Quickie 'finished' post - now with added photos!

Wow – a whole month without a blog post! Instead of trying to explain, as always, why I haven’t added any posts through September, I thought I’d look at it positively. I enjoyed a month-long blogging holiday!!

On the up side, I have a heap of knitting that I have actually completed. Blocked and photographed!

‘Fetchings’ are done, knit in Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed in Aran weight. I liked knitting with this stuff, it’s got a lovely cushy, rustic feel to it - sort of like knitting with something a little bit felted already. The yarn was still able to highlight the cabling in the Fetchings quite well. I gave them to my dear friend Ali last weekend, as a very very late birthday gift - she's moving to Adelaide very soon for a year. Does is get cold down there in winter??

Okay, so at this point the ends weren't woven in, so they weren't 'finished' in the legal sense, but WonderBoy looked so cute modelling them that I couldn't resist using these photos to showcase them!

I feel like I'm on top of Lola-Frog's blanket squares, with all of August and one of September done and blocked here. I've also done the last two for September and the first for October, but they're either not blocked or not 'finished' (ie ends woven in) and blocked. I'll get there.

August Square The First;

August Square The Second (the Apple is to signify both Lola-Frog's first solid food as well as to have a Beatles reference within the blanket without resorting to anything gauche and obvious);

August Square The Third, and

September Square The First.

Another finished object still yet to be blocked (and I must do it this week, Dianne was asking to see it last Thursday at KnitNight) is a lovely chunky cabled scarf for a friend who is definitely going somewhere cold - New York - in November. Photos to come soon.

One of the reasons I've not blogged lately (and I've just now realised this) is because of all the spinning I was doing! That, and we got our hands on 'The Beatles: Rockband' game...

You go, Ringo!

...and both these pursuits have taken up considerable portions of spare time. I've spun up 200g of lovely naturally fawn-coloured merino roving that my mum brought back from Tasmania for me a long time ago now.

I have to say, now having spun with both raw fleece and prepared roving, that I find spinning with the pre-prepared fibres much more satisfying - in a totally instant gratification kind of way. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee once said that to learn how to spin well, you should start with good quality fibres. I think that since I'm certainly no professional at cleaning and preparing raw fleece, I certainly wasn't learning with anything approaching 'good quality' fibre, and this was affecting my ability to focus on the spinning itself. Plus, I'm an impatient person at the best of times. Who can wait for fleece to be cleaned and prepared properly when there's spinning to be getting on with?!

Photos to come, as well as a new idea I've been tinkering with to reintroduce some fresh 'randomness' into the blog...

Meh.

It really really has been one of Those Weeks. Poor little Lola-Frog spent five days in hospital over these last two weeks with pneumonia. It just about broke my heart, seeing her all hooked up to the IV antibiotics and oxygen. But she's home now, much stronger and eating better. She's almost back to her usual smiley, giggly little self.And now for the knitting?

Firstly, all the time spent sitting with Lola-Frog in the hospital made for ample knitting time, particularly to catch up on knitting the Sea Wool Scarf which was intended for Mum's birthday... last Wednesday. So, after one complete frogging and several tinked rows, I found that I'd done somethin' stupid with the 'feather and fan' rows, creating wobbly waves that increased rather exponentially...

... so I was left with wobbly-wave-ruffles.After finally casting off and realising what had happened, I did a totally non Knitter-with-a-capital-K thing. I looked at it and held it up. I threw it across my own shoulders and pulled it round my neck. I turned it around and held it across my neck and chest, and said:

"Meh."

I was so over the whole thing that I think I conned myself into thinking 'Hey, it's still pretty, it still looks kinda cool... sorta free-formed and avant-garde. Yeah, avant-garde, I like that...'. I'm about to sew some green glass beads onto the corners, where I've also added the requisite tassels. More photos to come on completion.

Having upheld my end of the bargain in casting off the scarf successfully (hey, I said I'd get it cast off, not finished!), I decided to open my package from Interweave...I'm very impressed so far. I'm trying to read both books at the same time, and I've already watched the beginning of the DVD three times over. Once to get an idea of what's going on, once to try to commit it to memory, and a third time whilst actually having a crack on the spinning wheel. Excellent, excellent stuff - the books are well-written with lots of useful information and clear photos that really help me to make sense of what's being said. I'm learning lots, which for me is a pretty big deal!

