A case of the blahs and a meeting with a stranger
G'day all!
Very boring time at present. I have lots of things to do and make and you know what? I have a case of the blahs. So does Nathan. Nothing interesting to read on the net. No emails to answer. Generally nothing to report. Can't even work on Nathan's sock co I have mislaid both balls of yarn and have run out of the first ball. Started on a new sock for me. Have to do more of the sleeve for the jacket and knit up the lace top, spin several kilos of fleece, etc etc. Amazon order shipped after 10 days. Forgot to pay an invoice from an ebayer. You know the drill.
Training went well enough today - better than I expected. I hope the feedback is ok cos getting bad feedback is horrible. It really makes me re-evaluate whether I want to be in such a role. I feel like such a cretin, especially when I think I've created something Good.
The blahs will pass when the day length settles down and I work out a way to balance job with life. We are losing 10 minutes every few days at present and I really notice it. Of course in the meantime, I guess I will blog and see if we can ever crawl to the eleventy-oneth comment - still haven't gotten there yet!
Yesterday I asked what you would pay for handspun yarn. No replies so far. My email addy is spam protected on the side bar of my blog if you don't want to leave a comment cos you are worried you will get spam (happened to me - jeez I was annoyed cos I never ever got spam until I foolishly left my email addy on a blog. Spam protect your email addy on any blog comments!).
news flash
Nathan snapped at me for no reason earlier, apart from I interrupted his Dr Who viewing, which he had interrupted himself anyway by forgetting about it until 10 past six. I couldn't get the plug out of the kitchen sink cos I was carrying a head of broccoli, one of cauli, 2 carrots, the chopping board and a knife, oh yeah plus a pot and a lid. The sink was overfull and to get the plug out would mean getting my precious B5 watch in the dishwater.... So he snapped at me and I snivelled all the way through getting the vegies ready. I've felt much better since then.
I spun up some of the carded fleece I bought on Saturday into singles and the navajo plied it. (Someone on the spindlers list said they never tried navajo plying cos they thought you needed a navajo spindle, a big heavy supported one, to do that sort of plying. Never occurred to me that I couldn't navajo ply, especially after seeing how simple it is. Same for andean bracelets, except they cut the circulation off in my middle finger.) The Corriedale felt like fine steel wool through my fingers, though some bits felt much softer than others. in plying, despite the fact I thought it was overspun, it was the easiest to pull apart. The Romney felt a bit softer and pliwd more easily, though a few fluffy bits snagged kinks in the single. The Polwarth was rather nice, maybe even nicer than the merino/alpaca mix. Corriedale is supposed to be the best for new spinners but I found it a bit difficult to deal with, being rather coarse. I am used to spinning merino and merino blends, including silk. Call me a spinning snob. Next I must spin up the colonial tops and blue face leicester that kind stranger sent me but I am waiting for the Twisted Sister Sock book to lob in on the front verandah first.
Oh heck, Mother's Day thing. Only two and a bit weeks to make it. Hell's bells, what will I make? Simple lace in mostly pink yarn with bluish bits and white silky blobs. Suggestions?
I am now, when not blogging, knitting more of the sleeve of my jacket.
Still can't find Nathan's sock yarn. Quite aggravating.
Today's weird thing wot happened to me.
I wore my little poncho thing to work. I figured it would cover up the sweat marks on my top as I trained (as I may have mentioned, I was a bit nervous about this training session after being butchered in the last ones). It did the job admirably. As I took my lunchtime walk, some stupid man walked down some steps, looked my way, turned the other way, then whilst looking in the other direction walked straight at me! I managed to avoid him but my ponchoette caught on his jacket buttons. Suddenly I was dragged sideways shrieking GODSAKES! as my poncho took off in a different direction to the one I would've preferred, dragging me by the neck and half strangling me. Horrible ripping noises happening, not sure if I wanted them to be me or the poncho to be honest (I've had enough of damaging myself recently). Face to face with a strange Pom who's asking me if I am ok as I frantically disentangle myself whilst trying not to curse him with a tongue he's never heard before.*
My poor ponchoette is mostly ok. It needs some threads pulled back into place and the neckstring replaced. But what will fix my poor frazzled nerves?
(*how I wanted to be able to tell him he isa f...tard, like Gibbering's favourite word at present but I don't say those sorts of words, even if they are WAAAAAAY cool)
Cheshire and Nutmeg are on the bed at the same time. Nutmeg is giving off really grumpy vibes and her look is totally sour.... LOL!
anon!
Very boring time at present. I have lots of things to do and make and you know what? I have a case of the blahs. So does Nathan. Nothing interesting to read on the net. No emails to answer. Generally nothing to report. Can't even work on Nathan's sock co I have mislaid both balls of yarn and have run out of the first ball. Started on a new sock for me. Have to do more of the sleeve for the jacket and knit up the lace top, spin several kilos of fleece, etc etc. Amazon order shipped after 10 days. Forgot to pay an invoice from an ebayer. You know the drill.
Training went well enough today - better than I expected. I hope the feedback is ok cos getting bad feedback is horrible. It really makes me re-evaluate whether I want to be in such a role. I feel like such a cretin, especially when I think I've created something Good.
The blahs will pass when the day length settles down and I work out a way to balance job with life. We are losing 10 minutes every few days at present and I really notice it. Of course in the meantime, I guess I will blog and see if we can ever crawl to the eleventy-oneth comment - still haven't gotten there yet!
