Sheepy Day

I got to pet sheep (and a doggy) today!

It was a drippy day... not the best for photographing sheep and lambs. (The lambs were indoors.) However, I got to pet them, and feel their soft, fuzzy chins. I also helped de-floss a sheep (it had some felted fiber tangled around it's teeth).

And I got to spin (until the humidity made my wheel cranky). :D

On the way to the sheep farm, we stopped quickly in at a garage sale. I got a lovely glass pitcher, and a wooden box with sliding lid that will make a great spindle box for either my golding spindle or spalted maple spindle. :) (I think both of those should fit, but my maggie will be too big.) Not bad for $2.

All and all, a lovely day. (Do you suppose the "rapture" took the nut job religious fanatics away? That would be even nicer.)

Windwheel Repair

*cough* *cough*... Note to self: although it doesn't smell, pay attention to the "work in a well ventilated area" warning! (I meant to have the windows open, but forgot. I've got a cross-breeze going now, and am in a different room. Opening the windows at +1C is a bit nippy.)

I finally got around to gluing the upper wheel on my Windwheel spinning wheel. I meant to do this repair outside on a nice sunny day, but somehow that never happened this summer. So, kitchen it is. For those who are interested, I took photos of the steps (except the actual gluing... I needed to focus then, to get the glue *only* where I wanted it):





Here you can see the crack better:

It turns out it wasn't *completely* separated... there were strands joining the two parts. This made gluing more challenging.

These clamps were to go through the holes:

It turns out it's difficult to get clamps that are small enough to fit in the holes, while being long enough to span the holes. This pair *just* fit the bill once I removed the pads... but then there were no pads. So I added a few layers of newspaper to minimize marking.

Dry run:

The newspaper around the wheel is for two reasons: protect the wood from the ratchet, and to keep the strap from being permanently glued to the wheel. ;)

Glued & clamped:



Now we wait...

First Night

I was going to spin the first night... but my wheel had an accident:

I had taken the front nut and bobbin off to oil the wheel, when I realized I didn't have anything to wipe the dirty oil off with. I walked over to get a paper towel from the kitchenette. While my back was turned, two guys came over to look at my wheel, and picked it up to read the writing on the back. The flywheel slid off, hit the ground, and cracked right through.

I had really been looking forward to using my wheel at the retreat... it's been too long since I've had time to spin.

It should be repairable... I just need to get some clamps and epoxy cement. (I've been in contact with the current maker of the wheel, and that's what he recommends.) I haven't had time to go shopping yet... perhaps next weekend. (I have the little bit of missing wood in a safe place.)

Since I couldn't spin, I finished sewing the leather bottoms on my new felted slippers. (These are the ones I felted quite a while ago... too many projects, too little time.) After wearing them for a bit, I remembered to snap a quick photo the next day, on the way back from the cafeteria:


Since I finally had my new slippers ready to wear, I was finally able to "darn" my old pair when I got back home.

"Darn":

Fibre Retreat

I'll be blogging the fibre over several posts... there's too much to cram into one post! Speaking of cramming, look at the ridiculous amount of stuff I packed for the weekend:

I felt a bit better when my ride said she had the same problem. Then I saw what others were hauling into the lodge... I fit right in. ;)

Due to work commitments, my ride and I arrived relatively late. Most people had already set up in the common area:


Here's the lodge that most of us called home last weekend:

Handspun!

Tactile Fiber Arts is having a contest, where you enter by sending them photos of something you knit with their yarn, or yarn you spun from their fiber. Recently I finished a bit of spinning (yeah, I need to blog that too), was trying to decide what to spin next, and figured that something that could enter me in a contest was cool. :) (And more time sensitive than my other spinning projects.) I had three blends to choose from:

50-50 merino silk, 50-50 merino tencel, and 50-50 merino yak, all in the colourway "Thunderstorm". I decided to start with the merino silk blend. Here's the singles in progress:

I had been warned about "crocking" (excess dye coming off on my hands), and boy, did it ever! Hee hee:

I felt like Violet Beauregard, or perhaps Smurfette. Thankfully, a bit of soap and water took care of the blue, and no pressing was necessary. ;) When I chain-plied the yarn, it also crocked on my pants where it rubbed:

but a trip through the laundry cleaned up that too.