A selfish knitter.

Is exactly how I describe myself! It doesn't sound good at all, does it?

I was chatting with some very good friends of ours on the weekend about starting small businesses, particularly online businesses. I have harboured a long-term goal for myself that eventually I would be well-practiced enough to be able to spin and dye yarns that are appropriate to be sold. The fact that I have one small child and one on the way hasn't interrupted this idea too much, it's mostly a thought that I will spend the best part of the next five to ten years building my skills and buying better equipment so that I will be able to devote enough time to this harebrained scheme and have it pay off as a legitimate career venture.

I've always felt very strongly that if you do something that you love as a career, you will never view it as 'work', or as something that you 'have to do'. However, this idea had a bit of a shake up on the weekend when Pete suggested that I could knit and sell the knitted items, particularly babies and children's clothes.

I thought about that and found that I just had to respond, saying "No, I don't think I could at this stage". I don't knit super-fast right now, and don't have huge, huge tracts of knit-time and so as I said to Pete, "When would I knit for me?" ('me' meaning me, my family and close friends - I'm not that selfish!).

And so, as much as I'm really looking forward to unleashing my peculiar talents on the world (and expecting them to pay, of course!)... for now, I'm incredibly grateful for any time I get to craft for me and my loved ones. Every stitch is an effort, a step towards a completed project (whether a jumper or a washcloth) that says "I made this for you".

Even if that 'you' is really 'me'.

"Where's Doug? At spinning group!"

hehe... as I type this, WonderBoy is just starting to wake up from his afternoon nap and I'm listening to him through the monitor, singing in his cot. He's currently a big fan of a little song we adapted together from a Wiggles' song called "Where's Jeff?" The real lyrics go like this:

Where's Jeff?
Is he sleeping outside?
Where's Jeff?
Has he gone for a ride?

Jeff apparently has issues with falling asleep and then waking up in odd places. Nevertheless, WonderBoy has really taken to this song, and now adapts responses based on the first two lines. If I sing to him, "Where's Daddy?" he thinks and responds with the most appropriate line. Some times it'll be "At work" other times it might be "Eating dinner" or just "Right here". This works for most of our relatives and pets, and it's an entertaining way of distracting him, particularly during car trips and routine times. We've even had him respond when asked "Where's Mummy?" by singing back, "Knitting a sock". I love it.

Anyway, I'm sitting here typing, and suddenly I hear him singing this little song, each verse being a 'roll call' for the toys in his crib: "Where's Lion? Right here... Where's Nana Ted? Right here... Where's Doug? Right here".

Doug is apparently the name of his plush dragon that happens to be in his cot right now. I'm not entirely sure where the name 'Doug' came from (we know of no Dougs), but it all started with his little rocking horse that he christened Doug months and months ago. Now, whenever you ask him the name of a special toy, invariably, it ends up being named Doug.

I love the way a two-year-old's mind works. It's so entertaining!

In other news, I headed out to Burrawang, a small and lovely village near my home, this morning to go to my first spinning group. Me being the big wussy that I am, I didn't actually bring my wheel this time; just my knitting (which is going very well, by the way - I'm about halfway through the back). But it was lovely to meet more local ladies who share my interests in spinning and knitting. I'm feeling better and better about the possibility of a dedicated Southern Highlands Spinners and Knitters Group (SHS&KG? Nah.). I'd love it to get to a point where our monthly meetings are detailed in the local paper in terms of 'what's happening' and to see lots of people getting together, exchanging ideas and information.

Here's WonderBoy, sitting beautifully and reading his book while we got on with our spinning, knitting and fibre-related discussion:
We chatted about all sorts of things - Robyn told us about the bargain she got on a whole lot of circulars she got on eBay, Margaret showed off some beautiful books on spinning and fibre arts she had bought recently, I shared the wonder that is Ravelry with everyone and encouraged them all to join too, and (oh, no - I'm very ashamed to say I can't remember the name of the lovely lady in the pink) brought a couple of skeins she'd spun up that were just beautiful.

