Oh duh

It just struck me that I could put more than one bead on a crochet hook at a time, and therefore speed up the process of inserting them.

I've been knitting the Aeolian, and so far, so good. It requires approximately 2250 beads; the discovery was significant.

The Columbia from AK



Some BFL/Silk that I'm spinning. 4 oz down, 4 to go.

Red garter stitch

I dreamed of it last night... a simple piece of red garter stitch that was so beautiful that I remembered the dream this morning. A piece that you might imagine came from the needles of the marvelous Mr. Flood. That kind of.. simple.

It'll stick in my head until I spin something suitable, until I can come up with the right pattern, until I can turn the dream into reality. Or, until something else catches my attention.

And in that mode, Sherri, Tracy and her blackandredness, AnneK, have been helping me out with another dream; this time some simple, white lace. The longest time ago Sherri have me a partial bag of Columbia fiber from one of Tracy's sheep. I didn't know how to clean fleece, and had no idea how to use raw fiber, so it sat around for the longest time. Eventually I thought.. gosh, what a great piece to start with. Small bag.. nothing to lose.

Pfft.

It washed up sparkling white, and after being carded into the crudest rolag, spun into the most precious little skein of light fingering yarn.

I've been wishing and wishing that I could do some more; thinner, for a shawl.

Initially Tracy let me take all I wanted from a large bag of Columbia, but unfortunately the colour wasn't quite right (tho the yarn will be beautiful one day) I asked AnneK if she had any to spare. Affirmative! She brought a nice big bag of locks to the store on my birthday. Since then I've given it all a good wash and it's dried and ready to go. Tonight I pulled the locks apart and flick carded them.. then spun. I've got a really fine, white single that's looking fantastic on the bobbin. It's going to be perfect.

And simple.

Fiber meets puppy

I bought this from Pigeonroof Studios on Etsy. It's a BFL (my favorite...)/Silk blend. Not my usual choice of colours, but really pretty I thought.



I spun just more than half of it, and left the balance of the fiber on the arm of the couch while I went out to do an errand. (Would you have guessed that it would spin up blue? Me neither)



It was roughly in the shape of a ball.



When I came back, I found this:



And here is the guilty party. Any attempt to resist his powers would be fruitless.



(I managed to spin most of the fiber.. it ended well)

The Year of Estonian/Orenburg lace is turning into...

The year of the sock. The year of fundraising. The year of cycling. The year of knitting socks to fundraise for cycling.

In happy news, there is SOME progress on the lace front. I was able to find a copy of Galina's book from Shuttleworks, and so around the time of the Olympics I spent many, many hours working on the Eastern Star shawl. I think i have 5" or so completed (scoff if you may, that's one crapload of knitting we're talking about there); and tragically I dropped a stitch that ran allllll the way back to where the lace joins the shawl. On that note, the whole project went into the time out basket, and it resides there still.

OK, so I bought an Orenburg shawl from Galina. I admit it. It's fabulous and I love it, and I just saved myself a year of knitting. (It's everything I dreamed it would be and more)

My Estonian shawl (the Miralda) is almost complete, but I ran out of handspun just inches before the cast off. Not a huge problem (thank God), Correna had 4oz. of Bison that she bought from the same vendor as I had, so I have been spinning that to finish the shawl with. I thought I'd DO THE RIGHT THING (cuz I love her) and spin the whole 4oz and return her down in the form of yarn. So.. I need some extra time with that.


(an old picture.. it's almost done now)

As far as lace goes, I did knit Amy's new bolero pattern 'Watershed', and it's quite lovely. I chose the wrong yarn for the project, and the garment doesn't drape the way it ought to. My fault entirely.



Ohhhhh, and socks. I've been contract knitting them left, right and centre. Also, Martha donated a whole basket full that she'd knitted, so a bunch of the money I raised for the Ride to Conquer Cancer happened on account of socks. Currently I'm knitting a pair of yellow ones that I can wear during the ride. At least I hope so, they're DK weight, and maybe a little thick for the job. We'll see. I also have a pair of Casbah socks in blue on the needles, and finished a pair of Silk Garden 211 socks for Donna's birthday.