Here's the finished yarn with flash:

and in daylight:

Today

Today started late, and didn't exactly go as planned, but I did get stuff done.

I started off by sleeping until noon. Whoops! I think I'm fighting off getting a nasty bug that's going around. And after the crazy week I had last week, I *needed* the sleep.

My neighbour, J, came over and thanked me for looking after her place, paid me back for the cat food, etc, and gave me a gift as a thank-you. She also thinks that the guy, who I am now referring to as "the d!ckwad" (although not necessarily to her, mostly because I don't want her kids picking up the language), is annoying/messed up/rude/whatever. (She kept trying to get the phone from him when he was being rude to me...)

When I got my laundry downstairs, there was a line. :( I did still manage to get it all done by about 9:30, so that was good.

I carried my second batch of finished desk pieces upstairs:

(I have a bunch of "desk update" photos that I haven't uploaded, plus ones that show the construction more.)

Due to late laundry, I didn't get anything new done on the desk, though. I will tomorrow, though.

I washed a week's worth of dishes, and then promptly made more dirty dishes by baking a loaf of bread and eating dinner. (With all the craziness and busyness this week, dishes just didn't get washed.)

I had another run-in with the d!ckwad... he was coming down from J's place, sauntering along slowly and *smoking* in the hallway! When I angrily told him that wasn't allowed, he half-smiled and shrugged, in a "who's going to stop me" way. When I repeated myself, he stopped sauntering (instead of apologizing, putting the cigarette out, and/or hurrying to get the cigarette outside), and said "I didn't know." I was getting madder by the second, pointed out the sign on the door that was *right* at eye level... and ended up grabbing his arm and dragging him outside. He said that constituted assaulting him, and I just repeated that he wasn't allowed to smoke in the hall. He wouldn't let go of the door handle so that I could shut the door and keep the smoke out. Since prying his fingers off would have required me to be rough enough to cause him temporary pain, I instead grabbed his cigarette (which happened to break it) and throw it away from the doorway. That made him more pissed, and he went upstairs to whine to J to give him another cigarette. I looked at the other lady from the building who was there with me, and commented that smoking was allowed in the suites, but not the hallways, and she gave me a look like she wouldn't have gotten as worked up as me (she's a smoker), but agreed that he was breaking the rules. I went out and made sure the cigarette butt was out, and then went upstairs. D!ckwad was whining to J, who was stating that smoking was indeed not allowed in the halls, and he shouldn't have been smoking there. I looked at her, and said that he was also half-parked in my spot, and that I needed it tonight. She said he'd be leaving right away. D!ckwad then said I should apologize to him, and I told him I didn't in fact owe him an apology, since he was breaking the rules. When I said I'd call the landlord, he snarkily said "oh, I'm so *scared* of the landlord"... so I said I'd call the cops instead. (I think I said this part when he was downstairs.) At any rate, he clearly wasn't going to admit *any* wrongdoing, and it looked like he'd cause J less trouble if I left the scene. I'll talk to J tomorrow about what happened.

I used my new scraper tool to scrape the mystery spots off my kitchen windows. (I tried washing them the other weekend, only to discover stubborn specks of something left by a previous tenant on the inside, and really persistent dirt on the outside. Also, the inside panes don't seem to be removable, so I can't wash the "outsides" of the inside panes.)

I assembled the frames for two pieces that will be in the art show in two weekends:

Now, except for cards, I think I'm pretty much ready for the art show. (I need to get my cards e-mailed to my mom so she can print them for me, and then I need to assemble them. I can e-mail her some files that I prepared for the last show, but I want to make cards out of some of my newer pieces too, and I don't have those done.)

Finally, K came over tonight, providing me with a nice ear to gripe to, followed by soothing spinning:

The fleece is all nuppy, so I'm spinning a "novelty" yarn. :) The colours are *sooooo* pretty! Different shades of purple. :)

And I read the electric meter. And answered some questions on the forums for my job. The parts of today that I've been awake for have definitely been busy. I should go to bed now, so that I can get up early enough to accomplish even more tomorrow... I want to get as much done on the desk as possible (winter is coming), go grocery shopping, and have dinner with my family.

