Month: July 2010

My old boss, Moe, used to tell me he was afflicted with this “Refrigerator Blindness” disease.  It’s when you look in the fridge for the mayo and it’s right in front of you but you don’t see it.  I suffer from this.  Let me explain.

A few weeks back, I decided to order myself a new flyer and bobbin for my wheel.  I was so excited.  BUT, remember from my last post that I thought this was a woolly winder right?  Well, anyway, this new stuff arrives maybe three weeks ago and I’m ecstatic about this new toy of mine.  Then I discover this!

Ok.  Fine.  I’ll figure this out.  I try to pop out that little black thingy in there.  No go.  I e-mail the store I purchased this from and she says “No problem.  We’ll order you a part for it asap.”  I’m feeling a little bit better now.

My mother has an appointment in Ottawa on a Monday a few weeks ago.  The office where she goes is only a few blocks from the yarn store I got the equipment from.  So, I ask her to pick up this new little piece for me… oh, and a new set of circular needles for me.

Mom goes to the store.  They’re closed on Mondays.

On Tuesday, I call the store and ask them to mail me this little piece + a new set of circs I plan to use to make two socks at one time.  No problem.  She’ll take care of that right away.

I wait.  And wait.  And wait.  How long does it take to get mail from Ottawa to Cornwall?  I figure maybe a week right.? Not so much.

Finally, yesterday, which seems like and eternity later, my package arrives.  YOUPI!  I get it all set up and I’m all excited.  I take the flyer and the bobbin out of the box and what do I find right there in the bottom of the box in a little bag (which I totally looked at when I opened the box the first time)???

I am such a PUTZ!!!!

Oh well.  All is well.  I think I have to replace the drive band on my wheel ’cause the flyer and bobbins are really huge.  I’ll have to make a shorter one.  Maybe the girls can help me with that today at spinning.

I also got to play with my carder this week!  I took it outside, cleaned it, oiled it and then mixed a couple of colors together.  It’s not a fancy carder and it will never do fine fibers with the drum that’s on it now.  But, I’m happy anyway because it works and it’s another toy for me to play with.

It was fun.

On another note, I’m totally neglecting my knitting!!!  I have three projects on the go.  Genny’s socks are almost finished.  I haven’t worked on my Pucker in a week.  I also started some baby socks out of the Knit Picks I had left over from my TreeFrog socks from a few weeks ago.

I finished Stephen King – On Writing yesterday.  Very interesting.  I went for a walk to the library a couple of days ago on my lunch break and got three used books by Stephen King at the “Friends of the Library” for $6 total.  What a deal.

Last night, I started Eat, Pray, Love.  I saw the commercial for the movie and knew instantly that this was going to be one of my faves.  THEN, I heard it was based on a book.  Apparently, I live in a cave because it’s been out for years.  Either way, I’m going to read it before the movie comes out.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s a good idea to read a book before you see the movie.  Does it set you up for disappointment?  The movie is NEVER as good as the book… with the exception of The Green Mile and The Kite Runner.

Oh well, time to go spinning now.

It’s been forever since I’ve blogged.  Think I should fire myself?

Seriously though, I don’t know where the time goes.  It’s July 24th today and I feel like July 1st was just last week?  Did someone hit the fast-forward button when I wasn’t looking?

I’ve worked a lot in the last couple of weeks.  BUT, I’ve managed to do a few things that I’m pretty excited about:

I went zip-lining with Jacob and my father (63).  We had such a blast.

This was a giant deal for me because I don’t like heights.  Youpi for me!

I managed to figure out that the piece I bought for my wheel, which I thought was a “woolee winder“, is actually just a travelling flyer and bobbin.  Those two things are apparently very different.  I don’t think I wasted money.  I’m sure this new flyer will work much better than the ones I have – plus it actually has different ratios.  (I think I just  sort of figured those out: big is faster, small is slower.  I could be wrong though.)  PLUS, the bobbins I got are enormous.  I find that I run out of room on my little bobbins quite often.

I spun some Coopworth.  I think it turned out awesome.  I put a lot of spin in the single so that I could get a tighter ply.

How cool is that??  I made that!!

I went to my (awesome) friend Bonnie’s last week to use her English Combs (which I’m going to save my birthday money for).  I also used her drum carder (an electric one – mine is hand-cranked and I haven’t tried it yet).  I made some combed roving and some carded bats.

These are the combs:

They are so threatening that they won’t let you see the actual teeth in the picture.