Here's Margaret, watching over Robyn and - I'm terribly sorry, I just can't think of your name! - as they get on with their spinning. Margaret is terribly knowledgeable and I put several of her tips into practice when I got home and brought me wheel out. It was a lovely morning, and I'm looking forward to next month's meeting!Lastly, before I go - a picture of young Luna, who has just started to head outside since we had her desexed a few weeks ago. She loves it, and spends a lot of time just running, leaping, chasing and sniffing things. Today she tried tree-climbing, and I'm pretty sure she was actually stuck - she must have been mucking about in that tree for at least two hours!

Happy Birthday, Dear Petey...

Before I go on to tell of my fibre-washing exploits today, I must send a quick shout out to my darling husband for his birthday. We're pretty sure it's his 33rd, but you couldn't look at that face and not tell me he doesn't look a day over 21? Of course not.

And so, here's to the guy who laughs at my ridiculous jokes, fears my dancing (both tap and orangutan dancing. I'm proficient at both.), tolerates my knitting and spinning... and most of all, loves me to bits.

Here he is, in all his husband-y glory. Let us all bask awhile.

Love you, honey!

And now, having lauded Pete for having a birthday today, I shall get on with the fibre-related content of this post.

I just updated my Facebook status with the following:

"Jennifer is washing her precious skein of handspun and hoping to God it doesn't felt."

Can I get an 'Amen' from any other spinners out there? I have been absolutely terrified with the mere thought of subjecting my yarn to water of any variety, let alone stinking hot water. I go into the laundry every ten minutes or so, just to check on the bucket, but I'm frightened to get too close, lest I breathe on the water in the wrong way, resulting in a wonderfully felted wreath.

I researched this step online for quite some time today, never quite finding a site with information I felt wholly comfortable about. I've read that I should have washed the fleece before spinning, that I should let the yarn soak in water of 70+ degrees Celsius and a cupful of dish detergent, then let it sit in barely body temperature water to rinse. I read I should plunge and beat the yarn with a potato masher (!) in very hot water, then rinse in cold.

I mean, I'm sure the person who wrote that last one knows what they're talking about but that scared the crap out of me. Tell me that's not an recipe for instant felting, go on... Can't do it? No, neither could I.

So as you can imagine, I was very pleasantly surprised (not to mention extremely relieved!) to see that the whole process seems to have worked! Here's the photographic evidence...These shots are of us going through the wash and rinse. Do note that for me, that first photo was totally brown-trousers time.

I have to say, I wasn't prepared for just how much dirt was going to come out of the yarn, I really wasn't. That mucky bucket photo was taken only five minutes after the yarn was submerged, and I'm certain that although the yarn looks and smells quite reasonable now, if I were to rewash the yarn it would probably make quite dirty water again.
It's turned out really quite nicely, the fibres are light and have fluffed up a little to make an attractive yarn. Now that the grease is out, I can see where I have underspun the ply (a fair bit in some places), but that's something that I can learn from and keep practicing as I go. I'm filling another bobbin as we speak (not literally - that would be fibre-talent to shout about - blogging and spinning at the same time!)...

Now that I've already found a pattern for the hat I want to make with this yarn, the big question is: do I do a rewash to be thorough, or do I get on and start swatching this stuff and working out gauge for the hat?

In the spin

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself this week; although the ironing basket is growing so fast that it seems destined to receive a postcode of it's own, I've managed to crack out the spinning wheel.

The fleece I bought at the Robertson Woolcraft Festival is spinning up quite nicely (or what I think of as nicely - I'm not that experienced!), and the colours are variegating themselves prettily - creams, greys and dark browns all in one fleece. I'm sure there are better spinners than I out there who would be separating the colours so they spin it into separate colour lots, but I quite like the way the colours have plied together, with a mottled effect. And so, here is not a fabulous photo, but a photo nonetheless of my recent spinning efforts:
In other news, I took WonderBoy up to the native botanic gardens near our home for a little adventure. He's pretty obsessed with water features, God bless him, and getting him past these was pretty difficult...

Like the Wiggles sherpa hat? He does...

Short post, I know... Not very knitterly, I know... but I am back into term time on Monday, so I'd better get used to this! And hey, there are only so many photos I can take of the second of My First Socks! I'm getting good progress on them, so it won't be long before I'm casting on anew!

