This is the story of spinning wheels. Both figurative and literal. Let’s start with figurative.
Because we are still dealing with the pandemic, I’m still talking about it. My main entertainments throughout the year (in the before times) were fiber festivals. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have a plethora of fiber festivals….usually. Last year, everyone was trying to figure out what the parameters of the virus were, how quickly it spread, exactly how it spread, etc… So, even though many/most fiber festivals are largely outdoors, no one had enough information to make an informed decision on risk, so they all cancelled. Which was sad for me. My vacation time almost exclusively revolves around these festivals.
Last year, I wasn’t concerned for all the closures, and wasn’t SUPER sad. After all, that left me more time to scrub sand into the cracks of pavers. And I was saving SO MUCH MONEY. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I don’t have to spend as much as some, as the events tend to be well within driving distance. Granted, some of that money went to said sand and said pavers. Most of it went to paying down home improvements. So yeah, I’m back to where I would have been, but I don’t have all the stories or fiber to show for it, which is sad. Poopie is happy I’m working down my stashes. He’s less happy about all the partial projects going on. I’m not spending time talking about that right now, though.
We are now in the “second wave” of infections, which we all knew (or should have known) was going to happen. Everyone going back indoors means less airflow between the germ bag that is me, and the germ bag that is you. Quarantine fatigue is also a thing. We are a social species, so this distancing is draining, and people are more willing to “make exceptions”. Every culture/religion I am aware of has a gathering in the middle of their winter. Because even without the world being a disaster, the shorter days and isolation are rough. Even without money in times of economic recession, we can usually still find ways to celebrate, and lean on the fact that being together is what’s important. But we can’t even do that right now. (well, we can, but it involves haz mat suits, and/or technology that no one can seem to get right–echos, looking up people’s noses, etc..). So we make plans for next year, in hopes we can gather again.
How does this relate to figurative spinning wheels? We are in a collective holding pattern, figuratively spinning our wheels. We are starting to get notifications that fiber festivals are evaluating whether to have shows for 2021. Black Sheep announced they won’t. And I don’t blame them. There is so much lead time that goes into an event. For an annual event, the organizers are planning for the next year as the event is happening. We *might* be OK for summer events, with the combination of vaccinations and outdoor venues, but with many of the public who come being in high risk groups, I don’t blame the organizers from making the call to hold off. Instead of throwing their energy into something that may or may not pan out, they are putting their efforts into making 2022 the best possible year.
Some have decided to do abbreviated virtual events, but that’s an entirely different skill set, and different organizational considerations make the change over more challenging than you might think (ask any teacher who’s having to teach virtually right now). We are still spinning our wheels. And I’m a participant, not a vendor. My heart goes out to them. The ranchers can’t tell their flocks to stop producing wool. So, they are still working hard, and not sure if/when/how they are going to be able to sell. So, if you’ve been saving money, and have the funds, you can go to the websites of the vendors you love, and see if there’s something that calls your name. I know that it’s more difficult when you can’t touch and see with your beady little eyes vs. in person, But you love those vendors because they have what you love. Take a chance on a proven vendor. If you don’t remember their name, maybe go to the sites of the shows you’ve been to, they almost always have vendor lists as part of their previous years’ marketing.
Look, we’ve had pandemics before. We’ve had economic hardships before. We have always recovered. Rarely is it the same as before, and one hopes it’s better and safer than it was. Yes, our wheels are spinning, but we will get out of the quagmire. And some of these things really can be positive. For example, our family is spread out, and we’ve been using technology to be more inclusive during the holidays even before the pandemic. This pandemic is normalizing that. Imagine how much less stress a young family will have if they can video in with part of their family, instead of trying to fit a week’s worth of travel into two days? If these fiber events get virtual going, how much more exposure will small vendors or teachers have when a potential participant doesn’t have to consider travel and lodging? I have never been to Stitches, and likely never would have in the before times. The cost/benefit analysis doesn’t work for me for that event…but guess who’s attending a class at Stitches this weekend?
Take heart, Dear Readers, many of our teachers, believe it or not, came from the tech world, we aren’t as far behind the curve as you may fear. Red Alder is having virtual interviews. I don’t have any inside scoop on that, but they sent out the list of interviewees, and I’m excited. Yes, I’ll miss the hustle and bustle, the touching of goods, seeing the yearly fiber friends. But, it’s not the end of the world. One of said fiber friends is ill right now with COVID. So, the threat is real. We are all hoping for a speedy recovery without permanent repercussions. But, it’s exactly people like her I’m trying to keep safe by not going out.
Enough of that for right now. Lets talk about literal spinning wheels. I had been lusting for a Pocket Wheel for years. It started as a vague crush, kind of like how you crush on a movie or rock star. Yeah, it’d be awesome, but really, I’m fine. But then, I met Jon, the maker of the Pocket Wheel.
