Trenchwork

the Wooly Designs spindle . . . It arrived. It arrived, it arrived, it arrived. (Imagine that with the “white gal can’t dance” jig and you’ll get the idea. Black and white text just doesn’t carry the same emotion here.)

It’s beautiful. It’s got a 4.25-inch whorl:

and a wonderful 20-inch stem which can handle tons and tons of plyed yarn.

And it weighs 2.1 ounces. Perfect! Tracy really did a lovely job on this, and I’ve got to tell you that I also appreciate the bit of metal in the base as protection against the occasional fall. And before you ask, I can also tell you that it feels remarkably well balanced and spins beautifully. Impressively so, in fact. The oversized shaft is pretty perfectly balanced by the larger rim-weighted whorl, and even without yarn or wool, it simply spins forever.

Ok, I’m not excited. Not at all. Nope. I’m halfway through the remaining 4 ounces of Cormo roving, and then I’m going to put this thing to work in a Navajo ply. No hurry.

I wonder if I can finish it tonight . . .

In today’s mail, there was also this:

Usynlege Trådar i Strikkekunsten by Annemor Sundbø. It was published in 2005, and even though this version is in Ny Norsk (which caught me off guard; I’d expected Bokmål), it’s a very comfortable read. She’s included the basic elements of some of the old traditional patterns, but what really appeals to me most is the historical element. I know the book is due to be released in English (if it hasn’t already), and I’m having trouble seeing how well that would work. There’s so much here which is related to the language, that while the book will still be informative, I have to think that it’s going to lose a lot of its beauty and subtlety in the process. There are a few things, however, which might be corrected in the process, such as the book’s observation that “jumper” is an American word for “sweater.” The text has accidentally lumped British and American English together here, and not picked up on the fact that “jumper” is British. There may be some areas of the U.S. which use the word in the same way, but most American use of “jumper” refers to a sleeveless dress, such as you might wear over a turtleneck shirt. Nevertheless, there is much here which really is valuable and downright interesting. Even DH thought it might be fun to read. At least, he thought the historical sections might be fun to read, and that’s the bulk of the book.