And, before I go... Today is ANZAC Day, when Australians and New Zealanders remember the diggers who landed and fought at Gallipoli.

Lest We Forget.

It sure ain't Sock Camp...

... but it sure was fun!

Leaving my husband and son with my parents-in-law, I headed out to Robertson today to check out the Woolcraft Festival.

I can't say I saw expecting a huge huge blowout... After all, this is a country town, and knitting, spinning and the like is only enjoyed by a very small (and quite probably elderly) portion of the population, right?Well, the sheep were there...

Not quite. I am very pleased to be able to say I had such a great time there, and I wish I could have hung around longer. I met up with Dianne, a fellow Raveler whom I have only spoken to online so far, and her husband. Dianne and I were able to talk properly about the possibilities for meeting up regularly for knitting sessions, and she was able to introduce me to some of the women who get together for a spinning group once a month. I was so excited to think I'm going to be able to hang out with 'my peeps' on a regular basis to learn and exchange more. Dianne's husband is a very lovely and supportive bloke who was determined to leave the Festival that day with a spinning wheel for Dianne, whether she thought she needed one or not!

I managed to talk spinning with the ladies Dianne introduced me to, and Joan in particular, who helped me select my first fleece that would be best for a beginner like myself. It was like a Mission: Impossible, with Joan ferreting through bags and asking me about colours and textures while trying not to make it look like she was 'telling' me what to buy. I'm proud to say that this gorgeous four-and-a-half kilo bag of Merino X was suggested by me with a little bit of guesswork (hell, I didn't know what I was doing!), and it turned out to be an excellent choice, apparently!Here's my score, arranged quite artfully I think, with our fish helping out with decoration. Thanks, Jack White.

I was able to ask questions (I learned heaps, just by asking people questions!), and I networked quite a bit. I met up with Melanie of Rainbow Wools, who was very interested in Ravelry and in the possibility of a local Stitch and Bitch being started. From her I bought this delicious hand dyed number, which came with some free patterns for hats, scarves and the like. Good one-skein stuff. I was thinking scarves, but when Melanie's mum put the hat on to model for the fashion parade, I was sold. A hat it shall be!And then I'll buy more for a scarf, of course.

It's knitting up so soft and the colours are just yummy. I'm supposed to be working on the mate for my current pair of socks (hello, second sock syndrome!), but I just couldn't help but cast this on tonight. Nice stuff.

These slivers, from Freelance Fibres, caught my eye (ok, more like grabbed and held it hostage) just for their beautiful colours (baby alpaca and silk). But they are to be put away for now, until I feel I'm practiced enough to use them. I'm considering them something for me to be aiming for.
Ah, we all must have goals and dreams to aspire to!

Oh, I am SO knitblogging this

I have lived in hope, waiting for there to be some sort of fibre-related event to be held within cooee of my location.

I feel so gypped when I read of the Yarn Harlot's exploits at various festivals, like Rhinebeck or the Sock Camp organised by Blue Moon Fibre Arts (you have got to check out this entry on her blog, about Sock Camp - oh, I want to be there!), cause there just isn't that equivalent held near me... well, not that I know about. Maybe I'm not looking in the right places. Maybe I'm being silly, wishing for these things to happen near me rather than travelling. Dunno... I'm just in a stage of life right now where I can't just can't drop everything and chase fibre across the state. I know, I know, I'm just not putting in the effort!

But then today, I checked Ravelry (instead of knitting the Stars and Hearts Blanket) and my friend Dianne (check out her blog here!) mentioned the Robertson Woolcraft Festival. Did I know it was on this weekend? Hell, no I didn't!

I'm so excited. There's going to be speed knitting competitions, spinning, and fleeces for sale. And although I know that the majority of people there will be considerably older than me - actually, I don't know this for certain. Maybe it's a stereotype in my mind built on things I know about our area that will be well and truly shattered on Saturday - maybe there will be younger people I can connect with? I love thinking of all the potentials for the day. I'm hoping to get a stitch 'n' bitch group going in my local area, so this could be a good starting point...

Watch this space for photos of the day!

Who would have thought it?

