On Friday I put together all these wonderful, amazing, and highly productive plans as to what I was going to do this weekend. I was going to organize my stash (please hold your laughter until the end, that's not even the funny part), reskein and photograph all my yarn waiting to go up in the shop, label and organize the same yarn, finish dyeing the yarn for the Big Damn Sock Club March shipment, photograph my selections for the Quidditch traveling swap box, photograph and organize all my WIPs, finish up 2 pairs of mitts, dye a couple of Alice colorways with Vberry, and take my new spindle on a quick test spin. Where in the world did I think I was going to find the time to do all that?! I'm exhausted just thinking about that insane list, and it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that there were two main flaws to my plan.
1: "Dye a couple of Alice colorways"
Have you seen that movie?! Tim Burton did wondrous things with the story. It's like 2 hours of amazing color and imagination. Even the Academy agrees - it won 2 Oscars tonight for Art Direction and Costume Design. I couldn't just leave it at a "couple of colorways." Technically the plan was to dye three - a theme that I provide that both of us dye, a theme that Vberry provides that both of us dye, and a personal challenge that Vberry issues. Just three. Well, that three turned into nine: Cheshire Cat, Most Everyone’s Mad Here, Futterwacken, Bandersnatch, Down The Rabbit Hole, Um From Umbridge, Frabjous Day, Her Name Is Alice. Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?
That nine then turned into 13 because I was on a role and had other colorways just itching to get out. Who am I to deny the call of the dye - especially when the crock pot is already on and the dyes are sitting there waiting to be mixed? I ended up with two new Doctor Who colorways (Captain Jack Harkness and Bow Ties Are Cool) as well as an old "friend" (Don't Blink). Then I tackled a colorway inspired by a Jayne quote from the pilot episode of Firefly, "Let's Moon 'Em."
Here's a peek of it cooking away in the crock pot:
2: "New spindle"
I'm not a spinner. Well, that's what I tell myself even though all evidence seems to point to the contrary. I've had a drop spindle for over 6 months and I play around with it occasionally, but I've yet to spin any fully functioning yarn. I usually end up with a small amount of single ply then my spindle starts spinning all wonky and I get sick of fighting with it then I pack it up and decide to deal with it another day. That changed last month when I decided to dye some of my own roving. The roving came out quite pretty (tropical blue and lime green - no one should be surprised by this) so I dug out the spindle and sat down to spin again. Same problem, different day. I had a cheap spindle and didn't like using it. It pretty much sucked.
A couple of days later while surfing etsy, I stumbled across Zebisis Designs and absolutely fell in love with this turquoise spindle.
I knew it was a bit extravagant for someone who doesn't seem to particularly enjoy spinning, but it was pretty and I wanted it and I was having a really crappy day at work so the next thing I knew I'd received an order confirmation from etsy and it will arrive in a week or so. In the meantime I went down to Stitches West and bought oodles of hand dyed roving. I blame lack of sleep and intoxicating fiber fumes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, I've spent the past week walking past my piles of roving just petting them and waiting for my new spindle to arrive. It showed up at my door on Friday and it was true love. I resisted spinning anything until last night after I finished the top cuff of my Snarky mitt, but then I picked up my new roving and my new spindle and I was a goner. All day today I dyed and spun. I've barely put a dent in my 4oz of Polwarth Top in the Amazonia colorway by Lisa Souza, but I've loved every minute of it. This spindle spins like a dream!!! Zebisis Designs was a delight to order from and I definitely see myself being a repeat customer in the future.
So there you have it... Of all the things on my to-do list, I only managed to accomplish two. Well, two and a half. I managed to reskein a couple of previously dyed skeins and about half the dry skeins dyed on Saturday. Here's the thing that matters though: I had an awesome weekend. After a week of frustrating work and stupid snow, I still managed to have a relaxing yet productive weekend full of creativity and yarny goodness.
And all those things I didn't get to? That's what tomorrow is for, right???
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