Friday

It's finally Friday. I feel guilty that I have not been writing about spinning every day, but I do not have anything exciting to say other than its been lovely to sit. I can't offer technical information because I am such a beginner I am still inchworm spinning. So far though I have finished a skein of alpaca:



And a skein of iceberg blue merino:



Now I am spinning the colored Coopworth I'd gotten when I first bought the wheel and am thinking to ply it with this lovely ball of brown stuff that had no label:

Helena

Helena is an adorable pattern!

Day Two

I’ve never purposely sat down to spin and use it as a meditative practice. That being said, it has all the earmarks that meditating used to have for me. My back starts killing me. My mind spins out of control (look at Addi running in her sleep and oh, everyone else is passed out too. They are making that dog star pattern around me again. What is that anyway? Wish I could sit outside and spin – tomorrow I’ll sit on the front porch ‘cause the neighbors might be finally sleeping. Should I do a load of laundry before I go to sleep? WOOLEE WINDER!!) and so on before I remember to go back to my breath and whoosh, my hands soften and I relax and I can’t get over how beautiful everything is.

Alpaca sure is sweet to spin.

Summertime and Day One - Le Tour de Fleece 2008

The frogs are so loud tonight they are drowning out the neighbors (no small feat there). It's beautiful weather here and has been a wonderful weekend potzing around the house. The lightning bugs are amazing. We'd gotten a mosquito machine last summer and I can sit on the porch even after dark without suffering miserably from them.

I finished Helena and its blocking. I'm still not sure it will fit but at least I know Lynnette won't mind if it doesn't.

A friend of ours' daughter is having a baby girl who is due in four weeks so I cast on for EZ's February Baby Sweater. I tore my stash apart looking for cotton for it (especially after reading Elizabeth's endearing introduction in Knitter's Alamanac) and ended up settling for an acrylic blend. The family lives in the south and I thought it would be easier than wool (or at least not as warm being that it will be high summer when she is born).

The garden is as rumpled as ever and reminds me of a crazy quilt. My foot is much better now so I have no excuse to weed.

Speedwort and Bee Balm:



Orange Coneflower (it's second year):



A Peony from a bulb/rhizome (I'm sold on bulbs this year!):



Sweet Pea / Yellow Daisy annual:



Remember the purple clematis on the other side of the arbor? Gus or Phoenix peed on it so it is half dead now. One stem is all right though so I think it will make it through.

White Coneflower (this is its third year - look how much smaller it is):



The whole garden:



I took this shot of the woodpile in the driveway standing at the base of it. I've been studiously ignoring it but my husband is very proud of it:



All weekend I've been thinking about Le Tour de Fleece 2008. I rootled through the fiber I have to spin. I do not have a lot (one large Rubbermaid container) but some of it is at least five years old. Thinking I would pick one and focus on just that to spin, I found fiber I'd gotten when I first got my wheel:



And some I'd gotten at Rhinebeck two years later:



In the end, I decided to set my goal to spin a half hour to an hour every day. I love to spin as much for its meditative process as the product but am not consistent. Honestly, I don't sit and meditate regularly either. So for today then, I spun for an hour and was able to finish a bobbin of alpaca and start the second. I am starting where I am.

Tour de Fleece 2008

I'm so excited! I just joined Le Tour de Fleece 2008. I am trying to decide what my ultimate goal will be. I have a tiny bit of Shetland to spin so I can empty the bobbins and then I'm trying to decide from my stash what to spin.

Also, I finished the sleeves of Helena! Just have to sew the hem and knit the edging with ties.