it’s beginning to look a lot like …..

Posted by ann

Happy Birthday to Me.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to Me.

huh?

That’s right, the time for celebration has arrived early here at Chez Swine. Christmas isn’t for a month or so and my birthday doesn’t arrive until January, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get presents!

My bff Mary sent me a combo bday/christmas gift and it arrived yesterday. Much sooner than she anticipated actually. That’s okay, it only makes it all the more surprising!

And you my dears will not believe your eyes. Mary was guided by a good friend of hers who is a spinner/weaver. She asked this sage women what would be an outrageous thing to get for a fellow spinner and this is what she said …..

how about a peek inside the bag

yeah, baby! that’s right – two ounces of Qiviut! I just about plotzed.

Mary ordered this from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station. It is raw fiber with some guard hairs mixed in, so I will be taking this along to my next guild meeting to see what the spinners recommend.

don’t you just love the holidays?

Rhinebeck – The Fiber

Posted by ann

Before the trip, I took stock of my stash and made a solemn vow to NOT BUY YARN. I made good on that pledge and am quite proud of my restraint.

I also decided to try and buy rovings that pushed my color palette. When it comes to choosing rovings, I have to remember that colors which may seem too bright in roving form, will look lovely when they are spun. So without further ado ……

cloverleaf farms
blue face leicester

Shadeyside Farm
fine wool top

Maple Row Stock Farm
border leicester

Abi’s Web
merino~silk

indigo moon farm
alpaca~merino~silk

going my way?

Posted by ann

Did you know that I’m the kind of savvy shopper that will buy a car because I like the cup holder? That I may do some comparison pricing, but no matter how much research I do ahead of time, the cup holder will get me every time?

At some point last year I read an article about a spinning wheel, The Merlin Tree HitchHiker. Blah, blah ratio, flyer, compact, blah …. what immediately caught my eye was the cute little foot shaped treadle and the hitching thumb cutout for a handle. How cute is that?! When I saw them at Rhinebeck, I knew I had to at least try one.

And so I did. And I thought, “wow, I like the way it spins!”

And then I thought, “Ann, you are a goofball, you just want the foot treadle.”

And right at that very moment Carol & Ricki, two very, very advanced spinners from my guild who are much more scientifically minded than I, happened to come along. They too wanted to try the wheel. Sure they liked that foot/thumb thing. But they had questions. Real questions. Parts were discussed and tried. And tried again. And then tried some more. More questions. More happy answers. After about an hour of rigorous testing, Ricki & Carol proclaimed it divine.

That was enough for me …… I bought a foot/thumb thing of my very own!

Did you think that was the end of my story?

….. Ricki ordered a left treadled model and Carol bought one too. Carol had the brilliant idea to ask Dave if he signs the wheels. He was more than happy to oblige and said he had never been asked before.

Naturally, I needed a signature too. Pen in hand, Dave asks my name and then if I put an ‘e’ on the end. I tell him no, no e, but I’ve always kind of wanted an e. And then he says, “Just like Anne of Green Gables”.

and then I fell in love just a little.

how about a nice cold one?

Posted by ann

I got some good spinning done yesterday. I thought I had better concentrate my energies on getting some twist into all of this roving I have before it’s time for Rhinebeck!

So anyway, I keep my wheel in our basement. When we bought the house, we had A Very Brady Basement, all bright orange and brown. Boar and I refinished it a few years ago. New paneling, floors etc. and it is really nice down there now. There is a bit of a mini kitchen and Boar has his beer on tap. His keg is very close to my wheel. As these things often go, my craft starts to take over.

I hope you can tell that I am only guilty of keg proximity – I did not drink and get behind the wheel!

fyi – Boar has a collection of beer paraphanalia – he does not have Shlitz on tap. That is an antique tap handle. There’s Killian’s in there at the moment!