When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I’m as clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.

Part of being an adult is being able to admit when you can’t.

I do not like this part of being an adult.

I do not like the word “can’t” very much at all. It makes me cranky and obstinate, rather like a donkey which will not go somewhere simply because you’re trying to lead him there.

But nonetheless, it is sometimes necessary, and right now, I can’t. ::sighs::

The balance has been lost. It needs to be regained, which may require a trip into Mordor, but it must be done.

So, shop updates will be a little less frequent. I will not be accepting any new commissions until the one I have, outstanding projects, agreements, and the trades that still aren’t done have been completed. At that point, things will be reevaluated, but I will also be writing my dissertation by that point, which means I will be applying for jobs and, hopefully, interviewing.

But anyway, I did get a little done.

I got these made… or rather, remade. It turned out one of the findings I had gotten was substandard and shed bits all over the place. So I remade these carnelian stitch markers. And because it took me so bloody long, I also made a pair of Leopardskin Jasper ones to go with them.

And these leopardskin ones as a bonus for a recent large order.

Also, for the shop…

Fire ripples and glows along the slowly burning wood, creating waves in the air as the heat warms your skin. The fire is burning long and low now, the colors deeper, richer, the coals glowing deceptively welcoming…

Into the Fire – 1oz – 50/50 Cashmere/Tussah Silk – Combed Top

Capturing the sheen and depth of this fiber is really hard in photographs.

I also have some silk and some merino/angora drying as we speak.

In other news… LOOM!

I actually got this loom on tuesday. But only just got it unloaded. My living room is exploding. I need to clean the bedroom so Ash can move in there. Also this guy needs some cleaning, and I put the beater bar on the wrong direction. Easily fixed.

It’s a 20″ Hammett counterbalance floor loom. 4 treadle, 4 harness. It’s quite lovely, just needs some cleaning and to be re-hung, which I think I can do. I do think that full love of it will have to wait a bit though, as I need to rehang things and get/make a ratchet advance lever for the front beam. And before that, I have other projects that need to be taken care of. No big deal. It’s pretty!

::grins::

Ok, back to working on this paper. Stupid yeast didn’t grow last night, making today paper day instead of tomorrow.

~The Gnome

So, of course, no sheep and wool festival is complete without stuff! Mmm shiny stuff.

Birthday stuff:

My parents bought me some more lovely fiber for Strider. And a wrap gauge for me! Been wanting one for a while, yay! All from Spunky Eclectic. I narrowly avoided a bird’s eye maple Loki as well.

Merino/Tencel on the left, Corriedale batt by Grafton Fibers on the right, and wrap gauge below.

See? Shiny!

Let’s see… what else… oh right!

Heeeeee. For my birthday, I got Tsuper Tserious Tsock Tstuff.

Hand carded and blended Tsock Batts by the Tsarina herself… made with some of the fleece I gave her from the Great Fleece Adventure.

Mood Indigo: Romney, Mohair, Silk

And this one, “just for fun” which, in grand black tradition is hard to do photographic justice to

Assyrian Cohort: Merino, Seacell, Silk, Mohair, Sparkly

And, finally, recieved in the mail presents from England!

The shirt made me laugh. Which is good, laughter is the best medicine.

The socks… wow. Dude.

Here’s a better photo of them, truer to the gorgeous claret-ey color. DAMN they’re soft. If I recall correctly, they have silk in them. Fit great too. Look at those cables!

They’re even cabled on the back!

Aren’t they awesome? ::squee::

Presents from me, to me:

Now, of course, I can’t go to a sheep and wool festival without buying a few things myself. And so…

I got me some Abby Batts from Spunky Eclectic. Mmmm. Shiiiny.

And a closeup of the green one

I also got some Icelandic Lamb, because I haven’t spun any Icelandic yet, and it’s about time. Marcy helped with this purchase.

And finally, I had to valiantly throw myself on these to save my dear friend Lynn from them. Ahem. 30/2 and 40/2 cotton thread, which will be used for weaving.

Stuff I made:

And that’s all the new stuff… except…

Remember this photo?

Notice something? Here, let me zoom in…

See that? That was my not so super secret project after making the spindle bags.

Here it is with better light

Or on the table so maybe you can see it better…

Still can’t tell what’s going on?

Try this…

Get it now?

If not, wander over here and look at the 4th photo down, I’ll wait…

See it? Yeah, that’s me, at NH Sheep and Wool, wandering around spindle spinning. That’s what I do. I do it here at work too.

And it’s for that that I invented this little “device.”

It’s a spindle holster. Yes, a spindle holster. When they’re not all full, you can put them through button holes. But when the cop gets large, they won’t fit in button holes anymore. And spindle bags are great, but they really go IN bigger bags. And when I’m walking around spindle spinning, I want a place to put the spindle that’s right there at hand, that I can get the spindle back from. You know, you walk up, spinning away, to a booth and then OOOH cormo-silk, you have to pick it up to touch and look at the price, but where do you put your spindle? Oh noes! Put it in your pocket and it may get squeezed back out and dropped and… ::gasp:: lost.

