New Blog

I've moved on from the original premise of this blog, so I'm in the process of building a new one. Not much content yet, but check back!

SpingirlSpins.com

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On Sale!!

Hey, yeah...so it's been a while...

This is a quick post to say that I've decided to close my Etsy shop for a while. I've marked everything down by at least 15%, so take a look at the remaining yarns and fibers.


The shop is officially closed. Thanks, everyone!

More later. Really.

Morning Has Broken...Me

Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person. I've tried, really I have. I've been told that you can get used to getting up early if you do it long enough, but I figure at this stage of life, it ain't gonna happen. I mean, there were twelve years of getting up early for school, then a couple of years of getting up early for a job, then a brief moment (about 15 months) after marriage when I could indulge my sluggy self and sleep as late as I wanted, followed by infant/toddler/preschooler times two (which meant not sleeping a whole night through PLUS early mornings for a few years), then getting up early to get them off to school, then seven years driving a school bus. Trust me--if becoming a morning person depended only on getting up early long enough, I'd beat even the early bird to the worm. But the truth is that the last day of getting up at 5:30 to drive the bus was every bit as horrible as the first day. After I left that job, I scored a job with extremely flexible hours and immediately slumped back into slug mode.

But recently, I've been getting up early (for me, anyway) for the temp job with the Census Bureau. And, ya know, it wasn't that bad. Sure, that hideous noise of the cell phone alarm going off in my ear was totally obnoxious, but I changed the sound to a "perkier" one that doesn't make me want to hurl the phone against the wall (fortunately, my fast-twitch muscles take even longer to wake up than the rest of me. If I even have fast-twitch muscles, that is.) If I got up right away instead of mashing the snooze button, I discovered that I was relatively alert and not totally dying. I can't imagine why things would have changed. Maybe it has something to do with getting older, or maybe it's just that 7:30 feels almost like midday after seven years of 5:30 wake-ups. Whatever, I decided that I would try getting up at 7:30 every day, at least for this week, and see how it went.

Well. It's now about 3:30. I have done the dishes, washed sheets, blocked the Swallowtail Shawl that I finished last night (yes! A finish! Actually one of two!!), planted marigolds, beans, watermelons, and rosemary, potted up the basil and oregano, washed and blocked a sweater front, done some Bible study, combed some of the Border Leicester fleece I bought a couple of months ago, and made yogurt. Oh, yeah, and I've knitted a little too.

This is astounding. Of course, I'm very tired right now and will probably need to take a little nappy-poo shortly, but I'm feeling mighty virtuous at the moment. Think of all the projects I may be able to get done! I do hope this lasts.

I'm a Little Embarrassed

Yeah, two months since the last post. You might think that I've been insanely busy and that's why I haven't posted, but it's not really true. I have been working a temp job with the Census Bureau, but even though the part-time hours do make me tired (stoopid fibromyalgia) that's not my excuse for not writing. I actually have none--it's been laziness and nothing more.

I have been knitting and quilting, though! I am winding up a Big Stinkin' Project, so I'm tickled pink about that. I put the binding on a quilt yesterday and started stitching it down by hand, so a couple more hours and it will be DONE! Now guess how long it's been a WIP. Go on, take a guess...dum dee dum dee dum...ready? I started this quilt in 1994. Yeah. That's pretty bad, huh? Wanna know something worse? It's not my oldest WIP.

But I have (sort of) redeemed myself with the sweater that I'm finishing. It's a Central Park Hoodie (yeah, I'm a lemming. Shut up.) There are almost 3500 of these sweaters listed on the project pages of Ravelry. Who knows how many more are being made by knitters like myself who are too lazy busy to post pictures.

Some people refuse to knit something that's being made or has been made by everybody and her sister, but there's usually a reason why a pattern becomes insanely popular. Now that I've made one (ok, almost made one) I see the appeal. It's cute. It's easy. It fits well. It doesn't take an insane amount of yarn, and you can easily change it up by leaving the hood off and knitting a collar instead. It's easy. It went fast. Did I mention that it's easy? If I should decide that I want to make one for somebody, like for an anniversary gift or something, it won't take forever. Not that I'm thinking about anniversary gifts or anything.  Just sayin'.

