Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Another Day in My Crazy Life

Well, I'd better put something on here before I'm out of the house again. Tuesday is always my CRAZY day. This morning, I went to the YMCA for my weekly "Charity Knitting" group. Those ladies are so fun to sit with. I'm almost finished making a cute topknot hat. Here's the pattern: http://www.vintageknits.com/babyhat.html It's so cute! I'm making it with Unger Fluffy yarn. The main color is pale orange, and the hearts are yellow. I'll try to take a photo to show you the finished product. Everyone there thought it was just adorable.

It's fun to knit for charity, because you have no idea who will be wearing the item you are making. I usually say a prayer for the family that will be receiving it, so I feel connected to them in some way. The whole group said a prayer together today, so that was pretty cool. Our group is called "Knit Wits". I guess that's a pretty common name among knitters, eh?

Right now, I'm working on getting packages ready to mail for eBay. Marvin and I sell things on there all the time. He always lists "manly" things like military or sports items. My auctions are usually old crochet patterns or needlework kits, or just anything I happen to find around the house that we don't need. We've made some good money on eBay. It's fun to do too! I pretty much waste all the money I make, though.....I turn right around and spend it all on eBay for knitting and spinning stuff! : )

So, since I have about an hour here, I'll talk just for fun. I have to teach piano lessons tonight starting at about 5:00, and ending at 8:30. I teach about 12 students right now. On Tuesdays, I teach at a studio in Charlotte. On Wednesdays, I go to a home where I teach 3 sisters. On Thursdays, I teach one student at my church, and then my night is filled with practicing organ for Sunday morning, rehearsing with a men's quartet, then playing for two choir rehearsals. I'm usually absolutely exhausted by the time that's all done.

Fridays are my fun days. I usually spend the whole day knitting or spinning or looking for new patterns on the internet. www.google.com is my best friend on Fridays. When I look for patterns, I am invariably led to other people's knitting blogs, where I get caught up reading and laughing about their exploits. I tell you....some knitters are just crazy people! Spinners are too....I think it's from staring at that wheel going round and round and round. Loopy!

Yesterday, I wrote all about my very first experience with spinning - using a drop spindle. My experiences with spinning have been interesting and challenging to say the least. It's much harder to learn to spin than it was to learn to knit. There are so many things to consider. The thing I'm having the hardest time with is TENSION. I just can't figure out what knob to turn to make my yarn turn out right.
My Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel
I have an Ashford Traditional Wheel. It's so beautiful. I got it for a GREAT price at a local consignment store. That purchase makes a wonderful story. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, hopefully. Believe me, you'll enjoy reading about it. Anyway...back to my tension problem. My wheel is an older model, so it has been very hard for me to find any kind of guide on the internet that matches my model. I have had to figure it out by trial and error mostly. So, needless to say, my yarn is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Right now, it is all twisted WAY too tight. I laugh whenever I try to knit with it, because whatever I make ends up looking slanted. :P

One day, I'll go to that spinning class in Greensboro. I think that will be the best thing for me to do. I mean, I have the video from Ashford called "Spinning and Weaving the Ashford Way", but it only has instructions for the new models of course.

My other plan is to go to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair. http://www.saffsite.org/page.php?page=home.htm They have classes for EVERYTHING!

Well, I gotta sign off and get ready to go to the post office, pay my car payment, and teach piano lessons. Busy, busy, busy!

Catcha later. :)

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