Juggler Extraordinaire

Okay. That's it: no more spinning until I finish taking care of some other things...namely custom orders, and working on my stupid, stupid webpage. But, dangit, I want to play with my newly acquired Wildcraft Spindle and enter the Zone of Peaceful Contemplation.

However, my stupid, stupid webpage really is so stupid that I am going to be very sick if I let it stay up the way it is any longer. So there's motivation.

On a lighter note, I've been working on all sorts of other lovely projects that are diverse enough to keep me interested. Focused is a different story, but it's been very fun returning to drawing mediums that I'd avoided like the plague for so long. I once blamed it on going to art school for four years, but as that was a while ago, I have few excuses for being interested.

Working on the revised design for a rat tattoo for my friend, and an amigurumi manatee in progress.

A-a-and an in-progress shot of a monster painting I'm doing for the Beasts of Eden table at SF Zinefest; I haven't painted in years! Hope to see you there!

Zen and the Art of Yarncraft

It's the Tour de Fleece (I.E., Tour de France only for spinning yarn), and already I feel like that kid in Les Triplettes de Belleville who can't do anything but bike yet still lags at the tail end of the tour. Only, I hope, I look better than him doing what I do.

The Tour de Fleece is a big thing on Ravelry, and for a spinner to join it is infectious. I remember when I first joined Ravelry it was at the mention of an online friend, and I honestly thought I'd have little use for it. But free patterns. Exchange of information on fleece and sources. Contests. Discussion with the people you buy your fibers and patterns from. Great stuff! I'm hooked, now.

I prepped for the Tour by spinning this gorgeous Falkland Ricochet colorway from Pigeonroof Studios for a friend I just taught how to knit. I'm actually pretty jealous; this yarn is gorgeous, and Falkland, though not soft enough for me to want to wrap tight around my neck, is lush, plush, and soft enough! I think Falkland may be a new favorite of mine.

Outside of that, I hadn't been as on-the-ball about spinning as I wanted. For one, my newly acquired Majacraft Rose wheel has a janky crank assembly which my novice self did not realize until I was halfway into this:

Let me tell you,  I was pretty upset, especially since I was spinning the thinnest singles I've ever tried my hand at on a wheel, but thankfully I have my trusty Pioneer as backup (I guess I am glad I haven't sold it yet). This is a beautiful wool fiber dyed by OldSheep that I ended up Navajo-plying, because plying the 3 singles together gave me the most puketastic color combination. At least finishing this yarn motivated me to keep on.

Because I'm going to need it.

I really want to start on this other tasty rainbow fiber I've acquired, but I feel obligated to return to this disaster above that was my first adventure in spinning lace. It just needs to be finished. It all started off on the Bosworth spindle in the middle, where I was spinning a wool sample from a Phat Fiber Sampler Box, and then this golden wool/flax/other batt sample. That part went all right.

Disaster struck when I decided to try hand carding the remainder of the two fibers together for spinning into the second singles for the lace. It became apparent I didn't do a very good job. Nor do I think, now, that a batt composed of wool and coarse flax fibers is a good candidate for re-carding poorly for spinning into lace. It kept breaking, and I'd keep placing the spun fiber aside, but I'm running out of spindles for spinning it on. After several months of ignoring it, I've finally reached that moment of peace where I'm just going to spin a thicker fingering yarn with the remainder of the sample and get it over with.

There is definitely an art, a zen to spinning (and knitting, and crocheting). Being able to accept a rookie mistake is a step in the right direction. But more on that later. My fingers should be on some fiber, not a keyboard.

Stupid, stupid sad.

I was going to make a nice little post or two about my recent birthdayversary, some delectable consumer goods I'd recommend, y'know, catch up on several yarn-related and art-related projects. I really should write every day, if not blog—and I promise this the last entry where I mention my need to do this. Not doing so, all these thoughts pile up, and nobody wants to go digging through yesterday's thoughts when the mind works now and you can't go back to that exact feeling.

Because right now I'm pissed. Mostly at the stupidity of—who, government? No, I guess it boils down simply to human condition.

As my sister is sick, therefore postponing a trip to the zoo, I went out to walk Pavlov today. Lo and behold, as we turned back on our block, a big (90lbs or so), black, shepherd-shaggy dog sauntered out several yards away from us.

