Sunday, May 20, 2007

Ahhh, Sweet Freedom

Well, sort of.

I am free to spin the yarns I want to--no more socks for a while! I am free to spin or knit when I want to. The family has scattered for the long weekend, and as much as I love them all, I am free from cooking and cleaning (not that I really do that, anyway) and driving.

So what do I do to celebrate this newfound freedom. Invite people over for dinner and plan a gourmet meal. Spin samples for my upcoming seminars. Finish UFOs.

Boy do I know how to live!

I did take some time to see a couple of movies--while I was spinning. I highly recommend The Queen, Dreamgirls, and Shortbus. But only watch Shortbus if you have no aversion to penises--you see one or two--or any other material of a graphically sexual nature. Just a warning, Mom.

I took Teagan to the dog park today. She loves to see the other dogs, but is a little overwhelmed by the big ones. There were a Cockapoo and Shih-Tsu/Poodle cross there that were her size, but those Labs and Shepherds were not quite her cup of tea. Gan. Get it? Ha, ha?

Tonight is a seafood feast for me and the boys and the season finale of The Simpsons.

I said it before: Boy do I know how to live.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

It's Done!

My in-depth study is done! I put it in the mail to my instructor yesterday, and now all I have to do is wait for her comments and changes and I will officially be a Master Spinner. Huzzah! This mother has taken me two years, with interruptions for broken bones, surgeries, and strokes, but it is OVER. Yeeehaw!

No on to the next thing...I am making a series of recycled yarn samples for a seminar I will be giving at the ANWG conference in Red Deer next month. I am trying to illustrate specific techniques and ideas, but I seem to go off on tangents. I have this great big bag of scraps, bits, and just plain crappy fibre sitting in the middle of the living room, and every time I glance at it, I see a great new yarn idea. I am currently obsessed with lumpy garnet yarns, using noils and huge cuts of yarn. I have enough samples of this type of yarn for 6 seminars. I need to focus on some other types of yarns, but I clearly have my favorite.
















I dont' have any pics of the finished yarns uploaded yet, but here's a shot of one of the blends being carded. Like, I said, lumpy with big noils.

I will also be teaching a spindling workshop and leading a seminar on felted knits in Red Deer, so there is a great frenzy of sorting and stacking going on in between spinning bouts. The conference is 5 wweks away, but the excitement is already building--these will be my first workshops since the Great Hippo Attack of Ought-Five, so I am nervous about getting back into the teaching mode.

Enough rambling, more spinning!