Start 'em Young, Part 2

DS spinning some pencil roving (no drafting required) -- any idea why it is underlining??

Soon...

Hi Cindy!

The sweater looks great! I love the colors. I am still chicken where colorwork is involved. Stripes I can do but Fair Isle and Intarsia freak me out. And steeking on top of that? Yow! Of course you've been knitting 25 or more years longer than I have so I'm sure you are fearless with your knitting. I aspire to fearlessness but have come no where near it.

DH ordered my birthday present Monday night. He ended up ordering from the Woolery. The price is slightly higher than the local shop but it does come with extras and by the time you add on Mesa city tax it would come out more to buy it locally. I'm also getting the pound of wool and a niddy noddy with it. The wool shipped out yesterday but no word yet on the wheel. Hopefully it will get here before Christmas.

Last night was the last spinning class. I started working on the bombyx top like I sent you. My color is Primrose. It is coming out really nice. I'm still getting a little of the thick and thin but not like when I first started. I think I like it a little more than the hankies, although both are pretty nice.

The other woman in the class ordered a new Ashford Traveler from the store the other day. When she started the class she was convinced that she wanted the Majacraft Rose. Last week she tried the Ashford and really liked it. The Rose kept having troubles with the drive band slipping off. And it is a couple of hundred dollars more than the Traveler.

I'm a little envious of the snow you had last week. It looks like fun. We've been cooler the last couple of days and they are predicting rain for Friday and Saturday. It will be the first storm of the "winter" season if it actually delivers. Of course the way the weather forecasters have been talking it up means we'll probably be sunny all weekend.

DH has his big 3 day retreat this weekend with their Roshi this weekend. It runs from 3:30 am to 8:30 pm Friday and Saturday and then 3:30 am to 5:30 pm on Sunday. He wants me to drive him there and pick him up each day. I'm taking Friday off from work because I don't think I'd be able to get up before 3 to take him and then make it into work. I'm going to spend the 3 days on creative stuff and decorating the house and Christmas tree. I might try to do some touch-up paint on base boards at some poin. I'm going to make a push to finish DH's socks too. I'm almost done with the gusset increases so it is time to turn the heel and start up the leg. He wanted to wear them this weekend but I doubt that will happen unless he wants them as anklets on Sunday.

More soon, A

What a week

Hi Cindy,

Wish I had some interesting project to write about but I haven't knit a stitch in the last week and the only spinning I've done was last night in class. It was the last class of the series so not I don't have any wheel time until I either buy one or take another class. I also don't have any knitting pictures so here's an interesting one of DH from the mine days. This is an old haul truck located at a very abandoned mine northwest of the Grand Canyon.

What wheel do you you have and how do you like it? I think I've narrowed my choice down to 2 or 3. I like the Ashford Joy a lot except that the orifice is a bit low for me and I feel like I lean to far forward. I've used it 2 or 3 times in class.

Last night I used the Ashford Traveler and it is probably at the top of my list right now. This is the second time I've tried it out. Of the two DH likes the look of the Traveler more, I think he wants to have something that looks nice setting out. The orifice height is good although I feel like I twist some due to the treadles being offset from the bobbin. It's not too bad so I don't think it would hurt my back in the long run.

The third one at the top of my list is the Kromski Minstral. It has the decorative turnings like the Traveler but is more in line like the Joy. The one in class tends to creek a bit if the support between the treadles is not set properly. It is less portable than the other two and for some reason I'd really like my wheel to be easily packed in the car.

Warning: Mild Ranting ahead

The new block fence in our backyard is almost complete. Well, the fence is complete but we are waiting on the gates which were supposed to be installed yesterday. Our neighbor, J, was being a little bit of a jerk about the fence. For years he's said we should do ours and theirs together. The wall between us is common and the old fence fell right on the property line. The guys demo-ing the old fence ran a laser down the center of it when they started taking out the old one. They then dug footings for the new one which were allowed to cure for a day before they began with the wall. That night J came banging on the door to "discuss" a problem. He thought that the footings were too far on his property and didn't think it was fair. Now granted the footings were 10" wide but most of the fence is only 4" with the support piers at 8". At most in a few places it would be 2" onto his side. J ranted about this for 10 minutes. The real reason we think he is upset is that we brought the new fence to the front edge of our house, about 15' out from the old one. For as long as we've been in the house he's parked extra cars and a trailer in that area of his yard, often getting into ours by several inches or even a foot. Now he won't be able to get that far over so close to the houses. He still has 30' or more from the street to park stuff. Well, when they came to build the wall on Wednesday I had them put the support blocks as far east towards our house as they could, more on our side than his. It is far enough over that he has a gap of 2"+ between his still standing gates and the new fence. Oh well, that's what he wanted. I can just let it go but it has been bugging DH since the rant and he's worried that J might sue us. We haven't heard more from him in nearly 3 days so I think it will be okay. (End rant)

The rest of the fence looks great although they haven't installed the gates yet and they were supposed to be there yesterday. Hopefully they'll be in when we get home. The block does make the yard seem a little smaller, probably because it is a full 6' high, not 5'+ pretending to be higher, and because it is solid now, not full of holes. It is just gray block now but we are planning on painting it this fall. I'm thinking mural and tile mosaics for a lot of it.

Update, 9:23 pm. The gates were in when we got home and they look great. Maybe a picture or two tomorrow.

Good Morning!

I thought I'd sneak in a quick post before we finish packing and head west. Maybe a sock (or pair) will have to have it's picture taken in interesting places. (Hollywood Sign, Griffith Park Observatory, Walk of Fame-any name suggestions?).

Class last night went pretty well. I used and Ashford Traveller. It is pretty nice. I think I still like the Joy the best. The Kromski Minstral was pretty nice too. Next week I want to try the Rose and maybe the Joy again to confirm how I like it. The only one I haven't really liked is the Louet Victoria. In class we're having problems with the plastic guides staying in place. They're not sure if it is the plastic that is bad or if the wood has dried out in the Arizona heat.

There are only 3 of us in class this time and it runs for another 4 weeks. I'm going to finish off the Dyed Rhammboulette (sp? I'm too lazy to go check) and the ply it. I got about half of the chunk done last night. It was going pretty good.

DH is done so I'd best get going. More when I get a chance to post, A