For days, blogging ideas have been swirling through my head. Since I haven't developed any of these into full posts, I'll share them as a Wednesday Night Bullet Post.
* On Saturday, I got to meet Christy! She was visiting her in-laws who live nearby and we met at Only Ewe And Cotton Too, which is where I took my spinning classes. We behaved ourselves and didn't buy the whole store, even though we were tempted. It was great to meet you, Christy!
* That same day in the mail, there was a sweet card from KM. Thank you for such a nice surprise, KM!
* I went shopping the other day for a new shirt or two since the weather is getting warmer. Could I find anything? No! A lot of the shirts were made of thin, slinky material that shows off curves I don't want to show off. Other shirts had prints on them. What I want is a plain cotton button-up shirt with short sleeves that cover at least 6 inches of my arm.
* I ended up buying cool sunglasses instead. That made me feel better. (I took pictures to show you, but my makeup has partially worn off and that's not a good look for me.) Just picture Bono and you'll have an idea of what my glasses look like. Remember, I wanna be a rock star and these glasses could help me get there. :)
* Speaking of that, we played a new song at practice tonight. It had a great bluesy feel to it and we ended the song with a blues riff. I was able to come up with something on the fly and that doesn't always happen. I think my lessons and additional practicing are paying off!
* Wikipedia is a wonderful invention.
* My Clapotis is coming along and I'm to the point where I'm dropping stitches. Fun!
* I uploaded pictures of my sock yarn to Ravelry the other day. Then I found more yarn.
* My wheel arrived and I have spun DK weight yarn on it. The problem is that this yarn has no give to it. You know how usually yarn is a bit springy when you pull it then loosen your grip? And you know how rope isn't springy when you do that? This yarn is more like rope. Do you think this means I'm overspinning it in my efforts to get it thinner?
* I'll tell you all about my wheel in a different post, but here's a picture for now. It feels really great to have my own wheel! I still can't believe it.
* You can tell by the picture that spring has come to north Georgia. But we still have warm days followed by cold days.
* Oh, I went back to the store yesterday to find a pair of jeans. I only have two pairs of jeans that fit and now one pair is too big and one pair is ripping. I was able to buy jeans in the next smallest size. Yippee!
* I'm still slowly but surely working on my movie list. My library has lots of movies and I recently watched Citizen Kane and On the Waterfront. Both were great movies! I'm now watching Lawrence of Arabia.
This concludes the random bullets for tonight. My next post will be all about my spinning wheel and what's coming off of it!
Your spinning wheel is beautiful, how do you keep yourself from spending all your time with it?
Congrats on the jeans purchasing too.
Posted by: Ruth | April 03, 2008 at 02:35 AM
It sounds like you are perhaps overspinning a bit. Slow down your treadling and you should see better results.
Posted by: Carole | April 03, 2008 at 06:47 AM
Yep, sounds like over plying. I wouldn't expect a single to be too springy, but when plyed, it should be like "yarn" ::laughing::. When you're plying, try holding out a long arms length, and counting your treadles, then feed it in... just count fewer times and let it feed in to soften the twist.
Posted by: Mia | April 03, 2008 at 07:41 AM
Yay for smaller jeans!!!
Posted by: katie | April 03, 2008 at 09:36 AM
New jeans! What fun! For shirts, try J.Jill. I don't know what you have around you, but...ok I checked, you have 3 (9, 11, & 13 miles from you). It's not a blouse, but favorite thing there is the compassion t-shirt. I'm still knitting away on my Clapotis. I've dropped 12 times. But, still a way to go. My latest movie for Clapotis knitting...August Rush. If you haven't, you've got to see it. Have a happy Thursday.
oh...and how are things shaping up for the middle of April competition?
Posted by: KM | April 03, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Hooray for smaller jeans! It's always a good day for me when I can buy new clothes that fit well.
As far as the spinning, it does sound like you're overspinning the singles. When you predraft the fiber, try ripping it into thinner strips. This way, you can have finer singles without having to put in as much twist as you draft. Does that make any sense? The type of wool you are using could affect springy-ness, as well. Merino, for example, would be springier than Corriedale or even BFL, because of the staple length. Fibers with shorter staple length tend to be springier than those with longer staple length. At least this is my experience, so if I'm wrong, I hope someone corrects me!
Posted by: Rachel | April 03, 2008 at 01:33 PM
you said "What I want is a plain cotton button-up shirt with short sleeves that cover at least 6 inches of my arm"
I hate to inform you but there is no longer such a thing. I have looked everywhere and none to be found. What a crime!
Posted by: Debby | April 03, 2008 at 06:49 PM
I hope one day when I'm visiting my brother and his family in Lawrenceville, we can meet somewhere.
Posted by: Leslie | April 03, 2008 at 07:39 PM
Yay for smaller jeans!!!!!!!! Boo for stupid shirts that don't work for those of us over 19.
Some fibers don't have as much sproing as others and some don't take well to over-spinning. But, the more you spin, the more you can correct for that. I honestly don't have much technical knowledge in the fiber arts. I just know what it is supposed to "feel" like. Sort of how I make bread, now that I think of it...
Posted by: Sheepish Annie | April 03, 2008 at 08:17 PM
Your wheel is tres beautiful Beth, I hope it brings many,many hours of enjoyment your way. Congrats on the smaller jeans, yipee....that's a great feeling.
Posted by: Geraldine | April 04, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Yes, congratulations on the smaller jeans! It's hard to find attractive but modest clothes if you are over 16. I don't know why that is -- there are so many women over 16 who are looking to buy them!
Posted by: Debby | April 04, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Glad your spinning is going well... I think everyone else already answered your spinning question but yep it sounds like you are either treadling too fast or not drafting fast enough which is causing your singles to be overspun. You either want to slow down or draft faster. =) HTH!
Posted by: keri | April 06, 2008 at 02:55 PM
Yay for smaller jeans!!!
Posted by: trek | April 14, 2008 at 03:21 PM