Remembering how NORMAL feels . . .

I optimistically hoped knowing HOW to spin on my Ladybug Spinning Wheel might be a little like "riding a bike" once you learn. Several years have passed since the deaths of mom & dad. During many years of eldercare, spinning was my personal form of mental therapy. She moved into their house with me. I spun constantly. Then I knitted: mittens, shawls, bags, bears - Jacobus Monkeys! Knitting everything with as much of my own handspun as I could. Partly to control the stash. Mostly because knitting with your own handspun tells you how well you're doing. Tells you if you don't like knitting with it you might need to change something.

When I finally came home for the last time my wheel was placed safely on top of a bureau. Waiting. Waiting for NORMAL to return. Waiting for as long as that took. Turns out it took a couple of years.

Knowledge has come back to my hands almost like forgotten muscle memory. But after a very long pause since touching anything spinning, there seems to be a bit of a "remembering" period - where things are a little shaky. And like riding a bike, sometimes you tip over!

The drafting triangle is still occasionally "locking up" or splitting off into a bit of a clump. (I've practiced rejoining ends way more than I really wanted!) I forgot to oil the center spindle so my wheel made more noise than I EVER would have accepted before. I was just happy to be feeding slightly over/under twisted wool onto the bobbin again. I was afraid to stop to take things apart and risk my wobbly progress.

After the 1st bobbin was full-enough, it was well past time for a good wheel-cleaning Spa Day. A glug of Murphy's Oil Soap in warm water soon became chocolate-colored. Embarrassingly, cruddy brown! After getting all the parts cleaned, oiled (properly!) and put back together, the 2nd bobbin is full-enough now for plying.

I've decided to let them rest and spin a couple more bobbins. The fleece I'm spinning with is one that I bought at the Common Ground Fair. It was washed and dried as soon as I got it. But then it waited as well. It may have more "grease" left in it than I thought when it was washed. Part of my "remembering to spin" issues may be that I'm also "remembering" to prepare fleece for spinning.

I should probably practice plying on some of the left-over bobbins that collected their share of dust as well. Fear my hands won't remember might be part of the reason for filling more bobbins first . . .

I've accepted this 1st yarn I have spun in a long time will probably not be knit into a fine shawl. But feeling like more of my NORMAL has returned is comforting for now.

The Slippery Slope.

I never knew I wanted to be a spinner.  

Through the years old spinning wheels were regularly seen in antique shops around here; usually broken, with missing parts even to my untrained eyes. I remember carefully reaching out a finger and daring to poke wheels to make them turn a bit whenever we came across one.  
But I never really thought, "gee, I want one of these." I can make yarn now! 

Yarn I look forward to knitting or weaving with. 
And soon I want to try dyeing some of this creamy, off-white freshly hand spun yarn into lovely new colors.  NEXT!

In April my cousin Mark gave me 3 bags filled with old fleece from long ago when he raised sheep. 
I couldn't remember how long it had been, but I did know Sara & Steph were still young when they went next door with Grammie to see the baby sheep. 
I dug through some old photo albums and found pictures dated 1991. 
OLD  FLEECE.
He doesn't remember what kind of sheep they were.
Except one was named Gloria and one Jane!    
One of them had silky long locks and in hindsight should have been kept separate.

A wiser person would probably have passed on this gift, rather than be so quick to jump in with both feet. 
Who teaches herself to process fleece with less than 2 months of practice, learning to spin?!
"I don't know what I'm doing!" has been uttered many times now.

I dumped it all on a tarp. There were rips in the bags it had been stored in. If there was anything making a nest inside I figured it was better to find out quickly. Outside!

I sorted using my own grading system:
Gross. Grosser. Grossest.
Grossest went to trashcan with no looking back. This has not been a job for the squeamish. Veggie matter is a polite description for what these critters got stuck to themselves long ago. 
My first two skeins were done using a regular comb and a washer as a Diz. 
By the end of April I had my new Hand Carders from Paradise Fiber.
I look forward to my next fleece being not quite so vintage.  
Slippery Slope!!







Practice.
Practicing with this old fleece has been freeing in a way. For as much work as it takes to get it ready to spin, I don't worry about wasting money on the expensive bags of fiber I bought, still waiting because of this new distraction. I get to figure things out and if it doesn't go as well as I liked, I get to pull a bit off and try again.  Like joining new ends smoothly.
 
There's no more anxiety or guilt for the time I took until I was ready to begin spinning. Simply anticipation of the next slot of time I happily give to my spinning wheel. Sometimes a bobbin will fill.  Another bobbin might be started and before I know it an hour or more has passed.  
I actually enjoy the process of plying many spinners seem to find a chore. 
It feels like accomplishment to me!
As I go about my daily routine now, my Schacht Ladybug sits in the corner made by our couch and a small thrift-store end table that I sanded, buts still needs finishing.  
Just out of the traffic flow of the living room. 
(No, it's NOT a projector!)


Jax shoves her half-peeled soccer ball under my elbow to coax me into doing something different after I've hardly gotten started. She lays her head on my left knee and makes it feel as heavy as she can until she gets what she wants. I tried to take a picture of her face looking up at me and keep treadling. Doesn't work too good. She's worked out how to get her way:
Lunch, a walk, or peanut butter, please!

 
Darling Blue Trail in bloom. (Distraction from first use of my new bread machine: FAIL.)
Note to Mrs. John: wait til you see one of my Tiger Trail plants!!

I'm Going On An Adventure!

“All good stories deserve embellishment.” 

 A couple of months ago I noticed wood construction plans on the laptop, over my husbands shoulder, as I passed through the living room. When asked what he was planning to build, he said a chicken coop. 
He said he wanted to gather eggs in his retirement.

CHICKENS! 
I am terrified of free ranging chickens. 
And those plans better have an egg dispenser, as I will not be sticking my hand under a chicken's butt without a good deal of intervention first.

I did suggest IF he was going to have chickens, I would like sheep. 
I would learn to spin!

And then a blogger with the Portland Press Herald featured my Fox Mittens with their Sunday paper.  Orders for finished fox mittens on the Etsy account Steph set up started coming in.  On Ravelry, people were buying my pattern for $3.
($2.58 to me after PayPal takes a cut.) 

Seriously. THANK YOU!

After a couple hundred dollars built up, I suggested to family members I would like to buy that spinning wheel now. IF we raised enough, it was decided. 

I have goals!


Next up will be learning how to use my new Ladybug by Schacht in Boulder, CO.
I made a LOT of Fox Mittens. Orders are still coming in. 
The actual ladybug pictured above landed on my knitting right about when we had earned enough!
 
My next goal may be the Woolee Winder.  Accessories are each sold separately. 
I would love it if the mittens continue to support my new obsession for a while longer!

My Ladybug arrived December 11th at 3:17 in the afternoon. At 5am I started cleaning the house, with the pledge I would keep cleaning until it arrived. The tracking update suggested an "early delivery".  White floor tiles were scrubbed on hands and knees, until we lost power and thus water, for an hour. My floor washing head of steam faded and I moved on to the fridge. It is clean top to bottom/under and behind! Wow. It needed it.

When the big box arrived on the deck I was almost too tired to open it.
Contents needed to be checked and a few last bits needed to be put together.

I hope it continues to whisper when I start adding fiber. For now I need to try and get the wheel to treadle clockwise. Stop and start without going backwards. 
It was described by one video blogger as patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.