So, I made this. Admittedly, it’s probably not for many people. I mean, it’s got a belt loop, and two draw strings. But as the link pointed out, I’m hardcore ::snickers:: really ::twitch:: hardcore… ::falls out of chair laughing:: Ahem… totally. Anyway, for me, it’s awesome. As the cop gets bigger, I can adjust the lower drawstring so that the spindle is snug and secure and won’t drop out the bottom or bounce out the top.

It’s awesome! I’m happy.

And finally:

A new bit of fiber for the shop.

Deep sea blue-green currents swirl and twist in the depths of the water, where strange creatures swim…

Deep Sea – 1oz – 50/50 Cashmere/Tussah Combed Top

SO SOFT. SO SHINY. Love.

That’s all for now.

Later!

~The Gnome

Short update because I couldn’t resist showing off new stuff!

Finished a yarn…

Berry Berry (a.k.a Hambaby, don’t ask, it’s weird) – 170yds – SW BFL – DKish

And I finally took my first weaving off the loom! Loooooom. Hee hee. They still need to be finished (washed), but otherwise, look what I did! Look look look! Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom? Mom look, look Mom, see what I made? See, see, see? ::holding up object WAY too close to actually see anything::

Ahem. I also almost finished the three prototype spindle holsters, but they need different drawstrings and belt-loops before I can sew up the last seams on those.

Wheeee!

All three spindle bags, with spindles inside…

My very first weaving ever…

Which was very random and was totally playing with what the different harnesses would do… so the sides aren’t remotely the same, and the pattern doesn’t wrap either…

A big one, folded along the bottom. I didn’t quite manage to duplicate the pattern perfectly. This is what happens when you’re trying to retroactively do recordkeeping on a pattern that was designed on the fly (and often counted when standing on one’s head on the underside of the loom). But it’s close.

And a closeup of some of the detail…

And the last spindle bag, and best fit of the three…

Whee! Weaving. Hope to have the holsters ready to field test this weekend.

And now back to panicking, not sleeping, and trying to get everything done. Need to get thesis outline to my committee today. Whee!

Oh, new fae finally showed up. It’s a little shy. Probably the fact that it’s small, and doesn’t have arms.

~The Gnome

So I got a line on some fleeces, and possibly some other stuff. And yesterday, I set out to see what there was to be seen…

When I came home, the back of my car looked like this:

Yeah… once I got them out they were this: (There are 10 if you’re curious)

I wasn’t planning on buying white. Or at least not MUCH white. But then there was this. A ewe by the name of “Vera Wang” border leicester…

And really, how could I resist?

Well I wasn’t disappointed. I turned out the fleece on my handy dandy sheet and…

Pretty huh? Well look at this…

Impressive huh? Yeah, my hands aren’t huge, but that’s still abut 7 inches. So, because I couldn’t wait, I gave it a quick rinse, not even full heat water or a soak…

Mmmmm…

The other best fleece there was this one, “Cocoa” by name. Another Border Leicester

Gorgeous, huh?

I also got a Cotswold, a breed I’m terribly unfamiliar with

And a greyer Border Leicester

Then I picked up some Romney, ’cause it was softer than most romney I’m familiar with, and quite pretty. Soft durable sweaters, ideal!

And everything else was dark Romney. Much of it has a small amount of sun damage, but I skirted out the worst of it, and what remains shouldn’t be too bad.

And one more of these I managed to not photograph.

Very shiny, huh? I’ll be sending these off for processing tomorrow. ::squee::

While I was there I also took a look at some fiber arts tools.

I picked up this:

A “click reel” which clicks every 40(?) turns of the winder. Cute! Needs cleaning, but works great.

And I found these!

Some very nice Meck combs, so I could make my own top if I wanted to… say out of that white Border Leicester…

Aaaand this liiittle guy. Isn’t he cute?

He’s a Hatchtown Spinimal, so I’ve been told.

And finally, I got this:

A warping board, with a built in stand. These photos don’t do these things justice, the light was terrible and it makes the wood look all gross. But it’s not.

Also, I’m dyeing a bunch. Yay. My new scale STILL hasn’t arrived, and I STILL haven’t heard from the company, so we’re dragging big companies into the fray, namely Paypal and Ebay. Want my scale!

That’s about it for now. More posts to come soon. Going to have some sock size stitch markers soon, and crochet functionable ones.

~The Gnome

Good weekend, Connecticut Sheep & Wool is fun, especially with good friends. I was good, didn’t spend that much. Was saved from both a Magpie and a Forester spindle by my dear friends throwing themselves in front of the bullets.

I did buy a lovely Border Leicester fleece though, heather grey, which I should have back in roving form in a monthish.

Some spinning has been happening, the big guy and I have been getting to know eachother. Names in the lead right now are Luchta and Strider (He said no to Bragi)

Also, more weaving. Working on a spindle bag for the Greensleeves.

Otherwise, brain no worky. Going to try to get a shop update this week, but the first priority this week is getting a draft of the scientific paper to my boss before her vacation.

~The Gnome