So, Internet, a new spinning wheel has come to live with me! She's a vintage Lendrum ST which came to me via the wonderful dnorton. Isn't Ravelry a wonderful thing?
I've been drooling over Lendrums since I learned to spin, but I'm not comfortable on double treadle wheels as my lower back issues mean I have to constantly readjust my sitting position to stay comfortable, and I find that double treadles force me to stay in one position for extended periods. I've also wanted a more portable wheel so I can start attending local guild meetings and meet spinners and take classes. So I was contemplating buying a new ST Lendrum in the fall when this wheel happened to come available on Rav, and at a price I couldn't resist. But couldn't quite convince myself that I could afford it without selling Thecla. Thankfully, my husband, who doesn't have the same kind of Grad School economics mindset as I do, suggested it would be an excellent addition, and that we could afford it without having to thin the herd, so to speak. I've had an awful lot of mileage out of my Ashford Traddy so far, and I love her to pieces, and I'm especially fond of the jumbo flyer that Nathan bought me for Christmas, so while it would be an upgrade to take the Lendrum, I would have been pretty sad letting Thecla go to offset the cost. Now I feel like a totally spoiled princess who gets to have TWO spinning wheels and ALL THE FIBRE <3
She spins like a dream! I snuggled up on the couch with some Corgi Hill Farm BFL last night and spun happily (and silently) away while trying to catch up on Coronation Street (I'm about four months' behind the Canadian broadcasts, so I've got a lot of spinning time in my near future.) After some fiddling with adjustments and tweaking of bits and bobs, we found a wonderful rhythm together. I got through about three weeks' worth of episodes in one sitting. Glorious!
Now I need to get some batteries in my camera so I can take some photos of her in all her blonde maple glory. And to capture the plying head, which is enormous. Seriously, it looks like a missile launcher.
This weekend I'm having friends over for a bit of a fibre party: we are going to play with colours and dyes! I am looking forward to making a mess of the kitchen. I've been doing a bit of dying over the past few months and I'm pretty excited by the results and looking forward to doing a little workshop with my best buds.
Today it is drizzly and much cooler than it has been over the past few weeks, and I am going to brew another pot of coffee, contemplate paying my library fines, and then knit away the balance of the day.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Alive!
I am still alive, honest. Still knitting and spinning, although I haven't been cataloguing all my projects. Too lazy, too overworked, too...whatever.
The first year of my PhD is over and I swear it nearly killed me. I took a TA position on top of a whole whack of terrible, terrible courses and by April I was slitting my wrists with unmarked student exams. The teaching experience was fantastic and the course was brilliant and the students were wonderful and I got some very positive feedback but holy wow, is it ever time-consuming. I have applied to work in the same course again, but I've also applied for a course that's actually in my field, and although I feel a sense of loyalty to my original course I think if given the chance I'd like to work in Medieval History. Fingers crossed. Chances are the History department will make the decision for me anyhow.
It is summer, I am on vacation (read: unemployed) and slowly frittering away my savings in anticipation of my contract in September. Married life continues to be blissful, domestic life is cozy and full of cat hair, and we are planning on moving later this fall, hopefully out to the Beaches where there are trees and water. At the end of August I am heading up to the Bancroft area with my parents-in-law to stay at a rented cottage with them for a week and I plan on bringing a few knitting and spindling projects to enjoy while I stare out at some calm Muskoka waters and breathe in the piney air.
Life is pretty good when it's full of coffee and fibre and love!
The first year of my PhD is over and I swear it nearly killed me. I took a TA position on top of a whole whack of terrible, terrible courses and by April I was slitting my wrists with unmarked student exams. The teaching experience was fantastic and the course was brilliant and the students were wonderful and I got some very positive feedback but holy wow, is it ever time-consuming. I have applied to work in the same course again, but I've also applied for a course that's actually in my field, and although I feel a sense of loyalty to my original course I think if given the chance I'd like to work in Medieval History. Fingers crossed. Chances are the History department will make the decision for me anyhow.
It is summer, I am on vacation (read: unemployed) and slowly frittering away my savings in anticipation of my contract in September. Married life continues to be blissful, domestic life is cozy and full of cat hair, and we are planning on moving later this fall, hopefully out to the Beaches where there are trees and water. At the end of August I am heading up to the Bancroft area with my parents-in-law to stay at a rented cottage with them for a week and I plan on bringing a few knitting and spindling projects to enjoy while I stare out at some calm Muskoka waters and breathe in the piney air.
Life is pretty good when it's full of coffee and fibre and love!
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