Right round, baby.

Lately I've felt like I've been running in circles.
So I decided to embrace the torque....

Welcome to my Sunday afternoon. I'm feeling, shall we say, a bit twisted.
So I spun this in public, at my knitting group.
The wine, I saved for later.

In addition to the thunderstorms that are running through here without offering up so much as a half-degree of heat relief, we are weathering a few shitstorms. They are not fit for internet consumption, but I will say that my gut is completely twisted (not good), I'm losing weight (that, I'll take, and I don't care how I get there), and so is Spiff (ohhhh boy. Really not good. He doesn't have it to spare...).

So, as promised in the last post, I decided to handle things my own way. I embraced my twisted state and made this:

Lopi, eat your heart out.

Once I wet it and let it dry, it bloomed a bit and looked fatter than I'd personally want in a yarn, but I'm told this is normal, beginners spin yarn-logs, I'm on the right track, kwitcha worryin', lady. Well, Jesus H. you know who, I sure hope so...because this is hyper-addictive.

Yep, I made the Crayola Biggie version of handspun.
One of the members of my knitting group asked where I bought this stuff.
Yes, I beamed. I pulled out my spindle. Jaws dropped. Yarn was fondled.
I'm aware that it's the stuff of beginners, but I'm proud anyway....

Now, I like my knitting group people. They're a talented lot. They design. They finish things way faster than me. Still, nobody, but nobody, is interested in spinning. Not in the least. In fact, someone accused me of spinning Santa Claus:

However, I noticed a few people looking a bit swayed
by the hypnotic effect of a twirling spindle...
Heh. You are getting sheeeeeeepyyyy....

Me, I completely get the draw. Drop-spindle spinning is like a license to fidget. I spun the entire little pile of teal roving, much as I hate that colour, just because I figured I'd, you know, ease my mind a bit while watching the news...two hours later, I had a spindle full and I felt oddly calm, even though I still do not know if my friend in London is okay. I have been reluctant to call his parents, but it's been days, and now I'm really worrying. He's not one to reply quickly, but still...you just never know what life is going to deal in your direction.

Spiff still doesn't get it. He thinks that since this is something I can do just while I'm sitting watching TV, well, then, it's kind of a dumb activity....

Wait until I make him a sweater out of handspun.

Did I just say what I think I just said?

Shit. I'm going to need a wheel, aren't I.... You see how it goes? Black holes really do suck....

By the way, nearly everyone at the knitting group admitted to having a bit of roving in their closet. I find that extremely amusing...some people hide bottles, others hide skeletons, and what do we have hidden in our closets? little fluffy bits of sheep....

And while I was...heu...circling the bandwagons...I made this:

I admitted to a new friend that I am a sock virgin.
She could hardly believe her ears. Well, I was so embarrassed,
I went and made a toe yesterday...so...virgin, no more.
I'm nowhere near sock slut-hood, but I might make a pair....

I have some rainbow yarn that another friend gave me for my birthday, and it will become socks for Twinkletoes because she is the Queen of the Rainbows, but in the meantime, this Lorna's Laces called out to be something for my mother, and I've been so chastened by all of these beautiful socks on everyone's blogs that I was really beginning to feel like I was a sock dork. So I bought two circs, and embarked on a sock adventure.

Let me just say, having never done this before, that I hate grafting, more than anything, even seaming, so I am a fan of the toe-up idea. However, I have to admit that the figure-eight cast-on is not for the faint of heart. In fact, after ripping out what I did three times, I started to call it the FF8 cast-on (that would be the F*cking Figure Eight cast-on), and it's a small, but fitting, testament to my inability to admit defeat and do things the easier way, that I even have this little toe to show you. Spiff, who normally doesn't even believe in such things, thinks it's bad karma to make socks for my darling mother with every row containing a "f***ing stupid knit through the f***ing back loop, how the f*** am I supposed to do this when the f***ing yarn is tighter to the needle than flies on shit...."

Ummm...Happy Birthday, Mommy?

I suck. But I didn't give up, and now I have almost a whole toe. The rest is cake. Please don't tell me how hard the short-row heel is going to be. I don't want to hear it. It's going to be JUST FINE. Did I mention that I've never short-rowed before either?

In other knitting news, I want to make a rectangular Birchy thingy without a diagonal seam down the middle of it. And I'm not sure how to do this. I have the Kidsilk Haze...now I just need to figure out the math, the approach, the edging stitch, etc. If anyone has any insight into this type of modification, please, speak up. I'm all ears.

I'll just go twist in the wind for a few days...back soon with another skein and a sock to show for it, I hope. And maybe even a black 2 x 2 ribbed sweater-back. You see, Spiff is asking..."Where's my sweater you were making a while ago?" Uh oh....

July 10, 2005 9:46 PM  | Permalink  | Comments (28)  | Print