Yesterday I asked what you would pay for handspun yarn. No replies so far. My email addy is spam protected on the side bar of my blog if you don't want to leave a comment cos you are worried you will get spam (happened to me - jeez I was annoyed cos I never ever got spam until I foolishly left my email addy on a blog. Spam protect your email addy on any blog comments!).
news flash
I'm getting better!
Nathan snapped at me for no reason earlier, apart from I interrupted his Dr Who viewing, which he had interrupted himself anyway by forgetting about it until 10 past six. I couldn't get the plug out of the kitchen sink cos I was carrying a head of broccoli, one of cauli, 2 carrots, the chopping board and a knife, oh yeah plus a pot and a lid. The sink was overfull and to get the plug out would mean getting my precious B5 watch in the dishwater.... So he snapped at me and I snivelled all the way through getting the vegies ready. I've felt much better since then.
I spun up some of the carded fleece I bought on Saturday into singles and the navajo plied it. (Someone on the spindlers list said they never tried navajo plying cos they thought you needed a navajo spindle, a big heavy supported one, to do that sort of plying. Never occurred to me that I couldn't navajo ply, especially after seeing how simple it is. Same for andean bracelets, except they cut the circulation off in my middle finger.) The Corriedale felt like fine steel wool through my fingers, though some bits felt much softer than others. in plying, despite the fact I thought it was overspun, it was the easiest to pull apart. The Romney felt a bit softer and pliwd more easily, though a few fluffy bits snagged kinks in the single. The Polwarth was rather nice, maybe even nicer than the merino/alpaca mix. Corriedale is supposed to be the best for new spinners but I found it a bit difficult to deal with, being rather coarse. I am used to spinning merino and merino blends, including silk. Call me a spinning snob. Next I must spin up the colonial tops and blue face leicester that kind stranger sent me but I am waiting for the Twisted Sister Sock book to lob in on the front verandah first.
Oh heck, Mother's Day thing. Only two and a bit weeks to make it. Hell's bells, what will I make? Simple lace in mostly pink yarn with bluish bits and white silky blobs. Suggestions?
I am now, when not blogging, knitting more of the sleeve of my jacket.
Still can't find Nathan's sock yarn. Quite aggravating.
Today's weird thing wot happened to me.
I wore my little poncho thing to work. I figured it would cover up the sweat marks on my top as I trained (as I may have mentioned, I was a bit nervous about this training session after being butchered in the last ones). It did the job admirably. As I took my lunchtime walk, some stupid man walked down some steps, looked my way, turned the other way, then whilst looking in the other direction walked straight at me! I managed to avoid him but my ponchoette caught on his jacket buttons. Suddenly I was dragged sideways shrieking GODSAKES! as my poncho took off in a different direction to the one I would've preferred, dragging me by the neck and half strangling me. Horrible ripping noises happening, not sure if I wanted them to be me or the poncho to be honest (I've had enough of damaging myself recently). Face to face with a strange Pom who's asking me if I am ok as I frantically disentangle myself whilst trying not to curse him with a tongue he's never heard before.*
My poor ponchoette is mostly ok. It needs some threads pulled back into place and the neckstring replaced. But what will fix my poor frazzled nerves?
(*how I wanted to be able to tell him he isa f...tard, like Gibbering's favourite word at present but I don't say those sorts of words, even if they are WAAAAAAY cool)
Cheshire and Nutmeg are on the bed at the same time. Nutmeg is giving off really grumpy vibes and her look is totally sour.... LOL!
anon!
Glad the training went well. I hate negative feedback, too, but there'll always be the odd one, I guess. Some people just aren't going to let themselves be pleased, no matter what.
ReplyDeleteI'm not the market for your handspun yarn - I just don't 'get' the whole hand dyed / handspun thing. And it seems to me you couldn't look at selling it for less than $20/50g, and for that I could be buying stuff with silk and cashmere and all the good gear in it. ;-)
Re. the eleventy-oneth post - I feel like the kid in the back seat of the car... are we there Yet? ... are we there yet? ... are we there yet?
Jill.
I have no idea what price you should put on your hand spun as I can't knit it due to a lanolin allergy (bummer) but would guess you would need to cover original buy price and time put into spinning. (But what price do you put on time.)
ReplyDeleteLike reading your blog entries.
Cathy
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteAbout the handspun - you should ask Monica on justdoit or at her blog (monnsqueak.blogdrive.com) for advice. She rainbow-dyes yarn, sometimes handspun, sometimes not, and sells it on eBay. And, if you pass Quality Control, you may be able to sell through the HW&S Guild. Most people seem to be aiming to cover the cost of the fibre, plus a little bit. They certainly don't seem to be in it as a profit-making venture.
My big thing with buying handspun (or not) is a) I'm learning to do that myself and b) it's often hard to get enough to do anything with.
See you soon!
Darrow
"I don't say those sorts of words, (even if they are WAAAAAAY cool)"
ReplyDeleteheh heh
Um, me neither!!
Whooops, was that lighting striking at me? Again?
I love your writing style, and the travel pics were AWESOME!!
Mmm dont mention mothers day! I never even got the WOOL for my mothers jumper let alone started it! I am such a failure! lol..Might have to make it for Chrissie (yep..summer is a great time for knitted pressies)...
ReplyDeleteKatt