This is Bonnie’s carder:

This is my carder:

Anyway, the combed roving turned out way better… I find.

This is the carted bat and the spun result:

I know it’s hard to tell the difference but, I can tell.  The carded bat has more neps.  I don’t know that the combed stuff had any neps in it.  I probably wasted more wool with the combs but the result is more pleasant.

I also managed to do this while I was trying to ply:

TIP:  Don’t try to make a center pull ball with a rolled up piece of paper.  It eventually starts to collapse so that the outside stuff scrunches up the inside stuff and you get the above mess.

On a knittier-note, I’ve been working on socks for a friend’s wife.  I’ve been commissioned.  Genny has giant feet so I was somewhat worried about running out of wool.  I weighed the first sock and the rest of the wool and, according to my calculations, I will have plenty.

And, all the while trying to work on my Pucker.   I had it done to 13 inches, almost ready to start that funky chest thing when I decided I didn’t like the way it was turning out.  So, I ripped it back and now I have this:

I have some grass to go cut.

Until next time.

That is about 3 inches.  Yikes.  Considering the fact that it’s the end of July, will I be finished in time to wear it this summer?

OMG!  I had to give in and turn on my AC on Saturday.  I think this weather is here for a little while too.  My hydro bill’s gonna suck!

Sunday, the 4th, my mother and I headed to Montreal.  I took her to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Totem” for her birthday (and Christmas and Mother’s Day).  It was soooooooooo awesome.  We spent a big part of the day there.  It was wonderful.  Old Montreal is beautiful.

On Monday, Jacob and I went to see Eclipse at the movies.  It was surprisingly good – lot of action.  I love the Twilight series so, I’m probably not objective but, I loved the movie anyway.

On Monday, I also went to get a pedicure.  I felt like spoiling myself a little.  Then soccer, home for a nap and off to work for 11-5.

Tuesday, when I got up, Jacob and I went to Ottawa.  I hit the Knit-Knackers to pick up the new travelling flyer and bobbins I had ordered.  Can you believe that Jacob actually said that a yarn shop was nice?  I almost died.  After the yarn shop, we went to the Bayshore Shopping Centre and got Jacob some clothes.  On the way home, we stopped at O’Basil’s (Thai/Vietnamese) for dinner.  I love that place too.  When I got home, I wanted to play with my new “tool” and discovered this:

What a piss-off!!!

So, instead of playing with my new toy, I had a nap and went off to work for the 11-5 again.

Yesterday was the big day…. Jacob got his braces off!

How cute is he?  He was so happy, he actually thanked me for spending that much money on his teeth!  It’s nice when a teenager is grateful – doesn’t happen often.

Knit-night was quiet.  I think people stayed home because it was so hot.  We were 5.  Better than nothing!

Today, I had a day to myself.  It’s too hot to cut the grass and I did it just on Saturday.  It could definitely use  a trim already but… I chose to do this instead:

The pile on the chair is the not-good stuff.  I’ve kept it and might wash it for use as stuffing.  Why not use it all – or as much as I can.  I threw away (see under the table) the pieces that had curious (poop?) stuck in them.

I was praying that my nose wouldn’t get itchy!

Look at the crimp on this lock!  I wanted to spin with it right then and there.

This part of the fleece was pretty clean I think.  It’s the first one I ever wash but, seems to me like it didn’t have as much VM (vegetable matter) in it.  BUT, whatever was in it ended up stuck to my legs and to my arms up to my biceps.  AND, I think that next time I do this, I’ll wear yucky clothes.

I need a shower!

I’ve almost completed my Tree Fort socks… So close in fact that I’ll wait for the pics.

My Pucker is coming along… lots and lots of stocking stitch.  It’s totally easy but loooooooooooong and boooooooooooring.

I’m contemplating a nap while my wool is soaking.

Last night (July 1st) wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  It was busy but we only ended up with 6 people to watch down in the cells, and they were all pretty polite and followed instructions.

Last night was my last for a couple of days.  I woke up this afternoon with a plan:

I took out the cotton I purchased to start my Pucker and wound it into cakes.  I found my needles.  I looked at a few projects of Ravelry to see the mods and I think I’m ready to go.

I went outside to take pictures and two things happened:

I felt the sun on my face for the first time in what feels like forever.  The weather’s been so crappy lately that I feel it’s time we had a beautiful day like today.

The second was that a butterfly landed on my thumb!  I tried to move very slowly so as to get a photo of said butterfly but he flew away.  Damn, damn.

I’ll cut the grass tomorrow!