Anyway, all that's left is the side seams and crocheting button loops. I might even leave the button loops off, but I'll decide that when I get the sides sewn up.

So check back in a few days. I may actually have finished project pictures!! Astounding!

It's Gonna Be One of Those Weeks

1. I found out last night that my driver's license expired 12 days ago.
2. I had to buy a pair of jeans and a top yesterday because nothing I own fits me anymore.
3. I turned over in bed last night and my neck locked up. Again. Which means no knitting, spinning, or pretty much anything else.
4. It also means a trip to the Evil Massage Therapist.
5. Hot flashes.

Why I Love Ravelry

Ok, this is only one reason, but it's a really good one. Last week I started a shawl with a skein of Socks That Rock mill ends that I bought at Ball and Skein, a shop in Germantown OH that I finally visited recently. (Lots of gorgeous yarns and very cool people hang out there!) The shawl pattern is "198 Yards of Heaven" and although it calls for worsted weight, it's a pattern that works in just about any weight. And you can just keep knitting until it's the size you like, which is what I did. Unfortunately, though, it soon became clear that I would need more of the same yarn. What to do, what to do?? Ravelry to the rescue! I hopped on, pulled up the yarn page, typed "STR" in the search box, and voila! Thousands and thousands of skeins of STR in stashes everywhere. I narrowed the search to those for sale, and halfway through the fifth page, there was my yarn! I hadn't known the name of the colorway, but discovered that it's "Sugar Plum." One message to the seller, one message back, a quick side trip to Paypal, and my new yarn is making its way to me as I speak. Er, type.

And tonight, I pulled out another shawl to finish--one that only needed fringe cut and looped on. (Yes, it was a single evening's worth of work that I postponed for some strange reason. Remember the long-unfinished scarf that only required 7 rows to be done? Yeah, exactly like that.)  A couple of episodes of "Mythbusters" later, and I was almost done. Only...I ran out of the Zen ribbon yarn I was using. And it's discontinued. What to do, what to do?

You already know. I'm just waiting on a message.

Ravelry rocks. Seriously.

Coming Out of the Hole

"The Hole" would be the Ravelympics. It took up most of my time the past couple of weeks, but I enjoyed it. My project was to spin the walnut-dyed fleece (that story here) and knit it into a sweater. I'll wait while you stop laughing...

As I was saying, spinning and knitting. Yep, big project, but I dove into it head-first. I ignored housework (oh, yeah, like that's something new!), got behind on both blogging and reading blogs, totally relied on The Husband for take-out food, and let the daily newspaper pile up.

Things started well. I started spinning on Saturday, Feb. 13, and cast on for the sweater on the following Monday. I alternated the spinning and knitting and got one sweater front, one sleeve, and most of the second sleeve done by midway through the second week of work. But then I ran into trouble, because my neck and shoulders seized up. I was in so much pain that I was nauseated, so off to the chiropractor and massage therapist I went. (I think that massage therapist must have be a former KGB agent or something. How can someone cause so much agony with just her pinky finger??)

So the project didn't get finished, but I'm still happy with the fact that I was able to focus on one project only for all of two weeks. That's awesome for me! (Another knitter asked me the other day if I am monogamous--I had to admit that I'm a total WIPslut. Actually, what she said was, "Are you monogamous, or do you have three or four projects going at the same time?" I think she was a bit puzzled by my semi-hysterical laughter. Three or four projects? Uh.....)

The bad news is that I'm still struggling with the neck/back/shoulder issue, and that even sitting here typing is making me hurt. So I'll wander off to get some breakfast and take more Aleve, and maybe get back with pictures in a day or two. If you're on Ravelry, you can find a few here.

Can't Talk Now

Long time since last post.

Participating in Ravelympics.

Have 38 ounces of fleece to spin and sweater to knit.

Gotta go...