Hello!
I know, I started up this blog and then fell off the face of the earth. The thing is that I got really sick. *Really* sick. I was in bed for 5 days. For other mothers out there, you know what that looked like; I had to try to parent from bed with a headache, dizzy, nauseated, lethargic, etc. The second day my eyes hurt so much that I was essentially blind. (My eyes were strained and looked, and felt like, those cartoons with the torpedo shaped eyes.) It was a miserable week. Also, because I was having to parent from bed, it takes longer to recover from an illness as I can't truly rest. So I was slow going for days afterwords while also trying to play catch-up with all the chores.
Fast forward.
Everything is back to just the normal chaos now. Trying to get my homeschooler to do his schoolwork. Trying to get my 1st grader to do his homework and shoo him out the door. Trying to keep my preschooler from breaking everything in site. And of course I have a project to focus on to keep my sanity.
My big project right now is a spinning project. I am part of Spin A Pound, Get a Pound on Facebook. Essentailly growers and spinners meet in the group, "growers" will offer fiber that needs some work (washing, picking, preping, spinning, dying) and "spinners" will do the work and be paid in a portion of the fiber. What needs to be done and percentages vary depending each deal and is worked out between the grower and spinner.
I am working on a deal with spinning California Red wool and haucaya alpaca seconds (shorter fibers). When I got them they were washed and picked clean (all the seeds and grass, etc, removed.) I then fluffed up the fiber and ran it through the drum carder. Then I blended the two fibers together to make blended batts. It sounds fast, but it isn't really. It took several hours watching tv to open up the matted (from washing) fiber and then several hours in front of the big machine to get the final blended batts. I then weighed the fiber and separated them into 50g bags. Each bag I will spin onto a spool and then I will ply two spools together for the final yarn in 100g skeins.
Then I did a little test min-skien. The first fiber came out too thick (left sample), she requested fingering weight, so I adjusted my wheel and drafting style. I then came up with the right size (right sample). Then I started spinning and spinning and spinning. It is hard to describe how relaxing spinning is. It is very calming, relaxing and meditative. When watching another spinner working just the rhythm is mesmerizing. There is a draw back, however. I found that when I was spinning all day and stopped occasionally for other household chores (entertaining my preschooler, making lunch, fetching the kiddo from school) I was in a sort of trance. lol I need to be careful of how much spinning I do during the day!
Here's what I have done so far. I'm just about half-way through the fiber. I already have plans for some of my share of the fiber. My husband has requested a special geeky dice bag. When I write up the pattern I will tell you more about it! I hope to have it done later this month. :) Now I have to go spin some more so I can get to use my yarn!
In other news, I finished another audiobook in my series while I was in bed and later at my wheel. It was Crossroads at Twilight, part of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Listening to an audiobook is a lovely accompaniment to any household chore or creative outlet. :D The mind is engaged while the hands are working. I love the epic fantasies that keep going and going and going...
