Too Much Wool

festival

If I had to explain you wouldn't understand

All the responses to yesterday's post really surprised me. I wrote it quickly, just musing on one brief thought I had had during the day, but it seems that a lot of people out there either want to spin and don't know any spinners, or learned alone.

Although I don't belong to one (yet?) there are spinning guilds all over the place, and one way to find out about them is on Spin Off's Spinning Groups and Gatherings Page. It's somewhere to start, at least. I'm sure that there are many more informal groups scattered around as well.

If you're not interested in spinning, I suggest you might want to absent yourself for the rest of the post. This is all going to be very wooly and kind of hardcore spinner stuff.

If you're just starting out spinning and think that you don't want to buy fleece or deal with fiber processing, this is most likely of no interest to you.

I've been doing some combing. I got my combs, had a fabulous zen moment, and then didn't pick them up again until just the other day. Mostly I was held back by the need to wash some fleece, which I was avoiding like the plague. That, and the reality that I barely knew what I was doing with them. I'd seen a lot of written descriptions, but I really needed to work with them and figure out the way to get the best results. With my combs and my own two hands.

I started out with the Peter Teal book on Woolcombing. Its probably the most complete thing you could possibly read about combs and the whole process of making really consistent fiber preparations using combs. Lots of information, but possibly too much for me right now. I'm sure it didn't help that I read it mostly right before bed, hoping no doubt that some of it would stick in my subconscious. There's a short and simple section in High Whorling by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts that gives the barebones basics - peasant combing. Alden Amos also gives nice descriptions of both worsted combing and what he calls rough combing in his book.

However, if you're into serious woolporn, you might want to continue this in private.

I managed to turn this (raw fleece that I bought at Countrywool):

Into fluffy white washed fleece that looked like this:

and also like this:

Until I combed it on my wonderful combs and it turned into this:

And when I was done for the day (more or less), I wound up with this:

[Daughter shown for proportion only.]

I've been assured by those who know (mostly Claudia, but there were others as well) that eventually I'll get over the whole from-fleece-to-yarn/shawl thing and send fleece out for processing. Once I get it out of my system.

Obviously, I'm not there yet.

spinning solo?

I taught a couple of quilting classes yesterday, and one of the people in my class is someone who I'd consider an experienced quilter, dollmaker, and costumer. I was talking to her about my spinning (I knew that she's also a knitter) and she got excited. It seems that although she finds spinning fascinating, she's only ever known one other spinner before.

Now, this suprised me. If you're a knitter who doesn't personally (as in, in 'real life', locally or otherwise in person) know someone who is a spinner, I'd be interested in hearing about it. I assume that the spinners out there all know other spinners, but then again, I'd be curious if you're a spinner without any other spinners nearby.

Or are you someone who thinks spinning sounds interesting but are waiting for a chance at hands-on instruction in learning how to spin?

I guess I'm just wondering how many of us are doing this in a vacuum, more or less.

It has nothing to do with recruiting, really.

Really.

And speaking of not recruiting (it just happens by osmosis):

I got up this morning and saw these two posts by Cara and Jody.

a little bit of Peru

[A few thoughts from my daughter about her visit to Machu Picchu.]

I was really lucky to be able to go, because I had been really sick the day before. I was really glad that I recovered enough to go. We took a train and a bus to get there, but it would have been really cool to hike the Inca Trail instead. The landscape is as gorgeous as the ruins are.

Don't believe anyone if they tell you its always cold up there. It was hot the day we went, but everyone had packed warm clothes, which we wound up stuffing into a locker. There were tons of tourists.

Machu Picchu was never discovered by the Spanish, which is probably the reason that so much is intact. They still don't know exactly why it was built, but they think that rather than being just a village, it had a specific use.

There were maybe 6 or 7 llamas in total, and none were in the area of the ruins where all the people were. I think they belonged to someone and they were just grazing there, but there was no one there herding them when I saw them.

In Peru museums and other places don't have as strict rules about what you can and can't touch as we do here. There were only a few places that were roped off and where visitors were not allowed to go. They were trying to preserve the grass from getting trampled, and one area may have been a graveyard.

This was my favorite place on the mountain, because there were fewer tourists up there and the view of the site was great. It was up on the step terraces above Machu Pichhu. I'm standing on a step that's part of a step terrace; each step is about five feet high.

prepare for re-entry

I've had a really busy few days.

My daughter returned Thursday night, and then we spent most of Friday running around, getting film developed, and then visiting with family over dinner to hear stories about Peru.