They're everywhere, they're everywhere.

What else? Hmmmmm... I knitted a Wool Leaves for a shop display. It's kinda cool, and will make a nice lap blanket when I bring it home.



Oh! Over a weekend retreat I knitted a version of Kourtney's "Mistaken" shawl. I absolutely adore it! You can knit it for yourself by downloading her free Ravelry pattern. (I actually knit the green one shown, but the picture is Kourtney's)



Lots of other stuff happening at the moment. My mom is having surgery on June 1 for breast cancer, so I'm going to fly to Victoria for 2 days. Nini turns 3 on June 4th. I have the MS Ride on June 12/13, the Ride for Dad on June 19th and the Ride to Conquer Cancer on June 26/27. It isn't even June yet, and somehow it seems like the summer is half over. To my utter shock, I barely have any more time to train for the rides. Damned blizzards.

The puppy turned one! He's so amazing, and cute, and funny, and sweet, and talented, and did I say funny?



Speaking of SHOCK, it would appear that I'm not going to have anything suitable completed to put into Stampede. I love a rosette, I have to say.

This has not been the year of taking good photographs, so I'll post this as is, and hope that I can fill it in with images at a later time instead of just.not.blogging.cuz.i.have.no.pictures.

Just one more

Ukraine has talent, 2009 winner. A spectacular piece of art and theater; the story of a romance and family and war (at least that is what I see).



I am thrilled to announce that the Tinkmeister frogged my Miralda back a dozen rows or so to discover that I had knitted an extra stitch into the back of a dreaded nupp, thereby throwing half of the shawl off wack. I haven't picked it up again, but I will soon. I've got so many Orenburg shawls in my head that I'm a bit frozen.

This morning I finished knitting a knee warmer.. loads of ribbing, but I thought it would be great. Turns out I hate the damned thing, and I'm sure it'll hit the frog pond. Don't know if it was the yarn, the pattern, the leg it was supposed to fit, or the knitter; but it was a fail.

I've got two pairs of socks happening.. Both have one finished, both are roundy rounds. One pair is nearly finished; the problem being that I keep losing the project bag (that would be the one containing Signature Needle Arts DPNs).. and it is, in fact, lost again. The other is a pair that I'm knitting for myself from yarn that Mandie dyed. Love.them. I've been knitting them on the train, to and from work.



Just a quick note to say that if you're looking for a copy of Gossamer Webs, Shuttleworks still has some at a very reasonable price. When I realized that I absolutely had to have one but it was out of print, I sent Cal a quick email... victory! I knitted the little test shawl and learned so many new things within that tiny little project; it was amazing.



I've been spinning like crazy.. finished the Qiviut (but sadly there are some plying issues with it, and I'm quite sure I'm going to have to do some repair work before I knit with it). I bought some silk from Hedgehog Fibers, and I was really disappointed with the dyeing, so that's sitting in a bag waiting for a re-think (the exterior was spectacular.. utterly spectacular; but the inside wasn't dyed at all)... Also got some SW BFL from Pigeonroof Studios. I've never used SW BFL before, so I was looking forward to giving it a whirl. The fiber had loads of kemp in it, so it was slightly disappointing. The good news is that the vendor had temporarily switched distributors and didn't realize the fiber was of lesser quality, and she offered to refund my money. I like the customer service! Right now I'm spinning Sweet Georgia BFL (sorry Jacinda, my girl, I promise I'll mail you yours soon), and it's a nice as ever.

I was in a brief but fierce race to knit the Knitting Pure and Simple Summer Open Cardigan before Aunty Tink or Munchie finished theirs. Again with the victory. I still haven't wet finished it, but I will.

Loads of stuff on the needles, including a fuschia version of the Camelot coat, some Noro Retro fingerless gloves, and the Wollemeise Glows gloves (I have 4" Knitpicks dpns now, so the fingers are a little less excruciating).