Okay, so I've hit a major, major mental block.

I put it down to End of Term One. I'm packin' it, writing up children's dialogues, documenting project work and co-ordinating displays and generally sodding around. Plus, we're getting ready for the Department of Community Services Children's Services Regulations to come into effect at our Preschool, something which the school's never dealt with before and neither has our current director. So, my colleague and I are trying to help as much as we can, policy-writing and all that.

Meanwhile, my friend's baby was due yesterday and not only have I done merely three rows of stars and hearts out of the total five, I'm seriously thinking it'll look better with six rows total, leaving me halfway through.

Plus, the sock went to frogtown, express. Turns out the length of my feet cannot be measured accurately flat, and they are much longer than five inches. Aack!

Hello... paging Shortfeet? Mr Shortfeet? Hello?


Hello? No? Mr Shortfeet? No? Aw, damn...
Oh, man. Roll on school holidays. I'm itchin' to get the spinning wheel out.

You spin me right round baby, right round...

I enjoyed my very very first second spinning lesson today, and I have to say - I love it! I am really quite proud of myself.

This is partially the reason for not very many... I mean no posts at all for the last week. I've been practicing for my lesson today. The other reason is that we've just finished our second last week of Term Four, and so are nearing Zero Hour, (or break out the booze - the school year's over!) at which time we need to have every child organised so they are taking home all (not most, parents please - ALL) of their paintings, craft, lost property (we can't stress that one enough) and rest time sheets.

This also means that I have to have completed for each child a Portfolio, which entails creating a documented 'story' of the child's year at Preschool - including photos, paintings, drawings, descriptive text for each story the photos were taken of (from big group things, like 'Easter' down to small-group things like 'These three children built a block house'), as well as really individualised photos for each child with descriptions added. Plus I have to make sure each child has a similar amount in their book and did I mention the excruciating, mind-numbingness of painstakingly gluing it all into an art book? For twenty-six children? Kill me, kill me now. And this is all undertaken at the same time as we are trying to get them all organised for their Christmas concert, held next week.

Oh yeah - and then we as teachers have to clean all the toys, furniture and sleep mats, and we have to go through every cupboard and the storeroom to clean it all out. Roll on next week!

And back to the more interesting topic of my spinning lessons - for the people who held on through that strange and scary rant...

My first lesson (waaay back two Thursdays ago) was a big success. The only experience I've had with spinning was really only involves treadling. Why? Dunno - it was most likely a Girl Guides thing. As a start, Corrie went over my wheel with me to help me get acquainted with all the parts and understand how they all work together. Thankfully, she was also able to identify some of the trickier parts unique to my wheel (I'm sure all wheels have this issue, too) such as the very loose maiden (hehe... what a crack up... a 'loose maiden'?!) that kept opening too wide (this isn't getting any less funny here!) and causing the bobbin to fall off the flyer. Corrie's amazing. I was quietly wringing my hands, thinking "Oh, my goodness, I've been ripped of here" and she says "Oh, this is fine - we'll just plug a bit of fleece around the base here and make it tighter"... And it works! No questions asked! I love the adaptability of it all.

I got to have my first go at treadling, which impressed Corrie ('cause I was able to treadle, for starters - yay me!), and after she helped me prepare some cross-breed fleece for spinning worsted, while teaching me about identifying different parts of the fleece, I was able to have a crack at spinning.

It took me some time to get any sort of drawing motions going properly, but for the time being, I was actually making a thread - something Corrie reckoned didn't happen very often on someone's first go. I left feeling pretty chuffed with myself, actually... but didn't get around to practicing much straight away. I sort of put the wheel back in the sunroom after a halfhearted practice and started something like three new knitting projects. I did, however, fetch the book on spinning I'd bought from Dymocks as soon as I'd bought the wheel ("The Whole Craft of Spinning" by Carol Kroll) and leave it on the shelf in the bathroom where the Empire magazines seem to congregate. As I read it more thoroughly, I realised there was something missing from my drawing and thought I should have another crack at it...
...and then I had my Eureka! moment. It felt right this time, and I even had a go at woollen spinning from Alpaca rolags I had prepared when I was too much of a wuss to try spinning on my own. When I showed Corrie, she was very impressed and happy for me. Me? I felt like taking out ad space in the Sydney Morning Herald to tell everyone about it - but settled for putting it in my Facebook status line. For my second lesson, Corrie started me on plying. Again, I need to practice finding that balance between overspin and underspin, but I think I did okay. I only had one break in the thread, which is good (I think!), and have prepared...





