and i'm not talking about laundry. i am howver, typing one-handed (maddening) with some twisted up shetland in my right hand, attached to my sweet new little golding spindle.
she's already got a name, and as the goldings call her, she is a real little sweetheart. after swanging around on my big old ursula (my ashford student spindle, at a fighting weight of over 2 and a half ounces, my little faye valentine is as a bumblebee next to a b-52. faye is quick and i sure need to speed up my draw/draft. i have found that yesterday and today, i was able to spin, with diligent attention, some fairly even singles on some shetland i'd brought back from a visit to alaska. playing with a little pouf of it a couple of weeks ago compelled me to order some more shetland.
i combed through etsy listings, as i'm currently lacking a local source (that i know) of shetland. i've gotten merino and BFL from LYS but it seems that finding more variety is going to necessitate trips more northerly in the state or ordering online.
i chose the sheep's company for some beautiful, naturally colored shetland wool - which i say, scared of using the terminology, but i think it might be top? roving? the fibers seem to be going more-or-less the same way, but it doesn't seem nearly as processed as the big commercial crazy dyed merino i've spun and most spinners have at least met. it's not even as "commercial" feeling as the pagewood farms BFL i've spun (8 oz in two different colors). i would expect that the texture difference between the different types of wool would probably also contribute to some of the feeling (although that merino felt like fiber that had been processed within an inch of its life - i know this feeling from my own hair after it has been abused). it's a little oily, but not really greasy and it has a faint oily/sheepy smell.
i am trying to be aware and present and to pay attention while i am spinning, slowing myself to avoid overspinning - as long as it doesn't get too overspun, this shetland really does feel pretty nice. the yarn does have some hairs sticking out and some potential itch factor, but it's not unpleasant, and it doesn't have the dish scrubber feeling of some wool yarns. i am interested in swatching it to see how the swatch would feel. ultimately, i'll be using this in a shawl, i think, on bigger needles than the yarn would call for, either in a lacy stitch or plain; think either an evelyn clark type pattern or something plain like citron, lavalette, etc. i may also look up shetland patterns and styles, maybe that would be appropriate. from my imagination now (this is not even an educated opinion) i feel like clark's patterns are a little shetland-y. or maybe the lace pattern from traveling woman? or springtime bandit (although i've made three or four of that last and don't know how soon i need to make another.)
ha. also i am drinking beer although it's hard with a spindle in hand. mighty arrow pale ale from new belgium. a comment was made earlier, to the effect of, "pale ale? pale ale? i wouldn't drink pale ale with someone else's mouth!" oh but my friend, you would if you were me. i like the cuttingness, the sharpness, the lightness and the briskness. it would be a good beer to drink in a friend's back yard in the springtime, throwing the ball for a dog. i am in no way influenced to write the above just because there's a dog on the label, or anything.
cheers.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
today in spinning
spinning is going, well, spinningly.
I have learned some lessons, or at least made some realizations. They culminated today, and I thought I might record them for posterity.
1) Tension and resting don't do too much to cure overspun yarn. That's going to require a proactive approach and not killing my spindle every time I set it to spin. This may also be why I need (NEED) a different spindle. (Ha.)
2) On the subject of spindles: Fiber ships faster than spindles. The answer to "Is my Golding here yet?" is "NO!". (The Sweetheart and all of her siblings can be found here, by the way. Yes. I am an enabler.
3) However, even though the spindle's not here, getting two pounds of fiber in the mail is like xmas, sweet 16, my 21st birthday and xmas all rolled into one. I can't imagine how I'll feel if I ever start buying fancy fiber if I'm this stoked over some Brown Sheep mill end rovings. Yes. There is already half a pound on the stove, but the purple part of the dye didn't take. The pink and orange did and I think the result is going to be pretty outstanding. Now I want to dye little fiber cupcakes, just to play. That will have to wait until the weekend.
4) Also. Spinning right now needs to be counted like a waltz. Draft, two, three; draft, slide, slide; one, two, three.
5) The cats are not to be trusted either in the fiber room/office, or outside of it while I am spinning. Bad cats. Also, they are very fond of roving/top. I disagree with this fondness.
I have learned some lessons, or at least made some realizations. They culminated today, and I thought I might record them for posterity.
1) Tension and resting don't do too much to cure overspun yarn. That's going to require a proactive approach and not killing my spindle every time I set it to spin. This may also be why I need (NEED) a different spindle. (Ha.)
2) On the subject of spindles: Fiber ships faster than spindles. The answer to "Is my Golding here yet?" is "NO!". (The Sweetheart and all of her siblings can be found here, by the way. Yes. I am an enabler.
3) However, even though the spindle's not here, getting two pounds of fiber in the mail is like xmas, sweet 16, my 21st birthday and xmas all rolled into one. I can't imagine how I'll feel if I ever start buying fancy fiber if I'm this stoked over some Brown Sheep mill end rovings. Yes. There is already half a pound on the stove, but the purple part of the dye didn't take. The pink and orange did and I think the result is going to be pretty outstanding. Now I want to dye little fiber cupcakes, just to play. That will have to wait until the weekend.