At first I took it to be a new neighborhood dog. Hell, at least some dog with an owner. Even without a collar it's not uncommon to see someone's relatively well-trained pooch parading down our block.

But not this old fella, this guy is whiting on his muzzle, fur gnarled in places, and has absolutely no human-related social skills to speak of. He certainly wasn't beaten down; he approached us rather jauntily, though it became apparent he was scouring every inch of the ground both on sidewalk and yards for anything edible. I'm pretty sure he was also eager enough to eat crap, because he sniffed Pavlov's butt for far too long to be just social.

He certainly wasn't interested in me; cooing, commanding, straight talking elicited no reaction from him, and though he was right at my feet sniffing my dog, he danced off a few paces when he realized I was leaning down towards him. Not fearfully, mind; his eyes may have had that desperate gleam, a slight woefulness, but he just didn't seem to comprehend my existence, let alone fear me.

Anyway. He followed us a little bit, and when I looked at him he sauntered across the street into other yards of opportunity. I ended up taking Pavlov back home and reemerging with dog food, which, when I finally stopped walking after Old Fella and left the bowl on the ground, he investigated and inhaled every kibble.

Our yards have no fences between them, so there was nowhere to coerce Old Fella to enter (if that were even possible with this dog). I have no car to tempt him into—and it would be too close of quarters to guarantee a safe journey.

No, I ended up looking up Oakland's Animal Control. Oh wait, there isn't really one. Yes, there is Animal Services, which one could argue semantics over, but let me get to the part that really irritated me: I decided to call whichever number was recommended for reporting strays, which happens to be the Police Non-Emergency Dispatch. Which forwards me to Animal Services. Which tells me in the event of a stray, I should call the Police Non-Emergency Dispatch line.

I was going to rant about how our city's shitty budgeting doesn't even allocate enough money to having a steady Animal Control for these purposes—my main concern is that this dog be taken off the street so that it won't be involved in some accident or terrorizing (cars or kids or people trying to keep it off their property). I saw people make a wide loop around him as they walked down the street because he is a big dog. Frankly, I was a little wary that he might have tried to attack me, too, but I feel comfortable enough reading a dog to have done the few things that I had.

But really. I know the Oakland Police have more pressing matters to take care of. I know people will be and are more concerned for their own welfare and ability to survive before they have the time to give a shit about other animals. Still. As a community stray animals are our responsibility; if that dog did follow me, my ol' soft heart would have taken him in, though I can barely afford to take care of myself at this point (and our health-challenged Pav dog). If nothing else, even if he were to be put to sleep after being caught, he'd have food to eat, and Animal Services here treat the animals well.

So it goes.

The short of it being, I gave up on calling for City help, and watched Old Fella amble around the block several times before walking back home. I'm sure he is doing nothing different than he's been used to, but it'll burn me a little inside.

Animals! All over the place!

I really need to blog more regularly, though lately I've been out of my mind busy; I'm always working on some new projects, and keep finding some awesome crafters out there who I'd love to talk about. Working out a schedule here . . .

Either way, it's been a nice learning process as I work on my website design and my Etsy shop.

I've been spinning like a madwoman, and crocheting as well; the weather has finally looked up in the Bay Area, and though the nights and mornings have recently been chilly and overcast, it clears up by late morning and has been great for working outside.

But enough jibber-jabber, onto some pictures! Here are some fellas I've been working on to stock in my Etsy shop when I've enough inventory:

Piggies! These guys are 2"-3.5" and love going on adventures with you.

Cowsies!

World's Smallest Catch

Cake toppers for my friend's wedding

Little bears that will ride in the palm of your hand.

Pink elephant on parade (with friends).

Hammies!

 Squidley, an oldie but goodie.

And Raff, another oldie but goodie (that's a matchbox behind him).

And onto some accessories:

These are "Oxstars"; I definitely plan on putting them up in the shop later.

"A Frilling Adventure" armwarmers for a friend. I want my own pair!

Some crochet embellishment on an otherwise ho-hum cardigan.

And to finish the post with some spinning exploits:

My first spin on my Majacraft Pioneer! 2-ply Aran, fiber from Giffordables, with their 60s spindle.

