a petite homemaker

All that time I spent collecting and stashing household goodies… it has all led to this! Rich and I are now finally settling into our little apartment. My cupboards are full of green Pyrex and I don’t have to feel guilty about decorating the living room with wool.

While we were on our honeymoon, we stopped at several antique malls. I found some special things including this wonderful linen tablecloth. During some intense browsing, I came across a pile of linens, and just happened to pull this one out without knowing its special hidden secret. A wheel! Of course I couldn’t pass up something with a spinning wheel on it! When we got home I put it on the table immediately. An unexpected bonus: it’s inspiring me keep the table clean.

jumbo flyer ordered!!

wee! I just ordered my Kromski Sonata jumbo flyer from Paradise Fibers! Plus an extra bobbin, that put me over $100 and I got free shipping. The best deal I could find. I’m excited at the prospect of not struggling with fitting yarn onto my bobbins. Hoobah!

big fat yarn

This guy ended up in my photostream February 19, but I didn’t say anything about it. It’s a Country Spinner and it belongs to Cosy. I took it home after a day of spinning to see if anyone in Ohio could get it working. Treadling was more or less impossible, the wheel is warped, and the driveband kept slipping. I told my dad to consider making a new wheel, which seemed doable to him. In the meantime, though, Richard had a closer look at it. And he put a rubber band around the bobbin, where the driveband was slipping. Amazingly, it worked! (Note: I am not amazed that he fixed it, I’m amazed it was that simple. He was offended that I thought he couldn’t fix it).

Which leads to these two gigantor skeins of yarn. They are both the weirdo free wool from Indiana that I wasn’t sure what to do with because it’s short and obnoxious.  Apparently spinning it huge is the solution. The 2ply I dyed with koolaid after spinning. It weighs 4 ounces and could be 50 yards (I don’t remember). The natural singles weighs a whopping 7 ounces! Maybe 100 yards? I think I’ll just spin the remainder of the fiber as such.

40 minutes left

Along the lines of naming, I looked up “quasar” and found the definition to be very amusing, especially in relation to me.  Below is the entry from dictionary.com:

 

Short for quasi-stellar radio source. A compact, starlike celestial body with a power output greater than our entire galaxy. Believed to be the oldest and most distant objects ever detected, quasars are billions of light-years from Earth and moving away from us at nearly 80 percent of the speed of light. For this reason, quasars are highly important to astronomers’ understanding of the early universe. Little is currently understood about the nature of quasars; one theory suggests that they are produced by giant black holes destroying enormous amounts of matter, causing the subsequent ejection of radiation along their north and south poles. Many astronomers believe that quasars represent an early stage in the evolution of galaxies such as our own.

As for my spinning wheel, I still haven’t come to a conclusion on the name. I have narrowed it down a little bit though.  I packed it up last weekend and took it to Cosy’s. I brought two braids of BFL and spun them both before dinner was ready! Where else can I take it?

Elaine, Effie, Eliza, Ella, Eloise, Elsa, Enid, Erica, Esther, Ethel, Eunice

The socks are coming along nicely.  I finished the first one Monday evening and started the second on Tuesday. Last night while watching Christmas specials, I knit the heel flap and turned the heel. It seemed to go a lot quicker the second time around. This sock is probably the best looking thing I’ve made in a long time. I know it’s the best looking sock I’ve ever knit. My first pair was too funny. One of the gussets ended up on the top of the sock!  Not to mention one was blue and the other green.  I also knit a pair of felted slipper socks for Rich last year and a pair of socks at Pennsic.  There have been quite a few false starts and socks with no mates. Maybe the 2 circulars is a break through for me! I think I’ll stick to DPNs for my mitts.

what’s in a name?

Laura asked if I’d given the Sonata a name yet. I told her no and asked if she had any suggestions. The Ashford is Eden and the Harp is Eleanor (named in part after an adorable little girl I had the pleasure of meeting at Pennsic – if anyone could convince me to change my mind about having children, it would be her). Anyway, it’s evident that I have an “E” theme going on and I don’t mind continuing it. So, Laura supplied me with this list of names:

Elaine, Effie, Eliza, Ella, Eloise, Elsa, Enid, Erica, Esther, Ethel, Eunice

I enjoy Enid, but my brain gets a bit frazzled between Eden and Enid. The wheel is quite fancy, so maybe Eloise or Eliza.. but Elsa is fun too. Caste your votes!And here are the cupcakes I made for my birthday. I wasn’t sure if making one’s own cake was something one just didn’t do, but I was assured it was fine. But having to encourage people to sing – that was a little ridiculous. And yes, I realize the photo isn’t crisp, but I like that about it!

happy birthday to…

Me!

I realize this all happened rather fast, but everything just fell into place! My LYS happened to be a Kromski dealer, she happened to have a Sonata in the store, it happened to be my birthday, it happens to match my loom… I couldn’t resist.

And here she is. I really wasn’t expecting this to happen so soon. Rich was sure to let me know all the reasons why I should buy it. How can it get better than that? Yes, well, it wasn’t his $500. whoa! At least I got to spend it on something I wanted rather than textbooks I’ll never read, right? Better do it now before I have electric bills to pay.

And just for some humor…