4) Also. Spinning right now needs to be counted like a waltz. Draft, two, three; draft, slide, slide; one, two, three.
5) The cats are not to be trusted either in the fiber room/office, or outside of it while I am spinning. Bad cats. Also, they are very fond of roving/top. I disagree with this fondness.
A Brief Sample of Websites I Found to be Helpful in Studying for the GRE
GRE Study Sites That I Found to be Useful:
Number2, despite the hilarious name (I was mentally somewhere between 2 and 12 while I was getting ready for this thing, so forgive the immature giggling)has a section for GRE practice/study.
I think I used the math one for this quite a bit? I think that I used the math for all of them quite a bit. Ha.
I used some of the free practice programs from ETS – this is the company that publishes the GRE.
They offer the PowerPrep software for free, which is similar to (but not the same as) the test. My qualitiative scores on the verbal parts of these were higher than my final score, but my quantitative (that's the math part, right?) final test scores were higher than my practice ones with this program. That was ultimately way ironic. They also offer a writing practice test for $13, called ScoreItNow, I think. It was worth it to me to practice in a way very similar to the test, but my score for the practice was higher than the one I got for the final. But my final testing situation was very different from practice – I would suggest any practice tests that you take, to vary the order. I was pretty sure that the test would begin with the essay, then proceed through the verbal, then the math, but my math and verbal got switched, which freaked me out a little bit.
WTAMU Math Lab
This is West Texas A&M's math lab and it features a pretty good review for the math part of the test.
Number2, despite the hilarious name (I was mentally somewhere between 2 and 12 while I was getting ready for this thing, so forgive the immature giggling)has a section for GRE practice/study.
I think I used the math one for this quite a bit? I think that I used the math for all of them quite a bit. Ha.
I used some of the free practice programs from ETS – this is the company that publishes the GRE.
They offer the PowerPrep software for free, which is similar to (but not the same as) the test. My qualitiative scores on the verbal parts of these were higher than my final score, but my quantitative (that's the math part, right?) final test scores were higher than my practice ones with this program. That was ultimately way ironic. They also offer a writing practice test for $13, called ScoreItNow, I think. It was worth it to me to practice in a way very similar to the test, but my score for the practice was higher than the one I got for the final. But my final testing situation was very different from practice – I would suggest any practice tests that you take, to vary the order. I was pretty sure that the test would begin with the essay, then proceed through the verbal, then the math, but my math and verbal got switched, which freaked me out a little bit.
WTAMU Math Lab
This is West Texas A&M's math lab and it features a pretty good review for the math part of the test.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
in the spin
lovin' that spin i'm in,
that old black magic called love...
i don't know if all this sneaking and spinning is getting me anywhere, but i am certainly getting a lot of practice in right now. i stash stalked some other spinners today and one had her progression listed - she had a metric panttonshitload of fiber, in the droppiest of names in some really sweet colors. i initially tuned out because a lot of the colorways that she'd spun up already, i wasn't as hot on - there are some awesome plums and browns and sour colors and greens in her stash but a lot of tans and blues spun up, and plied up for that matter.
and i found myself being dismissive, like, oh that one doesn't look all that great, and that one is kinda wonky, but i noticed that some of the skeins were just bang-on brilliant.
nailed it as the carpenter would say, just nailed it.
and so i looked and noticed that the skeins indicated this fiberworker's entree into spinning, i don't have a fraction of the fiber she's got, still working on my eye for color and her plies are SWEET. okay fine she's got a wheel and all but still. so i looked for the spun-up skein pictures, a relatively small fraction of easter eggs in this amazing field of names i recognize and some i don't and i start reading the details on the stash entries - amazing spinner has gone and listed most of them with dates or in a sequence. i recognized my very first efforts in hers, and heartened when i saw that the magic really started to happen around skein 7. most of her spinning is plied. i've successfully completed one project of singles spinning, then plying to produce quite possibly a useable skein of yarn, so i'm at this spinner's, say, 3 or 4. i'm getting there, then. just keep spinning.
which will be super-easy once my ombre tones of shetland come in. oh i am very excited about this and have plans of coffee, red wine, low lighting and all weekend in the sanctuary with this yarn. ha. well, best laid plans and all that, so i'll probably sneak off just as much as i can for shots and quickies instead. gonna have to leave the light on.
eta: also i want to do a survey/glossary of spindles. fat chance i'll ever get a chance to mess with all of them, but to have a page with all of the information in one place, and to develop my own learning, may as well. but i'll not start on that tonight.
that old black magic called love...
