Back to Basics

Drop spindle, white Corriedale

Sometimes, it's nice to get back to the basics.
Even though Buggy has a lovely chocolate brown Corriedale on its bobbin, I decided to work on a drop spindle project for a little bit.

I started this for the Ravelenic Games back in July, thinking I might actually finish it within those 2 weeks...on top of the 5 knitting projects I had picked out. Hahahaha, yeah right.

So it's been sitting in my basked, waiting for me to pick it back up, to finish the second half of the roving, and ply it together with its sister.

There is something even more relaxing and satisfying about spinning on a spindle, I think. Everything is done by hand; supplying the spin, adding the twist, handling the fibers, coaxing the roving into the perfect thickness. Of course you still do the same thing with a wheel. You still have to hold the roving, you still have to draft it out and make sure you're getting the right thickness. But I feel like a spindle is more of an accomplishment. Kind of like hand sewing versus sewing on a machine. You still need to know what you're doing, but the machine makes it easier. For me, a spinning wheel makes spinning easier.

It also gives me a new appreciation of the way things used to be done. Before spinning wheels were invented, and before spinning machines came to be, this is how people made yarn and fabric. Until the mid-1700's rural households still helped make a majority of the textiles. Merchants would give them the raw materials, the families would spin and weave them for a little bit of money, and the merchants would get back usable fabric. All done by hand. How crazy is that? It wasn't uncommon for women to take a spindle with them when they had to trek anywhere so they could work on the go. It makes me feel connected somehow.

While Buggy will probably always be my go-to piece of equipment if I want to make yarn, I'll still use my spindles for sometimes projects. For when I want to get really into my spinning, when I want to handle the fibers as much as possible, or when I want to make something incredibly fine. Floss anyone?

Minecrack

My BIL purchased a game on the xBox 360 called Minecraft. It came out first for the computer, and I watched a few videos about it online. It looked incredibly boring. Your character pops into a world with nothing on him, and you have no tutorial that tells you what to do (a bit like a metaphor for life I suppose).

DH convinced me to play it with him, and after my initial "this is stupid" reaction,  I played by myself. And oh my goodness is it addicting!

I spent the first ten minutes hacking away at dirt and trees, shoving into my (I'm assuming) pants pocket on the way. Then I accidentally pulled open the "crafting" menus and found out that I could turn my blocks of wood into planks, which could become a crafting table. Since I had nothing else planned with the wood, aside from maybe stacking it attractively in a corner,  I figured I might as well.

With a crafting table placed in the middle of the woods, I walked around to explore. I came across a bunch of cows, pigs, and sheep, and hacked away at them with a block of dirt until they died. Hey, I needed to eat! Then it became dark and I came across a funny looking green creature. I thought that maybe it was a strange mythical animal, and approached to whack it with my dirt....and was promptly blown up...and lost all my dirt and wood. =.=

So I started again. And was killed by a zombie.
So I started again. And was killed by a spider.
So I started again. And this time I dug myself a little hole in the ground and sat there as soon as the sun went down. I was not going to die again!

All this happened a week ago.
Since then I have made myself weapons and armor, I have figured out how to mine for iron and diamonds. I have even made myself a cozy little house with a basement right next to my old hidey hole. Which was blown up because I forgot to close the door and a darn green thing followed me down. >.>

Minecraft, I have learned is a lot like Legos. Only it's on the xBox. You're given a world of materials that you can shape into anything you want! But in order to really enjoy the game you need a project. You need to want to make something otherwise you'll get bored after a while. The only thing holding you back is your own imagination....or exploding green things...and zombie...and spiders.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to playing. I left cow in charge of the house, and I'm sure that he and sheep are going to tear the place apart...and that desert to the left really needs a gigantic obsidian castle in the middle.

Oh come on!

While I sat in the school library today, arguing with a school laptop, I glanced up and saw a girl sitting across the way, moving her hands in a very familiar rhythm. Even though her backpack was in the way (out of which hung a bright pink strand of yarn), and she was sitting at an angle to me, it was easy to see that she was making a hooking motion with her right hand. In her lap was a mass of pink and I got so excited to see someone else doing something crafty in public that I almost got up to talk to her.

And then she lifted up her left hand, presumably to untangle herself from the pink. And in her left hand she held a loom....

COME ON!! D=<

Suffice it to say I hunkered down even more on the couch and didn't move. Instead I argued with the dumb laptop a little more and studiously ignored the loom of lies. By now, you lot probably know my thoughts on looms and the lies it produces. If you don't know, go read this entry. I've ranted about looms before.

*grumbles* Looms....knitting....pah!

Thoughts of a designer

The ground was covered in frost, crunching softly underfoot. Frozen puddles blended in with the walkways, making them hard to see and dangerous. The morning air bit at fingers and noses; breath came out in puffs. The coffee in my cup had been brewed a while ago. The splash of half and half the barista had added wasn't enough to mask the bitter taste of coffee left standing too long. But at eight in the morning it was the best I could do on campus grounds.
Swirls of steam curled out of the cup as I carefully popped off the top. And then, I saw it...

GLOVES! Oh my god I need to make some gloves with swirled designs all over it. Like steam rising off the cuff or something. And then I plopped the top back on and pranced off to class.