I've been feeling really awful since the I had the hinie in the fall; finally went to the doctor and he's put me on some fierce antibiotics for the respiratory system, and Tamiflu as well. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired...

2010, year of the nupp, year of Estonian, year of Orenburg

Year of crazy?

Of late I've been spinning Bison and Qiviut like a crazy woman, getting ready for 2010. I have almost all of the Bison in singles at the moment, and I plan on plying it with silk (which is not yet purchased.. I don't think I'll spin it).



I've spun miles of cobweb singles from the Qiviut, but I've barely touched it, overall. I have about 80 grams left to do.. the plan is to do 10 grams every day or so, but that hardly explains why it took me a year to do the first 30 grams.



After trials on my new Holly Tabachek Tibetan, on the Golding from Marilynn, and on the Cascade Tiger, I've decided to go with the Golding. It's a bit heavier than I'd like for the fiber, but the results are less fuzzy than with the Tabachek, and faster than the Tiger. My plan is to have all of those two fibers done and ready by the end of this year. As well, I washed about 50% of a Shetland fleece, ran it through the Pat Green Triple Picker, and then carded it on the Strauch Finest. The triple picker made a massive difference in the carding, and it ended up to be a joy to do. I might ply the Shetland singles with a Cashmerino cobweb single that I brought in from Colourmart (Haven't shopped there yet? Why the heck not?)

So it goes. At least that's the plan.

I'm not discussing the Cormo. Talk about your fly in the ointment.

Navajo plying

This morning I found a really great Youtube video of Sara Anderson Navajo plying. Awesome. Relaxed.

The year of Estonian/Orenburg Lace

I thought I'd talk about it, even though putting the intention out into the universe makes me wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

You may know that I've been collecting some Qivuit and that I've been spinning it on a tiny drop spindle (on and off for more than a year). I also have about 5 ounces of Bison that I've been spinning on Donna's Rose. So, here is the plan.

In 2010 I'm going to use the Bison to knit something from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia; most likely Miralda's Triangular Shawl. If that goes well, then I'm going to use all of the Qivuit to make a more difficult, and larger piece. I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but I've been doing some research on Galena Khmeleva's work. (fyi.. If you Google 'Galena Khmeleva Estonian Lace', the 5th entry is a blog post by Aunty Tink. I kid you not)

I am wondering what the difference is between Orenburg and Estonian lace, if anything. Chime in Aunty Tink.

So there you have it. No finished objects for me in 2010, that is for certain. If you were hoping for socks, it's looking poor.

tell me...

Do you have any idea why I have more energy in the afternoon than I do in the morning? I cannot figure it out. I eat my breakfast, I am hydrated, but I cannot get up that hill at 9am. However, at 2:00.. tired and hot-hot-hot, it seemed like it was within reach.

How does this work?

The only thing I could think of was that it might be my BP meds.. so I switched to taking them at night. No difference.


Frustrating. So here's an awwwwwww for us all.



My Glow gloves are coming along nicely; I am just starting the second chart. Also, I've been spinning quite a bit, and finished 100 grams of Fleece Artist Wool/Silk. It's a very manly colourway, so I'm thinking it might be socks for the BF.

Tonight I flick carded and spun a little bit of Shetland that we got while we were at Olds. One lock went so far that I'm currently in fear regarding spinning a whole fleece. I want to knit some Orenburg this year, and I'd love to do it with my own handspun. We'll see.

BFML comes home tomorrow. I'm glad.

Dear Lori:

Did So.

a
xoxox


Now, as a quick update, I reached 52nd St. this morning as I climbed HOME ROAD. It wasn't much of an improvement, but it was a few yards further than my previous benchmark. Now that I have a super fabulous Cannondale Quick Fem 4 (apparently I am SHORT. The bike is a custom woman's frame, and mine is Petite). I'll be going to Bow Cycle tomorrow between soccer games to pick up my new bike (complete with a bell, a water bottle holder, and rack).

