So, after you get your spinning wheel, you won't have to buy any more yarn, right?

Me "Oh....well.....um.....in THEORY......that is.......welllllllll,........no."

Him "Oh........So, it's just your thing, then? I should just get used to it? Like I do with the knitting thing?"

Me "Yeah. It's just my thing."

Him "Ok then."

Damn I love that man.

SO, I'm on a search. A search for my wheel. My very own spinning wheel. A very long search. A search that includes using every possible form of wheel I can get my hands on. It's a hell of a fun search. This search also includes a massive amount of fiber.

Is there anything cooler than that? That's MY DAUGHTER winding yarn spun by me onto a niddy noddy. Neither of us had a clue of how to use the damn thing. I mean, I've seen it used. In THEORY I know what it's supposed to do, but in practice it's a whole other world. God bless the internets. Youtube to the rescue. We watched a little clip, she sat down, and cranked it out. I was still trying to figure out what went where and how and she had it cranking out! The girl has a gift. She's got the Fiber Gift. But she doesn't much care. Ah well. She's 12. Maybe she'll pick things up for real when she's older. She is working her way through the Harry Potter books now and is excited about each part she comes to, so there's hope.

Yes, that's the migraine scrap blanket in the background along with a big ass bag of fiber. And yes, the migraine blanket actually DOES match the babypoop green colored 60's chair in the corner. Yes, it scares me a little bit too.

So, over the last week, I've quite literally spun my ass off. I can say literally as I've lost about 3 pounds in the last week and I think it's because all my spare time has been spent either spinning or prepping fiber instead of snacking. While I can knit and still snack, I'm not coordinated enough to snack and spin. NO FIBERS OR SPINNING WHEELS WERE HURT IN THE FOLLOWING STORY!!! I actually tried to lick up a piece of air popped popcorn (no oil or butter and no touching with the fingers to slime up said wheel) and it didn't go too well. Let's just say that having both feet moving up and down and fingers pinching and gliding and drafting all at the same time work ok, but sticking the tongue out was just one body part too much to handle and the whole thing exploded into a mess. Popcorn, fiber and ME went everywhere. It wasn't pretty. I actually had to pick myself up off the floor. Again, the WHEEL WAS NOT HURT IN ANY WAY. The fiber didn't even split off. I don't have many gifts, but one is an ability to fall down a half flight of stairs and not spill one drop of beer. This must translate to falling off my chair while spinning and not breaking the fiber. See? I didn't kill all my brain cells in college! I saved the important ones.

I've not taken the time to soak and hang dry the yarn yet and am posting pictures much like a naughty knitter that posts pictures of unblocked lace, but dammit I wanted to finally POST something here! I promise to be a good spinner and take proper pictures soon.

Here's what it looked like before.....






And here's what it looks like now...


Orange and Blue hand-dyed corriedale X fibers from yarn school Fall 08. The orange was spun as singles and plied from bobbins as usual. Beautiful. The blues were actually pit plied, but that's a whole other story. I'll post about that another day. Also beautiful. Next is two more bags' worth of the heavenly alpaca from Alpacas in Wildcat Hollow that I bought from Settler's Farm and some wool from Daisy, a sheep owned by Settler's Farm's owner, shown grazing in the picture above.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'll be busy cooking, eating and knitting away! Hope you will be too!

Elvis has left the buiding...and that building...and that one...

Trick-or-Treated with Elvis, a devil girl child, a rapper and a freak, none of whom had to wear coats, so it was a great candy-fun-filled night. At each and every house Joey did his Elvis impersonation shown above along with "Thank you, thank you verah much". At each and every house I laughed my ass off. Yes, I have the sense of humor of a 3rd grader. It's sad. I've learned to live with it. Those around me have learned to ignore it. Pictures of the rest of the gang didn't make it due to tequila technical difficulties with the digital camera.

Let's see, what has happened since my last post? Wow. Here you go:

Did not get chewed on by anything while snorkeling in Mexico. Did have a few schools of fishes swim right around me and slightly freaked out, as they were EATING as they went and I figured if they were eating (there were at least 50+ fish about a foot long and 6 inches tall) something even bigger than them would be looking to eat them too and I didn't want to be in the way. At one point they were all bumping into me and I freaked out so much I picked my head out of the water and just didn't look any more. Yeah, because fish with teeth magically go away when you no longer look at them, right?


Did try to knock my husband off the kayak into the Sea of Cortez. Did not go through with it. I didn't stop because he's the love of my life and my true soulmate. I did it because when I leaned around to swing my paddle at his chest we swayed and I almost dumped my own ass into the water. You can't judge me. You weren't there. You would have tried to knock his ass off the boat as well. Ok, maybe you wouldn't have, but you sure would've thought about it. They don't call it the "divorce boat" for nothing. Later that night (after said husband kissed my ass all night for being such a jerk) this other couple was laughing about how they had "a little tiff" on the boat. Then the wife said to me, "what was that funny name you called Jeff as we paddled by?" I said, "um, well, most of my names started with fuxxing asshole....." "OH!" she said, "No, I think it was something like 'there's no wussies allowed on the sea' or something." I said "OH, yes, that was at the beginning of the adventure." (I think the word I used started with a P, but who am I to argue?)

Did not knit a damn thing on the whole trip. Did actually get a sock out on the trip home, but slept for both flights.

Did learn that digital cameras don't do well after they bounce upon concrete floors after being dropped from the height of about 15 feet in the air while dancing with company bigwigs on a bar. That's why the pictures you'll be seeing here for the next few weeks will most likely be total crap. I can take pics, but can't see anything, if it's focused, if it is centered in the frame, if it's even in the picture. Taquila Technical Difficulties. Enough said. crap.


Did complete yet another sleeveless turtleneck while on my trip to Minnesota. Because a girl this girl can never have too many sleeveless alpaca and wool creations. It keeps me warm and toasty while not making me burst into flames. Pattern is from Stephanie Japel's book Fitted Knits, my most favorite book of all next to the EZ stuff.


Did start a knitting project that has nothing to do with the gift knitting I'm planning on doing this year for Christmas. It's like my brain is in a little time warp all its own. Cassidy from Bonne Marie Burns in cascade 220. Amazing so far and I can't hardly put it down. I've finished the back and am trying really hard to not start the fronts and sleeves until I knit something for SOMEONE ELSE.

Did survive turning 40 years old. Do any of you remember that post long ago of how I treasure each and every white hair I've got because I earned them? How each wrinkle on my face was from a story in my life? Yeah. It's all bullshit. Getting old sucks. But I also did spend a wonderful evening with some dear friends whom I love even more than the amazing knitterly gifts they gave me! Knitting friends rock. They help you celebrate the good, deal with the bad and knit along through everything life throws at you. I love you guys.
I missed you people. Good to be back in blogland again.