And that is pretty much how my brain works most of the time. Especially when I think about designing something new, or when I decide I want to try a pretty new pattern. My mind is kind of all over the place like that.
In other news I'll hopefully publish a new pattern in the next couple of days or so. My testers are taking entirely too long in my opinion, so I might just publish it without waiting for the last three people to finally get it together. I suppose I shouldn't be too miffed since they are doing this for free, but for goodness sake, even with Holidays it should not take someone over a month to knit a pair of mittens or fingerless mitts. Ridiculous...

Imma be a teacher!

I went on a mini job hunt the other day, stopping by all the local businesses I frequent to see if they were needing any help. So far nothing. Then again I shouldn't have expected any different since the holidays just wrapped up, so a lot of places are letting their seasonal employees go. But when I stopped by my LYS (local yarn shop) I was told that she does need some instructors. So after a lot of thought I decided to give it a go; if it doesn't work out I can always just tell the owner that I'm not cut out for instructing people.

I'm getting stuff together to teach a color work class, and I'm getting excited and nervous all at the same time. There is no date set yet, and I pretty much get to decide what day anyways, since the owner told me to get back to her with what time would work best for me. But while I'm browsing through patterns I can't help but wonder what people would want to practice with. My first color work project was a pair of Totoro mitten for my little sister. Mittens...so I'm not exactly the best person to come to when it comes to simple projects. But I'll figure it out and hopefully come up with something interesting. I can always practice on my sister-in-law I'm sure...she knows the basics, how hard can it be to teach her how to knit with two color at the same time?

No-Years Resolutions

Every first of the year I make resolutions; work out more, eat healthier, drink less, make more friends (I hate people so that usually doesn't pan out), be an overall better person.
This year I didn't. I did not make a single resolution. I never keep them anyways, so why the hell bother? And so far, I'm doing better at my no-years resolutions then I do any other year.

For example, today was the third day that I struck up conversations with total strangers. Now if you know me, you'd know that I hate talking to strangers. Maybe it's a combination of being told "don't talk to stranger" when I was little, and classmates teasing me for my accent when I first came to America (children can be incredibly cruel) that has deterred me from taking to people. But so far, I have struck up conversations on three separate occasions, with three separate people. Mom even asked "what's wrong with you?" today when I proudly announced I talked with someone for nearly 10 minutes in line. Lines are amazing places to talk to people.

School is going...well? I feel like I haven't learned anything yet,. Then again it's only been three days. I should probably give it a little more time, huh? OH! I did learn something actually; I now (sorta) know what all the stuff in a legal citation means. Like when they have the case name and then a bunch of numbers and abbreviations. Yay for learning. =3

Bug has been getting hardly any use out of her. I spun up some very pretty roving that BIL got me for Christmas (well, I picked it and ordered it, he paid for it) but had to stop because I only have 1 bobbin left and I need it to ply together some Targhee I'm working on. That should be my hint to buy more bobbins I s'pose.

Damn...you're all still here

So the world didn't end on the 21st. I wonder how many people crawled out of their underground bunkers on the 22nd only to realize that they are now in major debt. Poor bastards. My sister and I in the meantime spent the "end of the world" playing Skyrim; a ridiculously addictive fantasy video game where you have special powers that let you absorb the souls of dragons.What I especially like about the game is that while there is a central story line that you follow, you can always tell people to f- right off, walk in the other direction, and do side quest for the next week that have absolutely nothing to do with the main story. It's great. So that is how my little sister and I would have perished if the world would have ended; fighting video game dragons.
Look on the bright side, with all the end of the world dooms day prophesies that haven't passed we can all turn to our children and grandchildren one day and go "You know...I survived the end of the world..TWICE!" They'll either think we are the coolest people in the whole WORLD (only to then realize that everyone "survived" and that we're not actually special and awesome), or they'll think we have gone completely mental. Either way I'll get to hit people with my cane when I'm older and no one will think anything of it 'cause I'm crazy grandma. It's a win-win situation.

School will start on the 2nd, which I am terribly excited for but dread at the same time. One of my online classes already has the "classroom" open, with an early assignment already posted. Being the go-getter that I am, I already did the assignment and leisurely read through the other responses. My conclusion thus far? half my classmates are idiots that need to revisit middle school grammar. =.= It simply never ceases to amaze me that people who have only used English for their whole lives still can't spell properly, or form a coherent sentence.
This of course makes me wonder if my traditional classes (sitting in a classroom) are going to be any different. Gods I hope so. Otherwise I might have to throw books at people. I simply don't have time or the patience for any more Courtney's in my studies....that reference will only mean something to like 5 people, who have heard the story of Courtney. And I'm sure those people don't even read this blog.

Oh! here's a random thought.
When you look at Mayan calendars, they were usually carved into stone, right?  Could you guys imagine being the poor soul that screws one of those calenders up right before he's done? Like one chisel stroke too far to the right? one notch too many in the tree looking thing? Would you tell someone? "Sorry High Priest, I sorta messed up our calender." Or do you just leave it and then move to a different city? start living off the jungle and never return...make friend with a jaguar...integrate yourself into their society and become King of the Jaguars...

I need to stop reading fantasy novels.