I was helping man a booth for a friend of a friend, and he was across the aisle from us. I got to watch his lovely bride spin and spin and spin. I got to speak with both of them, and they are wonderful people. So this is like meeting Ryan Reynolds and finding out he’s just as cool in real life as you hope he is. Your lust deepens. Now it’s not that you want to boink the crush. You want to chill on a dock late at night, and
…talk of many things:
The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
And whether pigs have wings.’
But, I mean, if boinking is on the table, who am I to say no?
And so it was with my Pocket Wheel. I still lusted, but it was out of reach. First, there was a year long waiting list. When I say Jon makes these wheels, I mean he makes them. Each one. By hand. At each event, I’d see the wheels, and I would sigh. At the last Madrona, Jon and I were talking, and he pointed out that had I ordered one the previous year when we had first started talking, I’d have a wheel by then. Who can argue with that logic?
When I came home, I sighed over and over like I was in a Jane Austen movie, and relayed the conversation…and Poopie told me I should totally start dating Ryan Reynolds. Wait. No, I’m misremembering. He did, however, agree with Jon. I put in my online order, and put my down payment in. My wheel went into production last year. I got to choose my wood. The one sad thing is that I would have liked to have visited the shop to see it, and touch all the things, and pick everything out real time. But with restrictions and all, that wasn’t viable. That’s not too sad a thing though. I got my wheel. And because I haven’t been going to shows, I was able to justify getting the Wooley Winder. What that means for non-spinners is that I don’t have to pause my spinning to move hooks so my spinning fills the bobbin (mostly) evenly. The Wooley Winder has a worm gear so the fiber fills the bobbin absolutely evenly.
Now I have a shiny new wheel. My goodness! this wheel spins like a dream! It spins super fine. EVERYTHING….super fine. My normal spinning is DK weight, but this has been closer to lace. And it’s FAST.
What this means is that I can be spinning my literal wheels while spinning my metaphorical wheels. Because, you know, I couldn’t have been doing that with the other wheels I have. Hush now! I’m stimulating the economy!
Ugh….I tried to schedule this post. That didn’t work. I had also updated the post, but clearly, that didn’t save….so this is an edit. I included the first yarn I spun on my new wheel. Yes, I know it’s overspun, but the wheel and I are still getting used to each other…and did I mention it is FAST?
Since I can’t seem to stop the theme, please enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK62tfoCmuQ
One of my favorite, relatively inexpensive yarns is Lion Brand’s Homespun. It has such beautiful colors (yes, while I can be an ass about using color as the defining consideration, I do recognize it can be *a* consideration), it feels so soft. However, as you can see, it’s all bumply. What this means is that it doesn’t show stitch definition. The good of that: you can screw up a whole bunch and no one can see. The bad of that: you can work your ass off with a beautiful stitch pattern, and no one will be able to see it. This yarn makes wonderful garter stitch blankets. They look super cozy (and actually are), and they are super easy to make. If you are not one to like a concert hat, perhaps this would make a good concert knitting project for you. So, this probably won’t be my first choice for Waiting for Rain. Unless I only did the garter in this, and found something to go with it for the lace panels.
This is a singles spun yarn, which means that it is not plied like many other yarns. It is also a warm yarn, but it is smoother than the Homespun, so it would show definition. I made a wonderful cabled blanket out of it. With the leftovers, I’ve made several twined knitted hats for Poopie. Which he loves. However, because it is only spun in one direction (rather than spun, and then plied in the opposite direction), the twisting of the knitting, and twisting of the yarns for the twining technique means that it frequently untwists enough to fall apart, so I have to do a lot of splicing in the hats. This is why I try really, really hard not to tell people they can’t or shouldn’t do something. Conventional wisdom is that you “shouldn’t” use singles for twined knitting. However, these are truly Poopie’s favorite hats. They are a giant PITA to make, though. So while I won’t say you “shouldn’t” use singles for twined knitting, I will say you “should” make sure the project/recipient is worth the extra effort you are sure to need to put in. This yarn would be a perfectly reasonable choice for the shawl, the color repeats are long enough to not be super busy and detract from the lacework.
This yarn is an interesting yarn to discuss. If you look at the “core” of it, it is a laceweight. However, it has a wide halo around it. The ball band calls it a bulky. I think this is because you should probably use larger needles to give that halo enough freedom to “bloom”. While this is an acrylic yarn, this type of construction is similar to what you would see with rabbit (which, yes, I know, I didn’t talk about last yarn structure post). Yarns with this construction seem to me to most often be the super warm yarns. They look so delicate, but they are soooooo cozy. If you spin a more robust yarn with rabbit, you could go to the North Pole. For me, this construction of yarn works best with a simple lace design. I think you need the holes of the lace to let the halo really shine, but that halo will make it difficult to really see the lace. If I’m going to be working charts and tearing out rows, I want the casual observer to *know* I busted my ass to do that, and I want them to be totally jealous of my skills. Fuzzy yarn just doesn’t do that. However, it makes a super easy lace chart look like you *did* do all that hard work. Better than having everyone ooh and aah over a complicated pattern is to have everyone ooh and aah over something super easy. I’m a big proponent of making my yarn work harder than me. You may think that’s lazy. I choose to say it’s smart. Tomayto/Tomahto.