Dum-da-dum-duuumm! My First Skein.
















After it's washed (next lesson), I even have plans for this scary and irregular creation... It will be a wee vest for my other scary and irregular creation... Wonderboy! Pictured here with his wonderful father, modelling their 'Pants Hats'...



















...Any thoughts on what THIS might be???



(Goodness knows, it's not Christmas or New Baby knitting... or anything I'm 'supposed' to be getting on with!)

Hurray for stash! And other good news...

It's been an eventful week in our house. Firstly, I'm on the countdown to the End Of Term, and therefore (and most excitingly) the End Of The Year. I know I'm only working part time, but I have to say that now I've got access to the car, I'm just looking forward to hangin' out with Wonderboy. And here he is, in all his glory:


I took him to a local indoor play centre last week when it was too hot for the park, and he (pardon the pun) had a ball... it took him a little while to warm to the whole concept of the ball pit, but then he got stuck in.

And then yesterday, it all just got tremendously exciting. The yarn I'd ordered from Ozeyarn and the Wool Shack, two very wonderful Australian yarn shops all arrived in the afternoon, and apart from the fact that it reminds me just how much I've committed to knitting for gifts (Christmas and other) - making me wig out just a little bit - but more than anything else, it just makes me happy. I just like looking at it all. I haven't even put it in the stash cupboard. I have it artfully arranged on the dining table so I can look at it and just have a little smile whenever I go past.



There's Cascade 220 to knit a pair of 'Fuzzy Feet' from Knitty for a friend for Christmas, several balls of 'Peaches 'n' Creme' cotton for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, two balls of Heirloom Jigsaw Sock Yarn (I'm determined to buy - or receive for Christmas - Cat Bordhi's "Socks Soar On Two Circular Needles"), and fourteen balls of a nice yellow Shepherd 8-ply to knit a lovely wee baby blanket. I'm not overstretching myself at all, am I?

My other good news is that I shall be having my very first spinning lesson tomorrow! I got in touch with the New South Wales Hand Spinners and Weaver's Guild, and they gave me several local and nearby numbers to try, and I was so happy to be able to organise my lessons so near to home. And excited? I am SO stoked!

Watch this space for spinning news!

Fibre Mentoring

I'm still reading through previous post archives on Yarn Harlot, and I love it. I love the way Stephanie writes, I can just sense the joy she feels and expresses so beautifully in her life: her family, her dedication to making the world a better place for us all, and of course her absolute passion for fibre and knitting. I want to grow up to be just like her in so many ways. Link, read... you will understand. In a post from July 2005, she talked about the idea of 'Fibre Mentoring' - I love this concept...

" Cassie wrote about the new spinners urge to save good stuff for later, when you are a better spinner, and how she didn't really get behind that theory a whole lot. I couldn't agree more.

While (clearly) I have no issues with hoarding lovely fibres (and clearly, neither does Cassie) until their day comes, I also think that there is a great deal to be said for learning to spin with the best materials you can afford.
Nobody needs to be hindered by things that are barely usable, and nobody needs to feel that they are a crappy spinner (or just more crappy than they actually are, since we all suck in the beginning and it is only the length of time that we are sucking for that is really variable among learners). Good fibre makes good yarn.

Good things inspire you. Good things get you to try harder. Good fibre actually helps you spin. Beautiful fibre gives you something to live up to.

Crap fibre depresses you, frustrates you and encourages you to give up and (in the less determined) could cause a fledgling spinner to wander off entirely, thinking that they obviously aren't meant for this...given that they keep turning out crap yarn. Even the best spinner is going to end up with crap yarn if you start with crap fibre, except at least they are going to know why they apparently suck so hard.

