Thoughts

My sister is getting an MRI today. She has swollen optic nerves and a blurry spot in one eye and they think it might have something to do with her brain. I really know little about it... the younger brother called and we talked and he mentioned it and then my sister got on and told me about it. But, her eventual comment bears some explaining.

My sister and I when we go out together have a strange thing happen to us. She's 15, I'm 21. I'm regularly mistaken as younger than her, with me as the younger one and her as the older. One lady thought she was 16 and me 13. Another thought she was in college and I was the one in highschool. A third time a museum curator scolded her for baiting her younger sister, when we asked how old the lady thought we were, she was thought to be 19 and me 14.

I'm not necessarily upset about this, (okay, I am but I also think it will be cool when I'm old and I'm mistaken for younger). Last night though I was reminded of why she's mistaken as the older one.

We were talking, and she mentioned on the swim team that another girl she swims with had similar problems and she ended up having calcium deposits in her eyes. And I asked, "Do you think it's because of swimming?"

Her: "No, it's a coincidence that we had similar environmental factors." (What 15 year old talks like that?)

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I've been feeling rather sad lately... I think mostly because its nearly that time of month, and normally I get rather weepy around that time. I hate it, because I'm sad and there's no reason why and I feel listless and don't want to get out of bed and have very little energy.

It will go for two or three days, and I'll be withdrawn and antisocial and generally try not to take everyone down around with me. And then just as suddenly, I'll snap out of it and I'll be my overly happy cheerful silly self.

But it just bothers me when I'm in the sad mode because I know I'm sad, I know the reason why, but it still feels to me like I'll always feel sad like this, that it will never end, and that the world just hates me. Its so irrational.

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Other random notes:

My sculpture is going well. I've made the wings. It really does look better without a head.

My last yarn I tried spinning was in this beautiful color, and I'm so excited about it. I spun it real thin, and I love how it came out (Navajo plied) except that the yarn kept loosing so much of the twist it broke while I was plying it. Especially toward the end. Does that mean I'm not giving it enough twist, or is there another problem?

Spinners, your help would be appreciated.

Spinning Picspam!

I've been doing a lot lately, but I haven't been blogging about much of it. However, I'm too lazy and it's too late to be writing a big long post, so I'm going to do a picpost.










This is all the stuff I've been spinning in the last while. The biggest picture has a bit of a story to it. So I've been spinning up a whole bunch of yarn just because I've been stressed and it's a good way to decompress, and I've managed to spin up the last of my fiber on Thursday.

So I was rather dissapointed about it, but I thought it was a good thing because I DO have quite a bit of work to do. Anyway, I'm participating in FatCatKnits fiberclub, and I was disappointed how my last yarn spun up (not the fault of the dying, which was beautiful, but because I didn't think out how I was going to approach the yarn, and just dove right in)... not the way I imagined. Anyway, someone suggests that the next time I encounter a dye lot like that I navajo ply it.

I say, isn't that the same as making three ply yarn?

As I discovered, it is not. I watch a few videos on youtube, the most notable being This one:



Anyway, I'm DYING to try it... but I don't have any fiber!

Until, I remember that FatCatKnits (bless her heart) sends out little "treats" along with the main roving, and I pull that out of my button box (have I mentioned that I've been buying a lot of metal buttons lately? It's for one of my sculptures, but I'll talk about that later.) and I got at it. The Result was what is in the big picture... my first Navajo Ply.

It's amazing, I'm in love.

(ironically, uploading all the photos took about as much time as creating a real entry would have)

Addendum: Heads up, if you like any of the handspun, head over to my Etsy shop, where you can buy it. I'm still getting all the yarn up there. If you mention in the comments that you came to my Etsy Store through my blog, I'll throw in an extra surprise!

I haz a spinning wheel!

2008_04-05 007
Originally uploaded by jenamberautumn

Okay, really it arrived last week, but I've been busy spinning and with my sculpture (which is almost done, and then I will put photos up!) so I haven't been able to do it justice.

As for the spinning wheel, it runs like a dream. It's gorgeous. I purchased it from guinnessfan-tastic on ebay, and they worked well with me when confusions arose (all on my part).

As for the spinning wheel itself, it runs like a dream. I love the whirring sound, and the extra bobbins they sent me were a plus. Really really nice.

So I've been spinning up some yarn, and my best attempts I'm putting up for sale on etsy. (just so I can recoup some of the costs of roving and the spinning wheel itself- check out my store on the left!) I must say myself, I have a pretty smooth draw from my drop spindle, and as a result I think it carries over very well to using a spinning wheel.

I'm thinking about a contest in the next few weeks. What do you think? I'm thinking about offering up some handspun, as well as another treat, perhaps.

Any ideas for another small gift to go along with the handspun in a contest? I'd love some suggestions! Leave them in the comments.

Musings, and what's been going on

Well, I've been amiss in my blog, and various other things, but I'm making it up, I promise!

Things have been active around here. I've moved into a single, and I'm still adjusting to having my own space for the first time in what seems like forever. I've got a shelf entirely devoted to yarn, and I love how it's visually accessible.

See?
The self is right under the bed.

So, I've been able to see my yarn more, and that's quite exciting.

So what have I been working on? I made a shawl, out of some yarn I won, but I'm not quite sure if I like it. It was an experiment, and it's ok, but ended up really long. It's such a disaster that I'm not posting it up, but the one thing that redeems it is the color, a deep deep purple and grey color.

I've been working on my ripple afghan, and it's slowly coming along.



I also bought myself a spinning wheel out of some money I've been saving for that purpose. I'm hoping it is all right, because I bought it sight unseen, but the company has good reviews and I have faith. I've also bought some fiber to start me off, though I don't think it's going to last me that long.



I've got some other exciting thigns going on that I'll talk about later. (hint: see my works in progress!)

Plan to see more of me!