Like The Queen

Like The Queen
Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.

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Rediscover the Drop Spindle

I'm still moving a little slow - some of it due to stressed out hands, some due to not working out regularly - ha! rather let's say "not at all!" The hands really seem to suffer when the weather changes and it's been changing at least twice a day this summer. So - the long report about Creative Strands may have to come later this week. But, mixed in with all the fun and excitement of the weekend, I rediscovered an old love - the drop spindle!

I'd taken my Golding with me and during the long slack periods (see Jen's report) I spun and knit little swatches of some of the Spirit Trail fibers that didn't have any. The Isaacson's (of Handspun by Stefania), in the booth just across from us, were selling Bosworth spindles. I bought a mini and began spinning lace weight with it.

What fun! I couldn't stop! I still can't. I've been playing with it ever since I got home. I love making fine yarns, and I've never been pleased with my lace weight spinning on HeyBaby. I suspect wheel spinning is too fast for my skill level. Spindle spinning is slower and one can spend more time thinking, sensing, watching, learning the fine, delicate draft needed for lace weight.

At the show I had opportunity to play with the beautiful Spirit Trail fibers and of them all, my favorite was a purple and white blend of 70% Blue du Maine, 30% Merino. Naughty Jen doesn't have a photo of that one on her website yet. I'll have to chivvy her a bit. But it's one of her UK fibers, the last one listed on this page.

Spent yesterday cleaning out the baskets lined up on my blue stash wardrobe - including the one mama's dog got into last month. I untangled all the messes, threw out all the really uninformative swatches and snips and bits, and organized the rest, ending up with one empty basket, one current projects basket and 5 storage baskets. And I only have one bag of junk that I'll think about tomorrow - at Tara.

When my good works were done - I got my Bosworth and spun some painted Blue Faced Leiscter I picked up at MS&W. Photo tomorrow - today if there's time.

And now I must return to earth - back to work for me, with a whistle and a song.

posted by Bess | 7:31 AM

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A Holiday Weekend

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It was a perfect weekend, with glorious weather and time to enjoy it. Did a little spinning. Did a little knitting. And did drink my coffee down on the pier - just in time, too. BD will be doing pier repair work this week. Or at least, he should be.

What I'm Reading

What I've Just Read

I know I'm coming to it late but I have been in a 30 year thrall with Follett's Eye of the Needle and had not wanted to read anything else of his because that had been one of my few Perfect Reads. When one has had perfection one doesn't want to tamper with that pure pleasure by trying to top it. I shan't re-read it either, since a Perfect Experience depends so much on where you are at the moment. If I'm not in the same place when I re-read a book, I may not have the same reaction. Far better to hold on to the memory of perfection.

I was willing to give this one a try because it was so different from his regular spy/thriller/adventure stories. I figured I'd be less likely to make comparisons. I was right. The sweeping saga of midieval cathedral buildilng caught me up for a delicious week of reading. I loved imagining England full of wilderness. I was a bit surprised at the amount of traveling - and the distances traveled - by folk who were not particularly wealthy, but that was just a wee bit of a literary leap and heck, how would I know how far a skilled craftsman might journey 800 years ago.

That civil war between Maud and Stephen that brought Henry II to the throne is fertile ground for many authors - I am thinking here of Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael novels and my own beloved Roberta Gellis' admittedly tawdry titled, but oh so wonderfully written The Sword and the Swan

My Library from LibraryThing.com

PAST BOOK REVIEWS

What I've Just Watched

What those stars mean

Could just barely stand it - but something made me want to see how it turned out

EH.

Good but with serious flaw/s - or else trivial, in a Frosted Flakes sort of way

Pretty darn good

Wow!