Home with the Sickies

I'm home sick today. At last count, I am running a fever of 101, chills, pounding headache and mild hallucinations.

Everything hurts. My flesh hurts, my retina hurts, my teeths, even my nails hurt. Yet, I can't let this precious free time slip by without being productive.



It took 3 extra strength Tylenol, a shot of cough medicine and anti-histamine to mustered up my strength but I got this on the bobbin my 9am.

Corriedale Top that I dyed myself last weekend.

Funny how I always find that reserve energy for something I truly believe in.

Now if you would excuse me, I have to go find that left lung I coughed up not too long ago and take myself back to bed.

***Edit to add - As I was lying in bed contemplating whether I should have Benalyn, Advil Sinus & Flu or Nyquil for lunch, I heard a knock. Look what the FEDEX man bought me

Over 10 lbs of fine Merino and BFL roving. I got 5 lbs of each. I was able to find a wholesaler who agreed to sell it to me as long as I buy at least 10 lbs each time. I think I will go take off my pajama so I can roll around naked in them.

A SP surprise

In the most coldest and snowiest (is that even a word?), our postman preservered and delivered this

The smoochiest socks yarn and the book that I have been drooling over awhile. Wow! My secret pal did it again - she went into my head (must be a scary moment) and intuitively know that I have been lusting after this book ever since it was published a few weeks ago.

Oh super thanks!!!!

it goes on and on

I'm not really obsessed, you know:




I can stop anytime I want to...............

It's not like I spend all my time dyeing.......It's perfectly healthy to be this focus on your hobbies .................I am demonstrating absolute normal behavior............

Oh, god, I need more! More, I tell you!

Lady Dye

Well, after enough convincing my hubby, ie: begging, withholding the wifely duty and threatening, I finally put in an order with my LYS for the Schacht Ladybug Wheel. I don't know when it would be arriving, possibly 2-3 weeks? In the meantime, I looked into dyeing my own roving to help take the edge off.

After consulting Ravelry, various blogs and Youtube, I was ready to start dyeing. A lot of dyer uses Jacquard Acid Dye and I have no idea where to buy it in Canada so I settled for Dylon Cold Dyes that you can pick up at Fabricland for 3 bucks.

After reading the instructions from Dylon on how to dye wool - I said to myself, "Screw it, I'll just wing it". Can you tell I'm not much of an instruction follower? I went out to the dollar store and armed myself with squeeze bottles, gloves and a bunch of newspaper.

This is my "studio" - my kitchen floor

I tapped some dye into my squeeze bottles. No science, just tap....tap.....tap. Filled it with an inch of hot water, stir and filled the rest of it with vinegar. And I just start squeezing it on the wools.

No Rhymes, no Reason. It was quite fun.

Afterward, I wrapped it up into a little roll and stuck it in the steamer

Put the lid on and steamed for 30-40 min. Or about that since I was watching a re-run of Friends and totally was not watching the time.

After a while, the whole house smells like steamed vinegar and sheep. YUCK! I will be sure to remember to open the window next time.

Afterward, I dropped the rolls sans plastic into a sink full of hot water with a bit of liquid dishwater detergent and let it sit for 15 min.

After it cools down, released the water and transfer it to a lukewarm rinse water for another 15 min. Having a double sink really helps too

After about 15 min, I squeezed all the water out, ran the roving in the spin cycle of my machine (not for the faint of heart) and hung it on the curtain rod of the bathroom to dry over night.

It turned out pretty decent the next morning. My first three roving:

4 oz. Corriedale Top

2 oz. Corriedale Top

2 oz. Corriedale Top

hhhmmmmm.... I can really get into this!

A letter not sent

Dear IT Guy,

Please rest assured that Ravelry.com is not another fetish porn site. It is an invaluable resource for the fibre enthusiasts. I realized that the abuse of internet privileges is highly frowned upon in our company but I am positive that this website does not contain any viral symptoms that may effect the software of our establishment. The system may sometime possibly become slow or stagnant due to the overwhelming exposure to pictures of gorgeous, hand-painted wools.

However, I can assure you that this will prove to be beneficial to our technologies. I firmly believe that our Servers and Hardwares will be compatible with each other if they are exposed daily to natural elements.