Luckily, there is a practice among spinners, an unspoken code of fibre giving. When a previously normal person gets sucked into the inevitable hole takes up spinning, it is common practice for every other spinner within earshot of the event to take a moment, scour the fibre stash and send a little bit of something wonderful off to inspire the intrepid newbie. Guilds do it, pressing delicious samples on the learner, clubs do it, and the internet does it with gusto, often inundating the newly pledged with bits and pieces of wonderful things, merino, silk, flax and cotton all show up on your doorstep, hand-dyed, plain, roving, sliver, bumps....it is all pressed into your grateful hands with only the lovely phrase "here, try this" to accompany it. The new spinner tries all these things, gets experience, and learns what they like and may invest in.

It's a wonderful expression of mentorship, and all that you are expected to do in return is to pass on something good..knowledge or fibre...when you have the chance. Brilliant.

Has anyone mentored you with a gift of fibre? "

I can't say that anyone ever has, although I don't actually know anyone else who spins. Actually, scratch that, my mother-in-law spins and she gave me her handspun for the green and cream blanket I knit. I'm sure she'd teach me to spin the way she does if I asked, but I think there's more I'd need to know. Things like spinning different fibres together, working on different weights, and learning how to ply in different ways (I'm fascinated by the idea of Navajo plying).

However, in other news, I got in touch with the Hand Weavers and Spinner's Guild of New South Wales this week, and they have forwarded the names and numbers of several spinners I could get in touch with near me for lessons. I'm moving slowly, but I'm moving. Progress!

It's a lovely grey drizzly day here today - I do hope it rains, we so desperately need it - and I thought I'd add some sunshine to this post, in the form of one of the cacti that co-inhabit my sunroom. This is Torston (I don't name all my plants, potted or otherwise; this one was named in honour of my best mate's twenty-first birthday... It's a long story!)

In which Jenny girds up her loins...

... and stops being such a spinning wuss.

I must have been in a crappy mood last post (sorry for scaring away any potential regular readers of 'shoeboxes' - do I have *any* regular readers? Comment if you are - I'd love to know that me typing all this isn't just some ego thing), and so upon getting up today (to find Pete and Wonderboy engaged in a massive battle of wills over breakfast) I decided that today was the day to clean the house, properly. Bear in mind that my version of cleaning the house properly involves mopping as well as vacuuming, plus cleaning the whole bathroom (not just throwing some chemicals down the toilet and wiping the vanity mirror). Another thing to remember is that this process is undertaken at two times:

1. When the house becomes too disgusting for me to pretend to tolerate (this usually happens in two week to two month intervals. I know. It's gross.) There is some minor cleaning in between these times, usually a quick vacuum and a frenzy of wiping surfaces.

2. The other times are when we're expecting guests. I leave cleaning till the last minute, and then go totally off my chops at Pete for not guessing all that needed to be done and for 'daring' to ask me "Is there anything I can do to help?" when I'm headfirst down the toilet, scrubbing like my life depends on it, whilst muttering things like "Do y'think they'll notice if I don't wipe the inside of the bin flap down?"

What's really weird is that whenever we do a decent clean, I always feel compelled to call up friends and invite them round that evening for a meal. It's like I need to prove to everyone that I do manage to keep a clean house at least some of the time. I wonder sometimes about Wonderboy and hygiene, but then I remember that a child should consume something like a kilo of dirt before they turn five, or something to that effect... Nah, just jokes, I do make sure things are 'clean' where Wonderboy is concerned.

Wonderboy is very good about helping to tidy up (at the moment. This is scheduled to change at a time of Wonderboy's choosing. Thank you for your enquiry. Please call again.), to the point where he is loving the opportunity to help put things in the bin. He's taken to helping himself to onions from the drawer, to peel them then make multiple trips to the bin to pop the skin in. Bless his strange little mind.

Oh, yeah. Spinning... Don't mind me, I do this in real life, too.

ANYWAY, turns out I was so pleased with the amount of work we managed to get done (the amount of work Wonderboy allowed us to get done), plus I got some potting done in the garden, and feeling on a roll, I threw caution to the wind and decided to card some mohair to have a crack at spinning.

This is the sunroom that I recently claimed as my own for a "spinning room" (since I'm too scared to try going into the study, let alone spin in there).














