Trenchwork

Natalie of The Yarn Yard and Donna of SpinningDayDreams have gifted me with a “You Make My Day” award. How totally generous of them, and nope—I don’t think I’ve earned it. Particularly given the fact that during busy periods I live in a figurative cave and were it not for the occasional blog post to reassure folks that I’m alive, friends and family would have sent Vito to my door several times over. I know I’m supposed to pass it on (although Donna gave me permission to bail on that aspect if I wasn’t up for it [thank you!]), but you’ll have to wait a bit for that.

Things have been busy, but I’ve been doing bits and pieces at intervals. Fifteen or thirty minutes at a go really can add up to something.

Like four full bobbins for DH’s sweater. At this rate, however, it may be his Christmas present for next year. If you’re wondering what the yellow tags are, they’re reminding me which bobbin they are (i.e., which order I’ve spun them in) so that I can ply the oldest against the newest—and actually know which is which.

(PS: SInce I wrote this post in increments, bobbin 5 is now finished and 6 is on its way. You’ll just have to settle for seeing 4. ).

There was a test spin to help a friend figure out the quality of a new BFL source. I made an ugly yarn, dyed it, and nope—I an’t gonna show ya! (Hey, a girl’s gotta have some self-respect here!)

There was some dyeing for new-spinner starter kits.  It’s a good way for me to experiment with dye without throwing away fiber, and since I’m gearing it to new spinners, each dye job for this purpose uses about a dozen or so 2-yard strips of roving.

There was this generic rainbow batch (which is about a third of the batch; the rest is already gone):

There was a dusty rose which went long before I remembered to take a photo (you know those 14 spinners from about a week ago? Guess what they were spinning?).

And there was this new addition (which will undoubtedly disappear at the next spinning meeting):

There was some soy silk, which is slowly appearing on a light Bossie:

and some Bombyx silk which went into the same dye bath and which was spun up into about 150 yards of a thick and slubby yarn:

The grey has made me long for color, and somehow those dye jobs helped, but weren’t quite enough. So I dug out a recent Spunky Eclectic fiber club parcel. Amy calls it “Party Dress” and it fit the bill.

It’s a superwash Corriedale which I chain plied rather badly and still netted 300 yards at about 11wpi. While I’ve been trying to stay in the 10wpi groove for DH’s grey, I found myself spinning this one progressively thinner. Am I the only one who finds most superwash incredibly easy (and impossibly tempting) to spin thin?? I had to remind myself several times to not go too far off or I’d lose touch with DH’s grey; I need to remember how that grist feels in order to maintain it. But I definitely ended up with too much twist in several areas, and wasn’t paying close enough attention when I plied it to keep those kinks out.

I’ve been thinking that I actually haven’t accomplished much on the spinning front lately, other than orientations. Maybe, however, I need to re-evaluate that. It’s amazing what you can get done in 30 minute intervals here and there, or while you’re preparing lecture notes and reading student writing. Those breaks have been worth their proverbial weight, particularly since reading right now consists of Wuthering Heights, Silas Marner, Jane Eyre (are you seeing a trend?), Great Expectations, The Return of the Native, Sense and Sensibility (which finally ends the Victorian readings), The Ghost Writer, and Lighthousekeeping,  along with a small collection of shorts.  For the Americans, we have Mumbo Jumbo finishing this week, and Love Medicine starting next week. On the Norwegian reading front, there’s the last of Kristin Lavransdatter, and Ut og Stjele Hester by Per Pettersson. The good news is that I don’t have to read them all at once, I’ve read all but 2 of them before so most are reviews, and I have only the Americans in class this week and next. In other words, I have a break.

That book chair I found and posted about? It’s perfect!

By the way . . . the Victoria? There is indeed a new-to-me oak version (thanks to Bizyhands on etsy) sitting politely in a quiet corner in Atlanta, awaiting my arrival in June.