Fluffy

Next in my resurgence of craftiness, I have decided to finally tackle what I've been putting off for over a year. Remember this?



I'm finally washing it. I know a lot of people say that you don't have to wash alpaca because it doesn't have any lanolin. The problem is, it DOES have dust, and dirt, and grit. And I read in Spin-Off that you really should wash it so that said dust, dirt, and grit don't get embedded in your yarn, because not all of it will wash out once the yarn is spun. So I'm tackling the job of washing nearly 3 pounds of alpaca fleece today. 30 minute soaks with Eucalan in a galvanized tub on the patio, followed by similar soaks without Eucalan to rinse. You should see the horrid muddy color of the water after the soapy soak. Ew. I'm glad that stuff's not ending up in my yarn.

Yay?

Last night was a night fraught with emotions. Most of them negative. I will explain.

First off, Mom and I went to the fabric mecca yesterday. I got some of the stuff I was looking for (rayon velvet so I can try embossing it), but the main thing I wanted just wasn't there. I'm more than a little frustrated.

Then there was the evening. My computer was just not responding to anything I tried to do to fix it. Even advice from Roxy's hubby was in vain. But finally, last night as I reached the breaking point and gave up in a fit of rage, my dad stepped in again. Seems he had turned on a security feature that was blocking my laptop. So he turned that off, and now I'm connected! Woohoo!!!

That, however, could not help my Ravens. As a Ravens fan, I am depressed and more than a little embarrassed over last night's sorry excuse for a game. I don't even know what that was. I had to turn it off after the Colts' third touchdown. Did turn it back on in time to see the last two minutes of the game, though, and saw Troy Smith play with some guts. Granted, it was against the Colts' second-string defense, but still. He didn't dither. He didn't cower in the pocket. He played. OMG! I hope we get to see more of what he can do. In the meantime, I am not making any Ravens gear. I had plans. Those plans will be on hold until the Ravens come back and play in Baltimore. I'm a loyal fan, and I still love them, but if they're not gonna put in the effort to play the game, I'm not gonna spend my crafting time making Ravens gear.

And now, since it is still Handspun Monday for another few hours, a spinning update! I don't have pics (bad Carrie! no cookie!) but fear not! I have spun in the past two weeks! Last Sunday, I tried spinning some of the silk/merino I got from Lisa Souza. It was such a frustrating exercise that I had to walk away from it. I'm not one to give up on things, but at some point I do have to acknowledge that I'm not having fun and shouldn't waste my time. On the other hand, yesterday I pulled out some of the alpaca I got at MDS&W and started spinning it on my square spindle. Yum. I'm in love with that alpaca fleece. Being alpaca, it's a little tricky to spin. A little bit slippery. But if I'm paying attention it works just fine. Woohoo!!! Pics will come soon, I promise!

I've also started a Christmas present. Remember Charmed? I'm developing a crocheted version, this time using the cashmere I got from Habu Textiles. Having never worked with cashmere before, let me say: YUM.

This present may or may not be aided by a class I took on Saturday with mom. The class we took was on soldering small glass pieces together to make jewelry, ornaments, multimedia art, etc. My pieces ended up a little wonky, but for a first attempt they aren't bad. I'll have to post pics of those too. Mom and I now have a little soldering kit and plenty of little glass bits to encase pictures or fabric or whatever we want. Whee! I really wanna play with it right now. But I can't. Have to make an hors d'ouvre for the office Holiday Party tomorrow. Ah well. Soon. I will be making charms, and pendants, and such things. After all, the only way my soldering is going to get better is by practicing!

Uh, yum.

So yesterday I needed to play for a bit, so I pulled out the small bag of alpaca top that I got from The Woolery and started it on my spinning wheel. I know alpaca is reputed to be not the easiest fiber to spin, but oh my GOD it was a dream. Long draw, inchworm, straight from the whole length of top... btw have I mentioned that I break spinning rules? A lot? Yeah, I do. And I'm not at all ashamed. Who wants to spend time pre-drafting when there's spinning to be done and awesome experimental results to be had?

Also, in the car on the way to our site visit for work today, I started swatching my skein of Euroflax. I got it at Stitch DC with grand plans for a small capelet. Well, I've decided to sacrifice the whole skein to, as Amy Singer calls them, "Geeky things." Swatches of all different gauges, stitch patterns, and stages of washing/blocking. I decided I needed to do this in order to properly design the perfect linen capelet for my beautiful vintage clasp that Mom got me for Christmas. Anyway, that linen is wonderful to work with, if a bit thin for the comfort of my hands (I tend to be tense, so my hands end up cramping), and I would've finished a couple of swatches if my eyes hadn't decided to hurt. Like a mofo. Either I need new glasses (well ok yes I need new glasses) or I'm getting a sinus infection. Stupid sinuses. Keeping me from crocheting. Evil.

Pics of resulting projects to come. Film at 11!