muck out my pond.

Actually, I think I’m going to do that first.

I played around with an edging idea yesterday.

I’m giddy.

Speaking of giddy, be sure to come by tomorrow for Health Group. I can’t wait.

Speaking of giddy, Ellen’s Majacraft Rose was lovely last night. (Thanks Ellen)! I spun on it for over an hour. I spun silk, a targee rolag, silk blends, some corriedale top, and some of the gorgeous kid mohair fleece I have. Straight from the locks. I just fluffed them and spun away. It was beautiful.

My back is better. It still hurts and seizes up on me spontaneously, but I’m much more functional now. Thanks for the well wishes.

The shawl is fixed. Hayden was over last night, and I tried it on her again. It was plenty long enough. It’s amazing to me how much difference height can make. So, now I need to decide on an edging. I think the edging in the book looks a little heavy, probably because it’s garter stitch. What do you think?

I could just edge it in the seed stitch on the neckband. I could find another edging (I haven’t had much luck in finding a suitable one yet). Or I could try to mess with the pattern’s edging a little bit. Maybe adding more yarnovers, or trying it in stockinette (tho’ it might roll).

I’m going to Village Yarn and Tea tonight to spin on a Majacraft Rose, to see if I might like the Suzie. I’m very excited. My birthday is in 2 1/2 weeks. Nate and I were discussing the possibility of ordering it early so I could have it on my birthday.

Well, I was discussing it. He didn’t say very much. Actually, he didn’t really say anything at all.

After a couple obsessive days of reading, emailing, calling, thinking, and talking it over, I think I’m leaning towards a Majacraft Suzie Pro.

One of the biggest advantages to this wheel is that the wheel itself, like on my Clemes, is solid as opposed to spoked. So little Clark can play with it (which he’s going to do anyway) and not pinch his hands or fingers when the wheel turns. Plus, as Nate pointed out, it’s a much more subtle wheel than most of the others, and isn’t going to be as much of a draw to kids, ours or otherwise, as much as a larger, fancier wheel would be.

So now I have to spin on a Majacraft to see if I even like it. (And figure out how to pay for it. Birthday or not, it’s a lot of money). I expect to like it, and certainly hope to like it, but you never know. It’s kind of silly to have made up my mind before even spinning on one. But what can I say?

Last night, the mess in the house was getting to me, so I spent between 3-4 hours cleaning it. This morning I woke up and felt so completely free… like the day was open to me and I could do whatever I wanted with it.

So I dug out 4 gallons of paint from the garage and started priming touch up spots.

That’s so pathetic.

I’m excited for Health Group tomorrow. So excited. Be sure to stop by.

I don’t know what to do. I’m hoping to buy a spinning wheel for myself for my birthday in just under a month, and I’m overwhelmed by the options. I was leaning towards the Kromskis because they’re economical, pretty, and spin really nice. But they’re clackity. I think that’d bug me. There are things I could try to do to minimize the clack, and if it works, it’d be great.

However, I think I would really enjoy spinning on something more along the lines of a “precision” instrument. So the majacrafts (rose and suzie pro) hold some appeal. The Schacht Matchless also. And the Lendrum saxony of course.

BUT, I don’t particularly like the look of the majacrafts. At least not as my home wheel. And the Schacht is a honking, heavy beastie. Plus, I think I’d like a saxony style wheel to spin on at the house, and something more portable to take to Madrona in the future, and Village Yarn and Tea every month for the spinning group, plus the guild meeting, plus anywhere else I might take it, if it were easily portable.

Which would lead me back to the Kromskis, but I’m much more drawn to the soft whirr of a wheel and flyer over the

clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety, clackety

of a rattling bobbin.

But, if a little circle of felt would help……

So I go in circles. Over, and over, and over again. It’s making me crazy, to say nothing of what poor Nate is going through when I ask him what I should do, and he makes a suggestion, and I argue it, so he makes another suggestion, and I argue that, and he gives up in exasperation.