Saturday morning Juno and I drove north to attend a gathering of knitters, spinners and bloggers (as well as one blogless one). It was a wonderful gathering of minds, hands, and laughter at Claudia's house. It was a first time meeting for many of us, and then there were the old friends to get reaquainted with. Claudia's margaritas are justifiably famous, and Rosemary's cupcakes...... mmm, chocolate.

Sitting in a room full of spinning wheels and just hanging out and spinning with knitters and spindles and good food and wonderful people was an amazing experience. I've hardly taken any fiber-related classes, but I can't imagine being nearly as relaxed in a class, or having as much fun shopping at a festival, as I did just enjoying the company of so many people while doing things we love.

I finally got to meet my good friend Laurie in person. We stayed with her on Saturday night and got a chance to get aquainted face to face, which was wonderful. Laurie took some wonderful pictures of the gathering, while I managed to have so much fun that my camera never got touched.

Sunday involved lots more spinning, wonderful food, perfect weather, and then one of the worst accident-related traffic jams I've ever had the displeasure to get stuck in.

I've spent a lot of time since the weekend trying to figure out what to say about it. At first I was mildly depressed on the drive home (being stuck in traffic for 2 hours will do that) and then the less-than-thrilling re-entry into normal life. Dirty dishes. No rooms full of friends. Spinning alone.

It took me a little while to realize that even the most perfect fiber party was exciting because it lifted me out of the ordinary. I felt sorry for myself, thinking that maybe moving to Massachusetts was a solution of some kind. Then I realized that what makes an event like a party special is the extraordinariness of it. Even the Mass. people don't do this all the time. So as much as I miss everyone (more! soon! again!), part of what made it so special was being lifted out of ordinary routine. Well, that and an absolutely amazing group of people.

Since so many people have asked, here is a picture of me with the orange Leaf Lace shawl. I have to admit, when I wrote yesterday's post, I hadn't yet unpinned the blocked shawl. Because the Louet Gems yarn is a superwash wool, it did spring back quite a bit after blocking. The shawl wasn't too big, and the size, although larger than Cari's shawl by a little, was just about perfect. I'm happy with it and even got to wear it a bit in Mass. over the weekend, while enjoying two wonderfully cool evenings.

some shawls are bigger than others

I finished!

Here's the Leaf Lace Shawl pre-blocking:

Please note the poochy-looking point at the top middle, where there should be no point. It seems my gauge started out loose and got tighter as the shawl progressed.

However, behold the power of blocking:

Single foot provided for perspective (women's size 7).

I had intended for this to be a small shoulder shawl, but got overly enthusiastic with the main lace chart and couldn't stop.

Cari's shawl size was what I was aiming for. I used the same yarn as she did, but used a smaller needle size, wound up with a tighter fabric, and used way more yarn than she did.  But, it being all about the process and all that, I'm fine with it.

And yes, I know its orange.

Machu Picchu

she's back

She's back. One of the first things she asked was if we had Harry Potter, and we had it waiting on her bed for her, along with a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. She's on the phone with my aunt, the one who sent her on the trip.

You can't see it, but her shirt says 'Te Amo Peru' on it. And there are treats and beautiful things (no spindles, alas), but they'll have to wait.

We've got a lot of catching up to do.

something to look forward to

I think I used up a whole bunch of my bad karma allotment on Wednesday.

It was the second day Bloglines decided to ignore me for at least 12 hours after I posted. Which is all well and good because I'm all zenlike and I just do this for my own health and sanity and not the attention, right? Right?

I lost my glasses. This lasted for about 15 minutes, but resulted in tears, because I was totally and completely helpless. Without my glasses, I can't find my glasses. Normally, I just call for help. Wednesday morning, I was alone in the house. I finally found them on the floor, where they had dropped from the mantle of the china cabinet. Thankfully I hadn't stepped on them.

I think I killed a spider by turning the A/C on. The air conditioner vents onto the deck and the chair with Arachne I's web on it was directly behind the AC. If I didn't kill her, I mightily pissed her off. It was hot enough out there to melt things, and it destroyed her web. Mea culpa.

I walked to the train. There was a problem, brakes, switches, I don't know. I had to walk another 5 long-ass blocks to the next stop. It was 9am, and it was over 80 degrees.

I went bra shopping. I don't want to talk about bras. I'm 37, I nursed for 3 full years, and I. am. not. going. to. talk. about. bras. Ugh. Is there anyone else out there who doesn't want FOAM under their shirt? Please? Tell me I'm not the only one.

