Mean ole Spinster

Damn the xmas knitting - I'm crawling out of that impossible hole to pretend I am not so ambitious anymore. In the words of dear rabbit lady, la la la Ican't hear you...

I'm such a copy cat. In fact, it is my phobia of that which has kept me from talking much about spinning lately. We all know who the queen of Spinning Tuesdays is so I wouldn't even think of doing that. Here in Maine we have our own little famous group of spinners called the 'Wednesday Spinners'. They do much of the teaching of spinning/fiber workshops at the Common Ground Fair every year. So, no Wednesdays, either.

Sometime around Thursday or Friday, the meteor monsoon of 'hurry like hell to get these many impossible farm tasks done while hubster won't be at work this weekend' begins to settle in and that combined with the housekeeping of having everyone home ALL DAY - hungry - together - and messy - leaving me with very little to do all weekend but clean, follow hubster and be useful, and hide in my room. Sitting at the computer is like a flashing neon sign reading, "YaLL, SHE'S NOT DOING ANYTHING!" and boy, oh boy, doesn't it send them a howling like a pack of wild dogs! So, no Fri/Sat spinning, either. Sunday is a day of total denial and, with the exception of today, I try to stay looking submissive and catatonic in a healthy way so, sgain, a bad day. But MONDAY, that could work for me. However, since I know myself, and believe me, when they proclaim the queen of all flakiness, I will only lose because I'm not a very good smiler (prefer the quiet, scary pose, myself) that I will not win the title. I will, however, provided I remember and show up on the right day, trip her as she smiles her purdy self down the aisle....because, you know, I'm small. Well, large really, but small on the inside - where it counts. Damned xmas knitting. La la la!

The astute will notice that I have recently re-kindled a long (duh, obviously) fascination with this interchangeable colourway I call Big Sky. The roving I had done up is a little too light for my tastes but because it has brown alpaca in it I love it stil. These skeins were made from an batt that I made last year and, I gotta say, they have reminded me how much I love spinning from batts. I cheated when I realized that roving is easier to spin from - but that is only because some of these batts are my earliest ones - before I realized that the third time is the charm. A good batt is a satisfying spin that will enable you to totally obliterate color 'restriction' Batts, made by 'layering' on the goods, really give you ultimate control. The purple, here, looks drab and usual because my camera is bad, bad, bad and also I have terrible karma (note said bah humbugness and tendency to be vindictive above). In real life, it is a frosty grey purple with ample strands of gold, silver, white, and purple sari silk and a twinkle of glitz that gives it a bit of sparkle but doesn't look too vampish. It is so awesome that thing 1 is practically begging me for it. You know, it looks 'elvish' and anyone who is anyone knows that this IS the new look, or the old look, or just a way to make knitting sleeves more torturous for poor little mean me. The big sky is also on the scene today to prove that, although I like spinning singles better and am really liking knitting them much better, I am not starting a campaign against all plying. The batts spun one strand, and a dark brown alpaca strand plied with it - are so, uh, tweedy. I think I like it...but I change so quickly.

On the bobbin this week, this green stuff I called 'Fortune' some year or so ago. It have many shades of green cotswold, white silk, and green strands of sari silk throughout. It's all shimmer and flash but, do I love it? I am so torn with this one. I KINDA love it. Sometimes, I walk in to get a little spin on and I am taken with it, dreaming green. Sometimes, I walk in and realize what a serial killer with 40 heads in his fridge must experience when the police come through as they look at him, horrified, and say 'why the heck would you do that?'. Who knows what I'll decide. So, it is the last two of these batts and some old mermaid batts that I kept (hoarded) back from selling because they 'looked at me imploringly'. Really, do you think something's wrong with me?