Time Slips

Time. What an unusual thing. If I use it well, I seem to have more of it. If I give myself plenty of time to get somewhere, not only do I have time left over when I arrive (good for knitting a few stitches), but I have so much I can very easily afford to give some to others. I have time to let the other driver go first when we both arrive at the intersection at the same time. I have time to let a person take a place in front of me in line at the grocery store. I have plenty of time for offering a smile to a stranger, and lending an ear to someone who needs to be heard. I have time to be polite.

I like to imagine that when I give myself the time to be on time, the time to be polite, ripples are created, and maybe other people will find just a bit more time in their day as well, and can pass the gift along. I don't know if it works that way, but I do like to imagine it does.

I've let time slip away as far a blogging is concerned, and it seems like the longer the delay, the easier time slips away. What a curious thing.

I haven't been blogging, but knitting and spinning go on. We had some cold weather here, by Southern California standards anyway, and I decided I needed some mittens. Really! I'm one of those people whose hands feel like icicles when it's 60 degrees F outside. The mittens are almost done now, and I might just name them the Seriously Overkill for S.Cal. Dog Hair Mittens. Some where along the way, I decided they should be flap mittens, so I could uncover my fingers if I wanted to use them for something. It made sense at the time, but we've had at least of week of 70 F+ daytime temps here, and any kind of mitten seems ludicrous right now. Except for maybe cute little fingerless ones. But I 'm almost done, and I'm sure that eventually it will get cold enough that I will absolutely need such warm mittens. If not, I'll just plan a visit to my sister in Minnesota. Construction details; cuff is one strand each natural white and natural brown 2 ply wool held together, 1x1 ribbing. Hand and thumb is one strand each natural white and natural color dog hair 2 ply yarns held together.

As I'm using up some hand spun yarn, I'm just as busy making more. I spun some merino roving that I dyed, and plied it with another hand spun merino dyed by someone else. I don't have any pictures of what the "by someone else" roving looked like before I spun or plied it - I can't figure out how that happened. But at least there is a picture of the finished item. I haven't weighed it yet, but it should be about 8 oz. Pretty blues.

 Some time before Christmas I finally figured out who made the drum carder that lives at my house. It's made by Duncan Fiber Enterprises. That bit of info meant I could finally get a replacement drive belt and handle and boy-howdy! Does that ever make a difference in using the drum carder! Its much more fun (and productive) now. I carded up some brown merino cross wool and spun a single, the thinnest stuff I've ever spun on purpose. I'm not really sure what to do with it now, maybe 2 ply or even Navajo ply, I'll figure it out eventually. Then I finally gave myself permission to start playing with this lovely Shetland fleece I got last June. So far I've tried spinning from the lock and spinning from a batt, both turn out very nice. (no pictures yet) I'm in love with this stuff. I need to ply it and get a little swatch knit up so I can decide what to make.

During all this knitting and spinning, it occurred to me that while a knitted project can be frogged and returned to the state of 'yarn', spun wool cannot be returned to the state of 'fleece'. At least I don't think it can. And I love the fleece part. So much raw possibility. Sigh. So much responsibility in deciding what kind of yarn. :-)

It seems to me like I've been so much busier that it reads. I'm a medium speed knitter, I'd guess, a slowish spinner, and an even slower drum carder operator. And I enjoy it all. I'm sure once I'm done with this post I remember other things I meant to mention. OH-Oh! I remembered one already. My new Pocket Wheel is complete and ready for shipping. Just a few more days and I'll finally see it in person!