i don't know if all this sneaking and spinning is getting me anywhere, but i am certainly getting a lot of practice in right now. i stash stalked some other spinners today and one had her progression listed - she had a metric panttonshitload of fiber, in the droppiest of names in some really sweet colors. i initially tuned out because a lot of the colorways that she'd spun up already, i wasn't as hot on - there are some awesome plums and browns and sour colors and greens in her stash but a lot of tans and blues spun up, and plied up for that matter.
and i found myself being dismissive, like, oh that one doesn't look all that great, and that one is kinda wonky, but i noticed that some of the skeins were just bang-on brilliant.
nailed it as the carpenter would say, just nailed it.
and so i looked and noticed that the skeins indicated this fiberworker's entree into spinning, i don't have a fraction of the fiber she's got, still working on my eye for color and her plies are SWEET. okay fine she's got a wheel and all but still. so i looked for the spun-up skein pictures, a relatively small fraction of easter eggs in this amazing field of names i recognize and some i don't and i start reading the details on the stash entries - amazing spinner has gone and listed most of them with dates or in a sequence. i recognized my very first efforts in hers, and heartened when i saw that the magic really started to happen around skein 7. most of her spinning is plied. i've successfully completed one project of singles spinning, then plying to produce quite possibly a useable skein of yarn, so i'm at this spinner's, say, 3 or 4. i'm getting there, then. just keep spinning.
which will be super-easy once my ombre tones of shetland come in. oh i am very excited about this and have plans of coffee, red wine, low lighting and all weekend in the sanctuary with this yarn. ha. well, best laid plans and all that, so i'll probably sneak off just as much as i can for shots and quickies instead. gonna have to leave the light on.
eta: also i want to do a survey/glossary of spindles. fat chance i'll ever get a chance to mess with all of them, but to have a page with all of the information in one place, and to develop my own learning, may as well. but i'll not start on that tonight.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
i have started sneaking off to spin...
the new york times has recently published an article asserting that meditation causes certain changes in the brain.
this is only because scientists and mainstream buddhists don't seem to know handspinning yet.
however. i will choose this inclement weather school closing unforeseen free time to be silly instead of serious about spinning.
when i was in portland, back in the days of couldn't afford shit, but still managed to get respectable quantities of goods both fiber (omg I LOVE YOU YARN GARDEN) and beer (SAME, HENRY WEINHARD AND NEW BELGIUM) (OMG I LOVE THAT NOSTALGIA TIME AND CAPSLOCK). i also accumulated mass quantities of things that are of the same type (mostly fiber, but includes faceted stone beads, like the sunstone that i haven't done anything with yet) but like don't match.
also, i've had the beastie boys in my head, like, well, always, lately, and so. i am in the office with my crappy but functional gifted first spindle with the pencil-sharpnered tip, you and me and all this random crap i bought for felting, we're going to have a go. apparently, in my fibrous daze, i bought stuff that was meant to be spun and it's all different colors. i am going to make something and call it hazel + tilly, after the grandmas in the beastie boys' seminal turn of the millenium hiphoptechno mashup, "intergalactic".
see also: nostalgia.
also: i'm still doing okay on the beer front. I am playing/praying with a bottle of St. Arnold's Christmas Ale. it's got a pretty label; i would send xmas cards if i could get them with the label image on them.
ETA:OMG WTF BBQ?!? tilly and hazel is a no go at this time. negative. those fibers were *not* meant for spinning except for the little local ounce of shetland from the last time i went to alaska. i think i prefer meditative spinning, although it doesn't have to be all sitar music.
this is only because scientists and mainstream buddhists don't seem to know handspinning yet.
however. i will choose this inclement weather school closing unforeseen free time to be silly instead of serious about spinning.
when i was in portland, back in the days of couldn't afford shit, but still managed to get respectable quantities of goods both fiber (omg I LOVE YOU YARN GARDEN) and beer (SAME, HENRY WEINHARD AND NEW BELGIUM) (OMG I LOVE THAT NOSTALGIA TIME AND CAPSLOCK). i also accumulated mass quantities of things that are of the same type (mostly fiber, but includes faceted stone beads, like the sunstone that i haven't done anything with yet) but like don't match.
also, i've had the beastie boys in my head, like, well, always, lately, and so. i am in the office with my crappy but functional gifted first spindle with the pencil-sharpnered tip, you and me and all this random crap i bought for felting, we're going to have a go. apparently, in my fibrous daze, i bought stuff that was meant to be spun and it's all different colors. i am going to make something and call it hazel + tilly, after the grandmas in the beastie boys' seminal turn of the millenium hiphoptechno mashup, "intergalactic".
see also: nostalgia.
also: i'm still doing okay on the beer front. I am playing/praying with a bottle of St. Arnold's Christmas Ale. it's got a pretty label; i would send xmas cards if i could get them with the label image on them.
ETA:OMG WTF BBQ?!? tilly and hazel is a no go at this time. negative. those fibers were *not* meant for spinning except for the little local ounce of shetland from the last time i went to alaska. i think i prefer meditative spinning, although it doesn't have to be all sitar music.
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