Coupla Photos, and Then a Bunch of Stuff About Wool

You know the blogging-life thing has gotten weird when your coworker (that's Minh, of the good TV tips), says to you, as you leave the office, "post halloween pics soon," and tells you that his wife has issues with the difficulty in separating fiber content from other topics.  All I can say is, I feel ya, but everywhere I look there seems to be wool.  Sorry about that.

So, ya want the halloween pictures, ya got the halloween pictures.

Eleanor was a bucket loader.  Actually, the bucket fell off at some point during trick-or-treating, at which point she became a forklift, a transition she handled admirably for a three-and-a-half-year-old.

Henry was a ghost, complete with bang-clank equipment and a ghostly crown created in mixed media (felt and pipe cleaners) by mamarhys.  Mamarhys is entirely responsible for the brilliant, creative costumes.

Mamarhys may be the crafty, fabulous mama, but guess who hit the markdown bin for costumes for the dress-up bin?  Who knew Halloween fell in the beginning of November for the children of the cheap parsimonious thrifty?

Yup, Henry's wearing the princess dress.  Rock on, dude.  Eleanor has on the spider costume, which involves two extra sets of legs connected to gloves, so all the legs move when she moves her hands.  Slays me.  So freakin' cute.

So Minh and family may now stop reading.  The rest is about wool.

Kepler proceeds apace.  I'm starting to enjoy it.  Sorry, no pics yet, not much to see, just a bunch of stockinette.

I've been navajo plying the fiber I got at Foxfire Fiber, and I've learned a few things, the hard way.

1. Softly-spun long-draw singles and navajo plying don't really go together.  Navajo plying needs a pretty firmly spun singles to keep from BREAKING.  You know, over and over again.  Rhys, sitting innocently enough next to me on the couch, finally said "what is WRONG?"  It was one of those moments, when, teeth gritted, you growl, "yes-I-do-this-to-relax-what's-it-to-ya."  Lesson learned.  Okay, maybe lesson learned for the next bobbin, since I seem to have forgotten it halfway through the second one.

2. If you get the tension just right, it's almost effortless.  Until 1. happens again.  You want it to just sort of feed in gently as you pull out the loops.

3. Slow down.  I needed to navajo ply on a slower ratio than I did the singles or what I usually use to ply.  Keep that loop open and don't let it get ahead of you.  As (I think) Alden Amos says, few problems in spinning can be corrected by treadling faster.  Words to live by.  Now to remember those words when I'm actually at the wheel.

That's left to right in the order plied.  Kind of a sad thing to do to such nice fiber, but I decided barber-poling was worse.  Hopefully all will be redeemed in the knitting.  Maybe a hat, with the cashmere/silk as a cabled band?  Hmm.

So, speaking of nice fiber, I think I mentioned that Deanna and I split a CVM/Romeldale fleece at Rhinebeck and that she gave me my half at the Twist.  I washed some of it and decided to try out my new combs.

And also:

(Yes, Shrek slippers.  Henry adores them.)

Resulting in:

And this:

So soft. So silky.  Ahhhhh.  I just want to stay home and comb and spin.  What's this whole "making a living" thing about, anyway?

Off to bed.  I'll be picking up Miss Henny Penny from her trip to Dave Paul's wheel-spa tomorrow at an intermediate point, kids and friend in tow.  Later gators.

Comments

[Lee Ann]

Henny's coming home? coooooooool. Say hi to Dave for me :-)

[Carole]

Cute kids, great yarn, soft fiber and a home-coming for Henny. What more could you want?

[stephanie]

I really think that Hank would have lain down in the road if his bucket had come off. (Not that he had a bucket, but this was the first year that he didn't wear a dress..rock on indeed) I'm totally impressed with the transition.

[CarolineF]

I love the seashell diz! Where did you get it?? I'm using an old button. Or the way functional, but not pretty, piece of PVC that came with my combs.

[Rachel H]

Very cool spider costume! And doncha love how little kids have no gender bias? My 4 yo tells me whenever he can get his hands on my make up that yes, makeup IS for boys too. And then runs off to play with his trucks.

[Cara]

My sister had the same idea on dress-up stuff - only the party store we went to was completely empty. Like ghost town empty. Glad you got some good stuff.

The kids look great! Tell Rhys great job! I saw one ghost costume that looked eerily like a KKK outfit. It was actually quite upsetting.

The yarn is beautiful.

Good job MamaRhys. Those costumes are adorable!

[The Feminist Mafia]

Good job MamaRhys. Those costumes are adorable!

[Jody]

Those fiber shots are almost enough to make a grrl want a fleece and some combs. Almost.

The kids had some very sweet costumes. Props to mamarhys.

[Juno]

Shit. I'd just about decided to card Gladys and now you show me this? What are you trying to DO to me?

Where'd those combs come from.....?

Don't mind me, I'm just here for the wool.....

[Maria]

So, Stephanie (via Laurie) is trying to get me to dye, you're trying to get me to spin, and I can't even knit a freakin' pair of socks for my brother without having to rip it back 6 times. In one night. Argh!

Cute cute costumes though.

[Sneaksleep]

Mamrhys rocks! Very smart about the restocking of the dress-up bin. I'll have to remember that one. For my future kids, I mean. ;-) I have such a hard time just keeping my singles from falling apart, I can't imagine how complicated it is to ply. Sigh...someday I'll be as cool as you and Lee Ann.

[Kat with a K]

Ahh, so pretty. And cute costumes!

[julia fc]

Actually, I find that navajo destined singles benfit from a little extra energy than plain old two plyers. Even more if you're heading for a cabled yarn. But don't live by what I say because I'm still trying it out for myself, but give it a shot.
I am very impressed about Eleanor handling the costume malfunction with aplomb. Will would have crashed and burned, taking the whole contruction site with him if he could.

[Laurie]

Great shots! Love Mamarhys' thinking cap on those.

Plying, huh? I'll know something more intelligent than theory after this weekend. You are (always) light years ahead, no matter the whinging.

Please post pics of Henny Penny!

[Kristen]

oh oh oh! the kids and mamaRhys look great! (those costumes were pure genius and kudos to E for going with the flow; that seems like some sort of milestone.)

The wool looks divine and I've stored away your spinning tidbits for when I someday have a wheel and are doing more then just dabling with my drop spindle.

[Cassie]

The combed fiber looks fabulous. Makes me itch to get out my combs.

The kids? Nothing needs to be said, you know how damn cute they are.

I need a spider costume.