Friday, March 28, 2008

Back to it

Well that was a lovely little break. I have been working, but really, not much. I'm kind of amazed by how long it has taken me (is taking me) to get back to my usual work rhythm. Partly, I was really wiped by Fibrefest, and partly, life just sort of took over. It's the curse of the work-at-home-mom -- if an errand needs to be done, then the one who works at home is going to be the one to give up work time to do it. And I get that, it makes sense. I don't need to book time off with anyone, rearrange meetings, file paperwork with HR. But still, there have been a lot of little things -- holidays that preschool takes but not any other business, illnesses, etc -- and they have taken over 50% of my usual three days a week working time lately.

But I'm back to it! I spent Tuesday communing with the dyepots, and dyed 8lbs of corriedale. The current batch is possibly even lovelier than usual; Hello Yarn is such a great supplier, so reliable and affordable. Can't say enough good about them and their product. Here is some of what I have dyed:



The current batch of BFL is sort of intriguing. It has an incredibly soft hand, and the fibers are long and very fluffy. It's wonderful to spin, soft, a bit soapy/silky to draft. However, there are these regular little tufts of very short hairs. Any spinners know what those are? They must be something that's usually combed out, that wasn't in this batch. Anyway, it's spinning up fine, but I'm having to slow down and be careful when I get to the short-ish bits.

In other news, I have signed up for the comprehensive spinning class at Place des Arts starting next week. Here's my little secret -- I'm a beginner spinner. I can do a couple types of yarn rather well, so I'm confident about what I offer for sale, but my range of skills is not high. I'm looking forward to this course, so that I can learn the basics right from the dirty-fleece stage, fill in gaps in my basic knowledge, and extend my skills so that I can spin different types of fiber with confidence. I have learned as much as I can by myself, with YouTube videos and experimenting, and I'm looking forward to learning from a real live teacher in a classroom situation.

And to close -- here is some yarn to look at. I am still trying to perfect the colourway "Ianto." Torchwood fans -- waddya think of this batch? I didn't get the charcoal element in, quite, but if you see it as just a tie-shirt combo, it's rather good I think.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is very Ianto! Next week is the season ender, I'm devestated. I loved this week's episode showing how they all got to be with TW. Ianto was my favourite though, "So you're not going to help me catch this pterodactyl then?" Brilliant.

Ani said...

Hmmm, it looks like his shirt. More specifically, like the one he was wearing/picked up off the floor in *that* scene in Adrift. Mmmmm.

Have you seen the spoilers for the finale and for next series? They're nuts! I hope that they don't come true. I like everyone! Well maybe not so much Gwen, but as one review said, I like Rhys, so Gwen gets some emotional attachment by proxy.

YummyYarn said...

I've managed to be pretty "LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" about the spoilers, but some of them have slipped through. A few of the more outlandish spoilers are clearly silly -- Torchwood will *not* go ahead without Barrowman -- but a few, well they're sounding credible. I'm trying to trust the creative forces behind the show, and hoping for the best.

Ah. The shirts on the floor. The pants clearly around the ankles. Hey did you see hollycore's Ianto Show for that ep? I haven't seen her picspam before, but I'm gonna catch up on past eps when I have a moment. Here is: http://community.livejournal.com/torch_wood/2746459.html

Yes, it's sad that the season is ending, but ya know? The fanfic community is so very active, it's like a veritable firehose of Torchwoodyness on the Internet. So there's that.