Now, I have been doing some non bike related stuff. I've been knitting a no-purl version of the Monkey Sock in STR for the Guild sock exchange in July. One down, one to go. Also I've been having some fun spinning on a new Jenkins Spalted Tamarind Turkish Delight. It's an amazing little thing that spins and spins and spins.

I have to say, that if you are considering a Jenkins spindle, get ready for a lovely experience. I had randomly written many months ago, merely wondering about a spalted spindle. Wanda Jenkins had kept my request on file until one came up, and then wrote to me giving me first dibs on it. When the spindle arrived it was wrapped in tissue, a silk hankie, more tissue and some combed romney. There was a beautiful hand-written note in the package. The whole package was in a bubble wrap bag, and then in a padded envelope. I think the Jenkins' care about every aspect of their business, and customer service is job one. I've been spinning some pink and some blue silk hankies, and having a real ball doing so.

If one could spin and bike ride at once, the world would be a happy place.

PS: I'm registered for Stampede. A shawl and some handspun; pictures to follow.

Maddie's in the bucket

Very, very sad. She came home from the Dominican to catch the crud. (and in no time flat, I might add).

Thought I'd tell you some stuff, and then stop going on and on about bike riding. One thing is that it takes (me) 1 hour and 15 to 20 minutes to get TO work. My biggest fear is to have heart failure on Home road, going uphill. It takes 50 minutes to get home. My biggest fear is to have heart failure on Home road, from brake failure going downhill. Also, it is next to terrifying riding home on the bike path. People are worse, more inconsiderate bike riders and roller bladers and joggers than they are drivers. I kid you not.

But it's better than driving, it really is. Today I saw ducklings, lots of the river, trains, trains and more trains, stores and shops I hadn't seen from the car, lots and lots of middle age bike riders and younger joggers. I know that the roots of trees totally mess up the bike path, and it's a wayyyy bumpy ride; I also know that if you tighten up your stomach muscles that your back doesn't hurt. I'm afraid of a storm on the way home, because I'm totally going to have to ride through it, like it or not. I know it won't kill me. I have ridden on the road for the first time in my life. (Home road again...) I've always been a sidewalk rider in the past.

I smelled lilacs today; several times. Also cut grass, broken tree limbs, a bbq, and possibly a far away skunk.

I made it .5 blocks further up Home road before I had to quit, but I passed a man who was just cresting the hill on his bike. I told him he was my hero (he laughed), but honestly he's my role model. I feel like I might make it one day. That's the goal.

This is really super good for me. My mom didn't drive a car, so I spent my entire childhood on the seat of a bike. It used to feel natural to me, and the bike was an extension of myself. I hope I feel like that again.

All I know is that right now it feels so flipping amazing to be at work on my own power that I could just jump for joy. I spent zero dollars on gas since last weekend, and I hope that I can keep it that way for the entire week.

Now, you thought that was boring.. Just wait. Me and IK are going to start training for climbing a rock wall. I AM SO GOING TO DO IT. Trust me.

In the meantime? I'm going to spin bison.

Sock Summit. (I just had to say that so I wouldn't be the only blogger in the world who didn't mention it)

I must share Nancy Today with you.

I've been keeping her to myself for a while, but it's time to come clean.

She has over 100 YouTube videos, each one better than the last. I can't really pick a favorite, so I'll post a couple that are relevant to my interests. I think you could safety use these videos as instructions on how *not* to spin, and how *not* to card. However, use them as guidelines on how to live your life with joy and abandon.

I'll tell you what, Nancy knows how to make things work. Not well; but they WILL work. She doesn't seem to stop for instructions, she just dives on in.

I think that I'm on my way to being Nancy Today. I'd like to apologize in advance for all the trouble I'm going to cause you.



There are several other parts to the spinning video, but you really get her whole spinning technique in the first few seconds. I love how confidently she makes the wrong adjustment to the wheel over and over again, while saying that she doesn't have a clue what's she's doing. Evenutally she gives up on that and turns the wheel by hand (though she keeps treadling).. I have changed my mind; do try to watch spinning 2 and spinning 3.