I also would like to point out that daily log in time to Ravelry will result in a more productive and happy workers. Please see our Director of Human Resource (who is also a knitter) for confirmation. This will be the equivalent to the IT department logging into pcworld.com.

I would personally appreciate it if you could re-consider blocking Ravelry from our firewall since over-stressed employees with pointy sticks does not bode well for harmonious working conditions.

Sincerely,
Joy

PS – I would appreciate it if you can re-call that nasty memo sent to my boss about me.

PSS – Also, please tell the IT department to stop giving me weird glances in the lunchroom.

Scratching an Itch

After becoming emotionally involved with a spinning wheel, I called around on Friday to see if any LYS or guild would rent out a wheel so I can play with it over the weekend. My LYS has a Louet Victoria demo wheels which can be rented out weekly. I was ecstatic because the Louet has a similar design to the Ladybug.

I'd also bought this to start me off:

A bit ambitious, don't you think? So, on Friday night, I assembled the wheel and set off to spin armed with nothing else other than my wits and sheer determination.

Four hours later, I had pieces of felted wool flying all over the house, developed a tick in my left eye, and my mother would wash my mouth with bleach if she heard the filth that was coming out of my mouth. At 2 am, I admitted defeat and dragged myself to bed in frustration.

When I woke up, I took a quick inventory of my body. Both my legs were number from treadling (who needs an exercise bike when you can spin?), both of my fingers were chapped and it resembled a 3rd degree carpet burn. I was thinking to myself that this investment on a rental had just saved me $600 because I HATE it!!!!

After coffee, breakfast and a clear head, I figure I will give it another chance. So I drove over to the library. While the kids played in the play area, I checked out these:

After reading a few chapters, I had a "Oh, I get it" moment. So I tried again. Starting with drafting the fibre.
These are from Fleece Artist Merino Roving. Ok, all you spinners out there...Don't Laugh... because at first I was trying to spin directly from the roving without drafting of any kind.

After a while, I was starting to get the hang of it. My feet was able to keep a steady rhythm and my hands were able to manipulate the fibre. Soon I got this on the bobbin:After washing and setting, I ended up with this:
I absolutely LOVE this! Schacht LadyBug... here I come!!!!! Now if only I can persuade Hubby since he is completely convinced that I will hate it!

Cute as a bug

I have a new love in my life.

No, I am not having a hot, illicit affair, nor is it the new Addi Click (but I'm sure I will soon be jumping on that bandwagon anyway) nor is it a rare and exquisite Wollmeise in the perfect colour. No, my new fascination is more weirder than that. It's the Ladybug Spinning Wheel by Schacht

Why is it weird? I mean, anyone who loves yarn and fibre this much will eventually want to spin and own her own spinning wheel. It's a natural progression, right?

It's weird because I really don't want to spin. I am perfectly happy with my yarns that comes in a beautiful wound skeins with glossy labels that I can get at the store. Why bother to stoop and bend over a wheel so I can produce 3o gram of crappy, lumpy yarns? I have always been a secure knitter. I know that my love affair with fibre will always be yarns that is arranged neatly by color-coded shelf in a shop.

I first laid eyes on this wheel in September when I attended a fibre fair. This wheel had just came out and there were spinners test-driving it and oohing and aahing over it. I remember thinking to myself that this is like "the IKEA" of the spinning wheel. It's streamline and it's bright colour attracted me. I started to imagine myself sitting there and miraculously knowing how to use it.

Of course, I have nothing against the old-style, fairy tale spinning wheel. I mean, Sleeping Beauty can prick her little fingers on it all she wants but it never going to appeal to me. Those kind of wheels reminds me of an old-fashion, Dutch Pennsylvanian woman in the 18th century that would use it. For the Ladybug, I picture a sassy, modern woman.

Now, let's get one thing straight. I don't know how to spin. Only came within 10 feet of a real wheel once, can't drop a spindle if my life depends on it (nor do I want to). However, I find myself obsessing and longing for this wheel purely for it's aesthetic qualities.

I wonder if $600 is too much money to spend on a piece of furniture that does nothing more than go round and round?