I'm torn - I have nothing to show, progress wise. Does anyone want to see a picture of a bobbin full of wool/mohair? 2" of progress on a sock? Most likely, not. But I have nothing else to show.

PMS. Need I say more?

On a happy note, I can say that the weather has kinda sorta broken. It got up over 90 today, but the sticky mass of humidity was less massive and sticky and it was possible to both walk and breathe at the same time.

Cara has caved, in record time. I don't even know what happened there, its all a blur. If I were the betting type, I'd put money on Colleen being the next one to go down.

Norma is knitting lace. She needs to Spin On the Wheel, but other than that, we can all be pleased with her progress.

I got some bunny balls in the mail. They're a color that I'm not talking about on the blog for a little while. But I love them and they're making me happy.

Jon brought home a new window fan and a new air conditioner. All I think about anymore is air; moving it and cooling it. Otherwise the woolplay .... is torture.

My daughter is returning home from Peru tonight. Send good airline and customs thoughts, she should be arriving around 7:30 EST. I'm hoping that whatever bad luck was floating around in the family, I got all of it yesterday.

I'm hoping that sooner rather than later, I can return to knitting, wool, talking about knitting and wool and spinning, and regale everyone with wondrous tales of my daughter's adventures in South America. With the llamas and the alpacas.

I'm sorry that there are no pictures. Posting with no pictures is blogicide. But 2" on a sock isn't enough to even take the camera out for.

how hot is it?

Wilted greetings from the Wool Cave.

Its hot here. I'm sorry, its really, really hot. I don't want to try to be dramatic and I don't want to compare things here with things elsewhere (I've lived in Houston, TX) but its HOT here right now. It's almost 10pm and almost 90F/30C degrees without the humidity figured in. And tomorrow? 92F/33.3C.

So. Tuesday. Its HOT and I spent the day in a car, driving to New Jersey. I love my friends in the lovely Garden State, but folks? Jersey City? In 90+ degree weather? Not so lovely.

I went with a quilting and knitting (non-spinning so far, but I taught her to knit) friend and we were on a quest. It was at the very least 92F/33C out and we were on a quest. For what? Well, quilting fabrics. And fiber stores where they sell wool. Because it was so damn hot that somehow, someone thought this was a sensible quest.

She enticed me by the offer of a trip to Aunt Jean's Handicrafts in Clinton, NJ, a place that Beth had told me about. Now, please note that Beth thinks she doesn't have a blog. Beth has a webpage with pictures of her projects in progress, FOs, links, 100 things, and even her email address. But it is not a blog. Don't ask me, its too hot. Go over there and ask Beth.

Aunt Jean's is a spinning/weaving/knitting shop in Clinton. It has yarn, looms, wheels, yarn, books, pattern, magazines, books, yarn, and accessories (did I mention books? yarn?) and no internet presence. We fly out to NJ, get out of the car in sweltering weather, and the sign on the door says "July Yarn Sale 10% off" or some such. Ok. 92˚. Wool on sale. Nice.

I was really really good. I bought two old issues of magazines, a book, and two skeins of sock yarn. Because sock yarn is what you buy when there's no real need to buy wool. I would have bought some Zephyr but they didn't have my color. Because laceweight is the other fallback yarn category. My friend, she bought a LOT more wool than me. Which was fine, because she owns a lot less.

Then we went to a quilt shop, ate lunch, and being somehow lulled into some kind of daze by the heat, we then drove 10 miles out of our way to ANOTHER quilt shop,  while making a wrong turn and wasting extra minutes in the heat. In the car. In New Jersey. Buying.... things to use to make things to keep you warm.

Ponder that one fact, please. Things to make things to keep you warm.

Ok, so while squirming, even in a car with air conditioning, and driving all over creation in search of .... things to keep me warm, I managed to lose whatever sense of resolve I had ever had about stash/rational/practical and and I bought these:

Because geekiness just is 1840s chintz repro fabric. Right?

I came home and spun some of my Icelandic/Mohair blend roving from Aboundingful Farm Fibers, bought in Maryland. Icelandic wool and mohair plus hot weather - not so good. At some point Jon got distracted from Harry Potter and pointed out that there was furry gray fuzz all over the couch and his black shorts and.... and I pleaded ignorance.

Gray? Fuzz? Fiber?

Honey, its hot out. I have no idea what you're talking about. Really.