3-ply, z-spun chunky Corriedale. My second wheel spin, fiber from Sheepish Creations.

Spindle-spun chunky off of The Fox Hop's Mad Hatter batts. Yum!

Whew! More later. Less blogging, more site design.

Triumph and Impatience

Wow, has it already been five months? It has, and I've a lot to show for it—at least in the world of fibers. So be prepared for an image-heavy post, you reader base of 1 or 2!

Don't believe me, look at this baby:

Oh yeah, that is 141 yards, light worsted-weight of Pigeonroof Studios' 50/50 Superwash Merino/Silk blend in Blissful. Absolutely buttery-soft to spin up, and looking forward to working up the last 8 ounces so I can make the Diamonds and Pearls Shawl out of The Knitter's Book of Yarn for my sister. Krista has some beautiful colorways.

Spun up this beauty on my Schacht Hi-Lo spindle (I believe we've reconciled our differences), and this gorgeous Turkish spindle from Giffordables. My excitement stems from the fact that while I was spinning this up I "got" the hang of working with a spindle. That zen moment kicked in.

 Outside of that, here's been my spinning exploits prior, in reverse chronological order:

Enchanted and Arcade colorways from the merino pigtail sampler from Greenwood Fiberworks. The Arcade was my first 3-ply, and I'm loving how the colors turned out! I split the top into 3 strands with different color orders.

Top photo: my purpleheart Bosworth Midi and its first spin: Waterloo Wools' Candy Cane merino/bamboo sampler from November's Phat Fiber box. Lovely laceweight singles.
And below everything else I'd done prior to that; the grey babydoll/mohair blend came from the sampler box, too, but I forget from who.

This Meridian Jacobs ram's lamb fleece is about 85% cleaned. Having no access to a top-loader washing machine has really prolonged the process, but it's been extremely educational.

And soon, so soon, I will be spinning on a wheel. This love of fiber is really starting to shape my life, and I'm loving it.

Spinning Room

Trying to find the balance between bland food, and food that won't make my stomach turn. It's a fine, fine balance indeed.

Four spun yarns to document, to date, and all for my own benefit.

Sample One: What I think is merino. Super thick. Horribly drafted. And barely any of it.

Sample Two: Superwash wool, sample from Banana Migraine Designs from Phat Fiber's September box. That early 90s coloring works out all right. Thinner, still a good number of slubs, still singles.

Sample Three: Local wool and angelina (the sparkly stuff) from a sample Tumbleweeds Art Batt for Phat Fiber, again. Thinner yet.

Sample Four: Alpaca! Much less scary to work with than I thought (though I dropped the spindle more than once, which always elicits an embarrassing shriek). Swamp Thing colorway from (RuLe OuT): fIBer AdDicTiOn, NOS, and thin enough that I won't feel like a schmutz trying to ply it tomorrow. The colorway came out beautifully once it was all spun up.

That is all.

Distractions

My fever's subsided since last night. All the cramps and the lack of energy have left me watching the Planet Earth series by the BBC and still pre-drafting this Alpaca for spinning. By the way, the series is excellent. Maybe a little heavy-handed on the musical accompaniment, but at least it is with the purpose of inspiring awe; many of the shots of earth are taken from a distance, giving a completely different perspective on land forms and animals than one gets with a human's eye view.

Combining that and some internet browsing, I'm happily distracted. Probably too much so. I've a handful of things I didn't finish yesterday that my being sick doesn't really prevent me from doing.

With age, the ideals of fashion have grown on me. Actually, my eye for fashion hasn't actually made me more fashionable, as monetary worth and function are my main concerns, but it does let me look at pretty little things and "ooh" and "ahh" over them appropriately.

Speaking of which, Figs and Ginger is a prime example of what I'm referring to. I love the look of aged metals, especially silver, and the simplicity of the designs and animal themes don't hurt, either. A big plus for being eco-friendly by recycling sterling silver jewelery.

I find most things I like I would wear if I wore more things—jewelery, jackets, makeup. Yet I have several necklaces that may see the light of day (usually light of the moon) annually, or end up being a prominent favorite for only a few months. A necklace from Figs and Ginger would probably be no different. On the other hand, if I received one as a gift, who knows. I'm just sayin'.