Please note. If your vintage drumcarder sounds like this it means that you need to immediately adjust the drums. Nancy's carding teeth are intermeshing, which is never good. Her drumcarder is old and not too fine, but it would do a perfectly good job of carding if used correctly. However, for her use, she's coming up with exactly the product she needs to felt onto soap.

Try not to miss the one where she goes to the dump to get fleece. Or even the one where she felts the soap so well that there is actually no soap left. If you need a little marriage councelling, Nancy covers that as well, but not at the dump.

Medievel Reproduction Spindle

Recently Bess (proprietress of Make One Yarn Studio, spinner, SCA participant, and owner of the worlds' most impressive yarn/fiber stash) gifted me with a bottom whorl spindle that she's carrying in her store. I have not been a great big fan of the bottom whorl, but I was happy to give this one a spin. Bess describes it as follows:

"Mark Shier of Gaukler Medievalwares makes the spindle whorl of lead-free pewter in a hand-carved stone mold. It is based on a spindle whorl in his collection. He is a registered antiquities dealer.

The whorl comes with a hand-finished wooden spindle shaft."


When I received the spindle, it had just arrived from Vancouver Island, so in a day or so the shaft had shrunk enough that I could move the whorl up by approximately 1/4". Since then it's been stable and I'm not worried about it coming off. It's a small enough spindle that I was able to successfully spin in the car as we ferried to and from soccer today. That's big talk for somebody who is spinning silk, has dry hands, the windows are open and it's a bottom whorl. As you can see, all went well, and the cop is on it's way to being full (OK.. that might be stretching it somewhat!).

Some of the reasons I love this spindle are that it's unique and not mass produced; it spins solid, straight, and it doesn't take much room.

I'm spinning silk hankies that Aunty Tink gave me, and that I dyed. I am not really a blue person, but I totally love these.

So there you have it! My first intentional product review.

Look who came home for dinner

Today Opera, Aunty Tink and I took a drive out to Olds College to have a look at the vendor area of the 'Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers of Alberta' annual conference. The vendor area in particular. (though we did take a tour of conference entries, and found some amazing - totally amazing - pieces of functional and non-functional fiber art)

We took a quick tour, and although there were some really awesome booths, noted that only 60% of who we might have expected to be there had actually made the trek. Jane Stafford? Treenway? Not present.

I didn't get too far before I found a purveyor of bison fiber. $12.00 an ounce, I kid you not. There was a great deal of Fleeceartist fiber and yarn there, and I am amazed to announce that only two hanks of merino/silk came home with me.

And then I saw it.

A secondhand Pat Green Triple Picker. Besides being dirty and having a couple of scratches on the upper deck, it's in perfect condition. It came with a grabbing tool of some sort, a leather bib, and the original padlock. However.. no instructions. I asked the lady for her best price, and after and hour of thought, she decided it was $450.00 cdn. I figured that was pretty good, overall, and so the triple picker became mine. I'm so excited.

I spent this afternoon cleaning it up and giving it a whirl and learned that the teeth were too close together. That turned out to be a really simple adjustment, and all is now well. The fiber I chose to test on it was wayyyyy too long, and although it was eventually picked, I would stick to teasing anything similar. I had an undyed lb. of kid mohair that I was absolutely tempted to pick, but decided that patience is a virtue after all. I'll wait.

So today turned out to be more exciting than I had ever anticipated, and I love my new tool.

A couple of poorly executed videos to give you a giggle:





Hey, know what else? I saw puppies. 3 days old. Too cute to register on the cute-o-meter.

If you looked at your queue

I mean really, really looked at it; and ignoring the patterns that you've already purchased, and the yarn that you already have on-hand.. what would you actually knit?

My hair stands on end when I see a few patterns, and so I'm going to call those 'the ones'.. and honestly, I ought to delete the rest of the queue. But I won't.

