Trenchwork

I won’t say I’ve had enough sleep yet—there have been a few extra late nights between the previous post and this one—but I’m getting there.  But dang! it’s hard to admit that you’re getting old!  Once upon a time I could do those kinds of hours without feeling as if I’d been run over afterward.  That has sure changed.

Give me another week and I’ll be human again.  In the meantime, I’m alive and well.  I have one more f2f teaching day, and a few weeks of office hours for students who are panicking as they move toward final exams, some resubmissions of obligatory assignments over the next week, and then exams in the second week of December.  There are a couple of exams to write, and a syllabus to work up, but I’m feeling a bit as if I have a vacation coming.  The ongoing distance literature class is doing fine, and they’re easy.

I’ve finished marking assignments (but not resubmissions), and am taking the rest of the weekend off.  How’s that for impudence?  And with any luck at all, I’ll get that Master Spinner level 1 workbook out on Tuesday!  Cross your fingers; I need to find a box and finish transcribing a couple pages of notes.

Spinning has, of course, been pretty limited.  But I’ve managed to get some singles which have been sitting on the Rose plied and off the wheel.  Specifically, this:

Fiber: 67/33 Corriedale/Alpaca from Kendig Cottage.
Weight: just less than 16 ounces.
WPI / TPI: Skein 1 averages 20-22 WPI; skein 2 goes from 22-28. Both have a TPI of about 10-12 (thinner grist has more twist).
Yardage: about 1150 yards.

This was a lovely fiber to spin, and it’s getting progressively softer as it’s handled. It is also wildly erratic. It’s one of the first fibers I ever bought, and I had intended it for a shawl just for me. I love the turquoise color, and the softness, and had held onto it until I felt I could do it justice.  That certainly didn’t happen, but it’ll be fine anyway.  I began spinning it when I had time a few months ago, but was tired. And I span a bit here and there, over a period of about four months, at a time when I probably should not have been spinning. Or more accurately, shouldn’t have been spinning something which I had really wanted to be very consistent. The end result is that the first 8 ounces ended up being one grist while the other was thinner—and more irregular. The moral of the story is that if you’re overly tired, spinning is fine. Just do one of two things: either spin in your default comfort zone, or plan for a thick-thin yarn.

On the other hand, it’ll work out fine. There’s enough yardage for a top-down triangular shawl where the top is more solid and the shawl then builds to a lacy lower half, such as the Seraphim. Put the heavier weight at the top and lighter at the bottom and no one will know the difference.

There’s one more yarn which I plied off this weekend, but it’s equally full of, erm, features.  You’ll get a photo after it dries.  In the meantime, meet White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.