Well, I should fold and put away the clean laundry that is spread all over my (thankfully already made) bed, and *then* go to sleep. ;)

Mean Murphy

I'm convinced Murphy doesn't want me spinning. My wheel is still acting up, so I got my handspindle back in action... only to throw out my back! Here's (some of) what's in progress... or would be in progress, were things different:

Sheeples roving, Monkey plus melon:


Alpaca silk blend (from Three Waters Farm, a small sample bought to try it out:

My back is actually better enough that I can spin again, but then I was too busy, and then my cold happened, and now that I'm feeling a bit better with the cold, I'm too busy again... *sigh*

Spinning

For some reason that I can't remember now, I was feeling stressed out on March 12. Predrafting half of this Pigeonroof Studios roving helped:

The next night I was able to start spinning:

I haven't done anything with it since... I'll get back to it soon. It's *purdy*!

D is for Daddy

D is for Daddy

My daddy is handy... he made me this bobbin. Although I didn't help with this, we do make other things together. Two of my bookshelves are recent projects of ours. Coming up this summer: an under-counter cutting board, learning to do wood turning, and hopefully also welding up a second oven rack. What do you do with your daddy?

Living Room

Most of my apartment isn't looking that good (rooms with nothing, or rooms with boxes and junk, etc), but my living room looks quite presentable. :) Click through for notes.






(Note: art will go up after I've gotten everything else moved in... I want to make sure all the furniture is in it's final place before I start putting holes in the walls.)

Bobbins

Testing

Dad brought over a second bobbin shaft, and except for being a bit noisier than normal, it worked like a charm! I spun up this wee little skein to test it. Dad's taken the shaft home to add ends. I'm going to have extra bobbins! Yay!!!

Bobbins

Dad brought over a potential bobbin core for me to try out:

It fit, and was functional, although it was noisier, and I think also stiffer than my Ettrick bobbin. We're going to play a bit before giving up and buying the real deal. (I tried looking for metal tubing, but everything was measured in outer-diameter, and so none had the correct inner diameter. :P )

The test fiber is a sample I got with my Terra Bella Spun order. I used the middle hook on my wheel so that I didn't have to worry about the "bobbin" not having ends to hold the yarn on.

Wheel Case

I added the padding to the bottom of the wheel case (not photographed), and also created a sleeve to protect the places where wooden parts come in contact when the wheel is folded:

I also went over to dad's, and he measured my bobbin and shaft... we're going to attempt making extra bobbins! :)

I Coulda Been A Contendah

Are there any contests for "worst sewn zipper"? Because I have a pretty strong entry. (It's a good thing I'm not trying to make a living as a seamstress! I really should stick to straight seams on non-slippery, non-stretchy fabric. And use more pins. And perhaps locate a zipper presser foot...) However, the zipper zips, unzips, is sturdy, and functional. Should anyone mock my seaming skills, I shall simply state that it serves it's purpose, and not let them get me down.

What am I talking about? Well, I now have a case for my spinning wheel! I designed the pattern myself:

(...using much math, measuring and scribbling.) The cutting of the pieces went well:

My downfall, as usual, was the actual sewing. However, it fits, and it works. That is enough for me. (For now. Perhaps one day I'll decide to do a better seamed version.)

I've only put a short handle on so far. I plan to add a longer shoulder strap (hence the extra nylon webbing shown above), but I haven't quite decided how to place it.

I used a significant amount of thread on this... mostly on the dozens of seams holding the zipper on. ;)

At least I have a way to take my spinning wheel on the bus now!

I may add a bit of padding in places that will have to deal with the most wear... particularly under the metal wheel thingy that the treadle is attached to, since it rests on the ground when the wheel is folded. (I can't see fabric lasting long when it ends up between metal and, for example, concrete.

PS: Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Although I didn't have a party (or any cake for that matter), I did have a great weekend. I will have a party... but when life gets less crazy than it has been. ;) (Moving, a cracked rib, a new job, a stolen licence plate... for some reason I've been incredibly busy!)