So here's my must-knit list, as of today.


Tulip Cardi (that just has to be Dream in Colour, don't you think?)


Glows (maybe Claire will take pity on me, and get that colour of WM)


Kingscot (I have the pattern, and the problem is that I can't decide on the perfect yarn. And what can I say? I love a bobble. Me and Denny. We're for the bobble)


Cosima (because I'm just.that.tall.and.thin. or not)


Dianna (Nice name, huh? I want to spin/dye for this shawl.. I think I'm going to make two; a DK and a laceweight)

So there you have it. The list.

Now can someone tell me why I have 4 complete pages of other stuff on my queue? Clearly they are never going to see the light of day.

The boy is in a bucket

Well.. only to his shoulders. Poor guy has the flu.

I haven't heard from Mug yet, she's too busy 'chillin' I understand, but Dida said that besides West Jet losing her luggage, all is well in the Dominican.

Me? I spent the long weekend knitting and carding, and knitting and knitting and spinning and knitting. You can't beat that.

Mary told me that she had Qivuit...

And that she would like to give it to me. I couldn't imagine anybody giving Qivuit away, so I assumed that she had some raw and although I would be so grateful to have it, that it would be a good deal of effort to clean it up.

Today she came into the shop and gave me a little bag with 3 - 10 gram packages of clean, wonderful, beautiful Qivuit fiber. I'm so thrilled. I now have enough to spin for a shawl. I doubt I'll finish it on a spindle, since I how have so much that it would take me at least another year to finish. Maybe I'll see if I can slow my wheel spinning down enough to do right by the fiber.

Thank you Mary, that was a thoughtful and kind gift. I really appreciate it.

More spinning tonight.. I haven't finished plying the last of the Cormo, but snuck 20 or 30 grams of Columbia into the lineup. I scoured and combed it, so I was really anxious to see how it spun. Much softer than I had anticipated, and also, as white as the driven snow. I think I'll Navajo ply it and make a nice pair of white socks.

I did one tier on the Targello deux. I am loving the Noro Silk Garden 205 colourway; it's really bright and beautiful. Very mojo restorative...

It was a dark and stormy night.

Well, actually it wasn't, but it seems like everyone should get to type that sentence once in their life.

This weekend turned out to be especially productive; I can barely remember all the things that I accomplished. Roxy (the pup) kept me up most of Friday night; I was totally and completely exhausted by her whining and crying. She would have liked to sleep on the bed, and I would have liked her to sleep in another city. Neither of us got our way. Eventually I got a few hours sleep, and was about to get up to take Mug to soccer, when BFML offered to do the deed for me AND take both dogs as well. I slept from 9 to 12.. it was like absolute heaven.

Once they returned home I packed up Mug and headed for Make One to talk to Bess about dyeing and to spin for a while. The store was pretty darned busy. AnneK brought in a warm coffee cake, studded with chunks of apple. Did I say heaven?

I don't know what possessed me, but afterwards I started bringing all of my yarn and allll of my fiber downstairs to organize and.. well, spring clean. I've been thinking it needed to be done, but dreading it. Man, what a job. I got to a point with the yarn that I'd think I was done, and sure as crap yet another bag of it would be hiding behind something. In the end my entire upstairs area was sorted out and organized, and all of my yarn/fiber is contained, labelled and, shockingly, findable. It was kind of fun being reminded of frogged projects, successes, failures, plans... I got rid of very little, and realized that I'm missing one skein of yarn.

Silk. Koigu. From our New York Trip. DAMN.

Anyway, we won't discuss mileage, or Rubbermaid totes, or green garbage bags. None of that.

I knitted, I spun... the Cormo basket is completely and absolutely empty. To be honest I never thought I'd see the day, but now that I have combs, the fiber is under my control. The Cormo is about 50% plied.... I wish now that I'd Navajo plied it, because it's thinner than I would have liked, but still soft, still gorgeous. (Yesterday the 2009 hoggetts were sheared. I so want one).