All the while, my birthday gets closer. There’s nowhere I can go to try them all out side by side. I don’t even know where I could try a Suzie Pro at all.

I’d be perfectly happy with my Clemes if someone could make me another whorl or two and compatible set of bobbins to give a faster ratio. Then I’d just get me a pretty saxony for the house, and it’d be ok. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

On the plus side, I think I’m getting a new spinning wheel in the near future! Isn’t that exciting? No clue what it’s going to be, but I’m excited!

Wow. I need either a faster wheel or smaller ambitions. It seems a bit huge of a skein for only 348 yards, but I did the math, repeatedly.

It’s 9.8 ounces, and I have 8 ounces of fiber left, plus the two bobbins with quite a bit of single on them. So, without including the wool on the bobbins, at this ratio, I should end up with about 632 yards of yarn. However, I know that once I wash it, it will shrink up.

Am I ever going to be done with this wretched fleece? And what in the world am I going to do with it once it’s done?

I fell yesterday. Slipped coming out of my bathroom. There was a little bit of wetness on the hardwoods just outside of my bathroom (the girls and I had all taken baths) and when my foot hit it, it slipped forward, my other leg twisted under me and I landed both on the hardwood AND the rocks in the bathroom, hard. I’m amazed I’m not more damaged than I am, but my ankle hurts (my spinning ankle), and my tailbone. Ow. Ow. Ow.

I can sit just fine, but any sort of moving at all… sitting down, getting back up, rolling over in bed, bending… Ow. Sucks.

And the kids are home all week for mid winter break. Abby is finally seeming better from her illness, but Veronica has been fighting a fever since Saturday evening. I’d love nothing more than to send everyone away and suffer my injuries in a calm and quiet house, all by myself.

As it is, I think I’m going to cast on and knit some socks today, very self indulgently.

Over the weekend, I carded and spun 4 ounces of my multicolored targee fleece. I wanted to spin a heavy single to knit into clogs in patches of color, but that isn’t going to work, so I’m spinning singles that I intend to 3-ply.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with it yet. I’ve spun the dark brown, and I’m thinking of dyeing the lighter fiber before spinning it up. If I lose patience, I’ll just spin it natural and hope for a nice, tweedy look when I ply them.

I’d like to make a simple cardigan for myself out of it, but it might still go into some clogs and a sweater for Clark. Like a little hoodie cardigan or something.

But today, I’m going to hurt, and knit myself some socks.

I put a gate up today. It’s kind of jimmy-rigged at the top of the stairs because for some reason, that’s the only place Clark wants to go. Once I put the gate up, he still hung out there for another 20 minutes, looking at the stairs. I’m going to need to go shopping for gates. I could use two that will span 49 inches, and one for the top of the stairs that will cover 80 inches. Do such gates exist?

I spun and plied the rest of the 4 oz of baby alpaca from Madrona a few days ago.

It’s thicker than I wanted it to be, and I only got about 100 yards out of it, but it’s soft, and pretty, and I’m sure I’ve learned something from the process, like, I need to keep practicing alpaca. It’s tough.

I survived yesterday. It wasn’t fun, but nice in its own, understated way. Nate was sick, I was tired beyond all reason. I managed to knit on the Silk Stole for an hour. I cleaned much of the house. And Clark slept for a little over 12 hours last night, hallelujah.

I’m not 100%, but I am certainly functioning.

Today I may spin for my new clogs, or I might knit some more on the Stole, or I might go shopping for baby gates and filter media for my fish tank. Did I tell you I got some new fish?

Zuko

Cecily

Zuko & Cecily

and Frank

Frank has been banished to a large vase on the counter until I can get back to the pet store, because he is a big jerk, and I don’t like him. Of course, he’s by far the most beautiful fish of the three. It’s always the way, isn’t it?

We had them named within an hour of having them home. It’s so odd how that works. It took 5 months to name Bridget, and a few weeks to name Ilsa Dear (or, Ilsa Darling, depending on the day). But these three, boom. Under an hour. And they’re perfect.

Well, except for butthead who has to go back to the store. Frank, I mean.