My favorite John story from that day was one of the ladies had warped her loom funky. I didn’t see/hear exactly what she did. But, that meant her piece wasn’t doing what she wanted it to do. John went over to her, and figured out it was the warp, and not her weaving. He said something to the effect of he didn’t want her to feel bad about her weaving, she was doing great. She did need to feel bad about her warping, though. Keep in mind, she comes to many of his classes, and he develops wonderful rapport with all of his students. So, in the moment, we all laughed (she included). The warp was fixed, and she carried on. Auntie Pam bought me a loom, and John signed it for me.
Spinning with Judith is always a joy. She had me putting random things in with my fiber, which is how I ended up with this lichen yarn. She’s just so matter of fact about spinning, I love her so much. There’s never anything that we shouldn’t try. She tells us what the potential pitfalls may be, but never says “don’t do that”. Granted, it’s spinning, not anything that’s going to blow up. The worst thing that will happen is the yarn will fall apart. Oh well. I did see these totally awesome spinning wheels that are in little pseudo briefcases…
I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s a bit of a stretch…I have SOME idea. I’ve taken a couple classes from the Master Gardeners. But, ideally, someone would come to my house. Blindfolded, of course…I don’t want anyone knowing where I live. They would tell me: cut here, because this. And: cut there, because that. It’s hard for me to do spring cutting. I feel bad about curbing growth. Logically, I know I’m directing growth, rather than curbing..but still. Last year, I didn’t trim back far enough based on conversations I’ve had with others who 
I came out early enough that the weeds aren’t too crazy. Plus, I got to see my volunteer kale. I do a pretty poor job of fall cleaning. I can tell you it’s because I am letting the nutrients go back into the soil. And that may be true, but I justify it by seeing my volunteers the next spring. If I had done a better job of clean up, the kale and the chard would be gone.
In the warmth, and the nutrient rich environment, some clippings get what appears to be a surge of growth, but nothing happens with them. Fast forward to the end of the season. I open up the bottom section to pull out the composted stuff, and out spills a bunch of potatoes. So…I go to the kitchen, get a bowl, and gather them up. I decide to try out a new potato recipe with those potatoes.
Last year, this whole area was blackberries. The poor lilac has been overrun. Even weeds express this dichotemy…Did you know that dandelion roots can make a dye for yarn? The leaves make a different color; and the flowers, still another. Poopie spent a lot of time pulling out scotch broom as a weed (it IS in invasive species). But a couple of years ago, I made him bring me home a bunch to dye yarn with. I gave that yarn to L. She’s on vacation, so I’m not going to make her send me a picture of it for you.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it for the longest time. I only ask for a skein of yarn because I never know what I’m going to get, and I want it to be something of reasonable cost. 
My MIL asked for a rainbow runner for her table. Finally, I knew what to use the yarn for! I wove this runner. There wasn’t enough of the yarn for either a full warp, or to use as weft. Generally speaking, warp is the long strands of fiber, whereas weft is what goes back and forth side to side. The lovely thing about weaving is that you are not constrained to use the same yarn for the whole project. Which is why knitters/crocheters often expand out into weaving.
(I have SOOOO many stories of my honeymoon adventures, which I’m sure I’ll share), we went to Whitefish, MT. I stopped by a yarn store, and purchased a skein there, and then I made this lovely cowl.
It’s half yarn store, and half guitar store. In that store, they have locally dyed yarn. By the smell and the colors, I believe that they are Kool Aid dyed. I turned that yarn into this cute little wrist bag for projects. As a side note, they also sell yarn at the Ace Hardware in Lihue, but that’s just generic yarn.
Armed with this new knowledge, I went out (eventually) and bought myself a wheel. Or 2. Or 3. Then I sold #2. Then bought #4. And later, #5. Trust me, Poopie tells me about my wheel collection (which is only 4). I ask about his guitars, and he finds somewhere else to be, and his hearing has suddenly deteriorated. I would also like to point out his wall of lp’s behind spinning wheel #1.
Apparently, the same is true with music. It would be very helpful, however, if Poopie didn’t sound like a trombone when he talks about his music equipment. I’m not one of the Peanuts kids, I don’t understand “Wa waa wa waa wawa waa”. So, even had the reel to reel I bought him actually worked, it was a 2 track instead of a 4 track. Our local record store took back the defunct reel to reel. Two machines later, he now has the one he wanted. Also, please note the 2 guitars and mandolin, in addition to the guitars and basses in the music room.
La Tejedora Crafts 