I had great hopes for quicker progress with this first “real” spinning of the merino, but no. Life is what it is, and I still get in at least SOME spinning time every day. I’m a little over 3/4 done with the last bobbin, and I’m thinking it will take me two more days to get through that last bit. Especially since Wednesday is my late/tired day. That means I’ll probably be plying on Thursday! Yay!
Until next time.
I had a hard time settling down at the wheel tonight. I’m feeling pretty scattered these days, between Mick being gone and his mother so ill, and work being brain-suckingly intense, and a bunch of smallish tasks here at home that NEED to be done that I just haven’t gotten to.
So I just allowed myself to sit and feel restless as I was spinning, and gave myself permission to keep spinning through that. It worked, happily – I completed the second bobbin of this merino trio that I’m spinning now.
The real problem is that I haven’t been doing my morning journaling. Done daily, that’s my best tool for getting my thoughts straight and getting stuff done. I have been worse than haphazard lately, and I am paying the price for that now. SO. Tomorrow morning, I will write.
Until next time.
It was an exciting day today – the Cats released a little bird into my office this morning. I didn’t actually see it then, but there were some feathers in the hall and the cats were in my office behaving suspiciously. So I put the cats OUT of the room and shut the door just in case, so IF there was a bird in there it would be safe, and went off to work. When I got home, sure enough there WAS a little bird. I was able to catch it and let it go outdoors. It could still fly and appeared to be in good shape.
It took me a while after that to get to the point where I could sit down at my spinning wheel, but I finally got there. I spun for about a half hour, and now it’s time for chocolate pudding.
Until next time.
So yes, the 100 Days of Spinning are over, but I am still spinning every day. I am as fast and even now with this merino as I got with the Falklands, and I’m very happy about that.
The only frustrating thing is that I have not had as much time to spin really as I’d like, because life just keeps interfering. But nevertheless, every day I get some time in and I am still improving. My joins, in particular, are getting pretty smooth. At least most of the time.
I’m also knitting away on the Callicarpa scarf with that Falklands, here’s a picture of my current progress.
Until next time.
I’m spinning this merino Fusion at one ounce per bobbin, and I finished the first one Saturday. That meant a nice long session, which was great. Very relaxing.
Sunday, not so much. The spinning was good, but not enough time to suit me. I spent most of the day in the kitchen cooking and getting ready for the week, and now I must go get ready to head over to the Little Yellow Music House.
We have gotten some sad news – Mick’s mom is having serious heart problems and there really isn’t anything they can do. She’s in the hospital and it seems to be just a matter of time at this point. So my heart is heavy. I’ve been listening to melancholy music while spinning because that’s what works right now. Thinking about wheels and circles and spirals and the dance of life.
Until next time.
Who would have thought that one of my very best de-stressers on a Friday night would be spinning? It’s been a long and stressful week, and a long and stressful day, and it was after 8 PM by the time I got home (work then Whole Foods).
When I sat down to spin, my body automatically relaxed into the Zen state I have come to love so much, and all my tension blew out in a big sigh. Wonderful. It was a short session, but oh-so-worth-it.
Until next time.
Dateline: Thursday, day 102.
It felt quite odd Wednesday to spin and not turn right around and blog about it. I’m still not sure if I’ll write every day, but I want you, dear reader, to know that even if I don’t I’m still spinning every day and I will keep you posted on the exciting stuff.
The new commitment I’m making to myself is to keep the daily practice going until I go to John C Campbell in May to take my spinning class. The only exception will be a week in March when I go visit my mother in Texas. I can’t quite see taking the wheel with me!
Until next time.
When I took my spinning class at SAFF back in October, I fell in love. I also realized that this would take PRACTICE. Lots of practice. In order for me to make the potential real, I had to give myself a framework; a space to play and allow my skill to develop. I knew if I did not make a solid commitment to myself, I would regret it. So I picked “100 days” more or less out of the air.
It was a good move. It gave me the incentive to keep pushing past frustration and allowed me to keep a light attitude and keep learning.
So what now? I will keep spinning every day, or almost, because now it’s part of my life. I enjoy, more than ever, the meditative quality that moves me into a better space. I’ll keep blogging about it, yes, because I like blogging, for one. Also, I have learned from other spinning bloggers, and if someone else can learn something from me, or get inspired to hang in there, then GREAT.
My friend Mark asked me to post the “Day 1” photo along with today’s “Day 100” photo, and I’m really happy to do that. I still get a big WOW when I look back at how far I’ve come. Note that the two wooden bobbins are the same size.
Until tomorrow.
The bobbin from Day 1
The bobbin from Day 100
Wow, Day 99. I started this 100 days as a commitment to practice, to learning, to making sure that I gave myself some sort of real foundation to gain a new skill. Showing up every day for the blog has been the impetus more than once to get that day’s practice in. It worked. How could I let myself down, in front of you all?
It’s really nice to have the merino figured out, so that I can go back to longer spinning sessions. No more mini-bobbins and samples. Back to the zen of the movement – today’s session was lovely.
Until tomorrow.
Today I swatched the OMG-it-finally-balances! merino 2-ply from yesterday. I did that before spinning more so I could see how I like it. I’ve found that swatching can reveal things about the yarn that are not otherwise apparent. I’m happy with the yarn as such…you can see that the swatch looks pretty good. The thickness came out at 15 WPI, which is fingering weight, and I knitted this on size 3 needles.
What I’m less happy about is that the gorgeous streaks of color that attracted me to this wool in the first place are completely hidden in the result. It’s a pretty green, but I was hoping for more variation in the final product.
The wool with its pretty streaks
Next I spun 3 mini-bobbins and plied them together to check that result before I settle in to doing bigger chunks at a time. That’s drying now, than I’ll check the wraps-per-inch
Until