I dyed and dyed and dyed; the kitchen is absolutely resplendent in a rainbow of fiber. Tonight I'll bag that up and get it off to it's new home. I felt inspired, for the first time in an age.

Ahhhh and it was Mother's day. Dida and Ike (and Nini, in a stroller) ran the 5k, so BFML and I walked downtown to cheer them over the finish line. It was such a great thing for Dida.. her first race ever. Later we went to their car and Dida gave me a framed picture of Nini in a red raincoat. It's the best ever.. honestly.

BFML treated me like a queen all day on Sunday, and gave me a reconditioned mailbox that he and the kids had worked on. We so needed it! I can hardly wait for it to be installed.

Seems like this is about enough information.. but honestly there's more! Mug and I watched The Colour Purple together, we had poached eggs, drank Lambic Framboise - not Mug; BFML, I did washing/carding experiments, BFML freecycled and I landed up with a copy of Eat, Pray, Love... the only book I've wanted to review by the time I was reading page 9. It's that good.

etc. It was an etc. kind of weekend.

All spinning, all the time

Since I got combs from Vikingmaid I haven't knit one single stitch. Not one. I keep spying perfect little Cormo locks in the big cloud of washed fleece that I have by my chair.. and I think how nicely a particular lock will slide onto the comb, and I wonder how much it'll fluff up. The first pass is easy, and it seems to get tougher each pass.. yet the more passes, the cleaner and more oriented the wool becomes.

As I work, residual lanolin softens my hands. Piles of fluffy clouds grow.

Initially it was all about spinning, because the combing was awkward (get enough done to spin for a little while and hope for the best). Now, I'm at another place, where the combing is as enticing as the spinning.. and gosh, the spinning is great.

I have a sense of urgency about it because I have 6 lbs. of Cotswold calling my name. 3 lbs. of Border Leicester, 3 lbs. of 17 micron (no, you did not misread that) Merino. I have Targee. I have.. well, more. It calls my name (you might know the voice of wool in the form of yarn, but in truth it begins speaking as soon as the fiber has been sheared); and frankly there are a lot of voices in this house at the moment.

And, best of all? 40 grams of Qivuit is coming my way. I can spin it as thin as a thread, so 40 grams represents a long, long, long spin.

Somehow I need to win a lottery, because the real world is cramping my style. There aren't enough hours in the day.



ps: If you have been interested in Kiva and found that of late it has been next to impossible to find lending opportunities, it seems to have resolved itself. Yesterday I was able to do 6 loans in areas that are meaningful to me (a seamstress, a craftswoman, a weaver, a woman selling timbers, a woman in construction and a blacksmith). Kiva is truly the most sustained fun you can have for $25.00.

Picture? Mug and Banana playing together at the park; the day's last sunlight streaming though golden hair.

Water and more water

Aside from a small bowl of ice cream this evening, I've done pretty well today. My primary lemon loaf supplier was at the shop today, and she was most cooperative! I think I'm going to save her a great deal of Starbucks dollars which can be turned into yarn with the blink of an eye.

I bought a water purifier the other day, and I've been trying to drink a rather large quantity of ounces each day. I made it to the 50% mark yesterday, and was a complete and utter water-fail today. Tomorrow's another day.

So.. if you're a knitter, you might love Qivuit, adore Cashmere. As a spinner? Phew, it has to be Cormo. I continue to comb the hogget fleece and tonight I have enough to spin for a few hours. It's the most yummy, elastic, milky fleece I've ever touched, and I'm having to stop myself from stalking the Cormo farm website looking for a new lamb to call my own.

2010, look out.

Tomorrow two important things happen. Most critical, BFML's step-father is having a triple bypass and a valve replacement. Larry is the best non-blogger you ever haven't read. Maybe when he recovers we can talk him into joining the fray.

(Know what? Grampa is still hanging on. Apparently on the 'miserable grouchy grampa scale' he is measuring 12 on a scale of 1 to 5. Phew.)

And my Mug turns 14. I can hardly believe it.