Here's my first attempt at a rolag. Not quite, I think you'll agree. I watched some how-to videos on the Joy of Handspinning website. Very well done, easy to understand and clear. Love the videos.

I got a little better as I went along. I have more work to do, I understand...











And here's my wee little basket of rolags after half an hour of carding. Proud much?

Handspinning self esteem issues.

I have them.

Lately, I have found myself not content to wait for the Yarn Harlot's next exciting installment, so I have gone right back to the very beginning of her blog archives and decided to read them one at a time. All of them.

Anyone who knows me even just a little, knows of my reading 'thing'. My mother would say on a regular basis when I was a kid, "Oh, Jenny would read the back of a bus ticket if she couldn't find anything else". And it's true. When I go back to Mum and Dad's, the first thing I do is sift through the mass of magazines and pattern books that Mum collects and leaves on the coffee table. I'm useless if there's something even remotely interesting to read, and a damn near write-off as a human being if there's a Harry Potter within my reach.

And so, I am entertaining myself while Wonderboy is napping with 'Get This' podcasts, and catching up on all there is to know of the Harlot that I didn't already know. It's fascinating - I now know the origins of The Gansey that has plagued the Harlot's life for so very long. Very interesting.

Which leads me to spinning, and my lament that despite having spent money on Ebay for my lovely Ashford wheel, having collected big bags of fleece to spin on said wheel and having pinched my mother in law's handcarders to card said fleece, I don't think I'm ever going to learn to spin. That sounds a little fatalistic, I know. But hear me and my defeatism out. Here are my thoughts behind this decision:

1. I'm not even currently knitting right now. I should be knitting right now, but I'm not, I'm dicking about on the computer (although let's face it, the main reason for me to not be knitting is that as much as I love knitting baby clothes for my friends and their bubs, and I love how soft the yarn is, this is the fourth white stocking-stitch baby hat I've knit this year. I am sick to death of it, and I'm also sick of tiny, tiny needles. The only thing that keeps me at it is the glorious promise of The Next Project) and if I can't even get my arse in gear to continue my beloved knitting, what hope do I have of making time to learn spinning?!?

2. Even though we are ensconced in our lovely new house, which has considerably more room for us and our crap, I have very quickly found that as Wonderboy has become older and more mobile, any space 'for me' is quietly and quickly shrinking. Even my bedside table is no longer my own - I have to keep anything of mine up and out of the way of my little marauder. And so the lovely Ashford spinning wheel has been carefully placed in the room in our house affectionately known as 'the study'.

3. 'The study' is full of any crap we haven't put away yet after the move, plus two desks and Pete's computer, which just breeds crap. I stay away from this room for fear that one day I might go in and never come out again. It has become Pete's territory, and so my poor little wheel is buried right at the back. All the fleece I procured has been shoved under my bed (I was frightened it might get chucked out when I wasn't looking - it's in a kind of Alpaca fleece protection program for its own safety), and so I'm not sure I could get all the stuff I need out to spend any decent length of time spinning.

4. I am a total wussbag. I don't want to try till I've taken some lessons in spinning from someone who knows what they're doing. I bought some books, researched on the Internet (cause I like reading, remember?) but I just don't feel... confident. I know, this is spinning wool, not driving a road train, but... ugh. And do you think I can find any lessons anywhere near my local area?

*sob* I'm waiting for the violins to start playing... hehehe.

While I continue 'not knitting' and wait for the Pity Police to come and take me away, here are some photos of someone who's really doing it tough.

This is Wonderboy, who has of late taken a real shine to any and all new technology in the house. His favourites were phones (mobile and landline cordless, he's not picky), but the proviso was no imitations or substitutions. This kid ain't stupid. He knows that Pete's phone is the most up-to-date of any in the house and if he wants to 'talk' to Nana, he wants to be doing it on that phone. Lately, his techno-lust has extended to my camera, and the following four shots document one little boy's descent into rage as his awful, awful mother refuses to hand over her camera:




















1. Making pre-emptive cranky sounds




















2. Letting the local district know how unhappy he is (imagine birds flocking out of nearby trees)




















3. Hands clenched, shaking with rage




















4. That's it woman - you've had it!

Till next time... I'm going to start looking for a spinning guru to whom I can attach myself... cleave to, if you will.