The Industry of a Sleepless Night

Friday Night/Saturday Morning was one of those nights wasted in tossing and turning. If it wasn't the guy snoring (and why does he have to cuddle up right next to my ear before starting in with the tonsil tango?), it was the 60+mph plus winds rattling the windows or the dear old girl doing her own snoring. It truly started Wednesday since I only slept to about one thirty in the afternoon and went in to work early at three and worked a 16hr night shift. I came home Thursday morning to walk the muttley crew before laying down for a nap that lasted about five hours. Then sleeping that night seemed to have thrown my entire sleep schedule off. Come Friday I slept only about thirty minutes between all the snorers and other distractions before getting up and wandering downstairs in and effort to not disturb the other members of the household.

While down in the pseudo man-cave I pulled out the spinning wheel. Yep, that thing I haven't touched since my one lesson last May. Why would I do such a thing to myself? I don't really know, but amazingly it went better than I expected.

I cleared off the one bobbin I've managed to fill and started again filling it with the "scrap" roving that I was given when I bought the wheel. Yes, it took me two hours and there was some frustration, and possibly a bit of cussing. Okay, there was some cussing, but I got one bobbin done. At that point it was breakfast time for the kids so I fed the monsters, took a shower in an effort to relax and tried the whole sleep thing again.

Notice the word tried. I dozed for another thirty minutes and gave up before pulling the spinning wheel up stairs and filling a second bobbin. And since I have only three bobbins, I figured I might as well look up a tutorial on plying and trying my luck there.

So, whatcha think? I realize I have some BIG tension issues in the drafting process, but it's my first true attempt at spinning and I'm quite proud of it. Even a bit smug.

So this morning, I decided to pull out some of my good bare Peruvian wool roving I ordered last summer and preceded to ignore. I have to say, it is much nicer to work with than the other stuff I was given and actually lets me spread my hands out and lean away from the wheel a bit. I may have even relaxed a bit while spinning, and in the process, I believe I'm hooked. Even now my hands are itching to get back to the wheel despite this mornings three hours at it. This afternoon I dug into the supply of Kool Aid that the guy keeps stashed away and dyed this mornings product.

Sorry, the picture sucks and makes this appear more brown than it truly is. It's more of a wonderfully dark rose color. I plan on knitting a hat for my nieces birthday out of it and hope it's going to continue my newest addiction. You see, I have a goal of utilizing my own spun and dyed yarns for at least a good chunk of my knitting within the next few years, and maybe down the road, most of my knitting.

So, this afternoon I will continue playing and hopefully improving. I know it's hard to tell from the pot of worms but I do have fewer tension issues with the bare roving and in the areas that are problematic, I know what I did wrong, which is the first step in fixing them and improving my end product.

Speaking of it being a new addiction, I will be trying to stay away from ordering more stuff. Yesterday I spent another hundred dollars on more fiber and a nicer niddy noddy. My Niddy Noddy came with the wheel and is just the little sample one that comes with new Ashford Wheels (my wheel was bought cheaply used). I would like to buy the jumbo flyer for my Ashford Kiwi wheel in the near future, but I have to budget that into my spending money. Maybe that's what the dogs will get me for my birthday this year...

Addictions are a bitch, but oh so fun.

Oh, and the poor Sullivan has a bit of a cold. So since he's feeling kinda cruddy, it's the perfect time to pester him like he does all of us.