So many hobbies!

A lesson in hand carding

These are my wonderful Schacht hand cards.  I'm not very good with them so my friend Eric (from spin night) offered to give me a lesson tomorrow after work.  Thanks, Eric!  (Hey, Eric, do you want to have dinner afterward at Shalimar?  Mmm, Indian food!)  I have a large plastic tub full of Cormo and since I don't spin a very even singles when I spin from the lock, I thought I'd try another method.  I've played with them a bit the last couple of days and the static is terrible.  It's possible I stink so badly with them because of the static.  The fiber flips around and clings to the backs of the cards and poofs all over the place on the front.  I've tried wiping the cards with a dryer sheet (a hint I got from a back issue of Spin-Off) but it didn't make a difference, although that may be because the dryer sheets are 6 years old.  (I don't use dryer sheets or fabric softener because I'm allergic to the perfumes and unpronouncable things they add to them... I should probably throw the darn things out, huh?)  Hopefully, it'll be a bit more humid tomorrow when I get my carding lesson.

Aside from the carding lesson, I don't really have any plans for the weekend, aside from finishing up a spindle box I'm making to trade for another Butterfly Girl spindle and some of her lovely batts, and playing with my hand cards, of course.  What fun things do you have planned for this weekend?

Oh, I almost forgot, I found out from Elizabeth today that she's going to SOAR, too.  Elizabeth and I have been commenting on each other blogs for a while now and I finally get to meet her.  I'm totally psyched about this.  I've made friends because of my blog but they all live too far away for us to actually meet.  Elizabeth will be the first of my blog-friends that I actually get to have a face-to-face conversation with.  If I wasn't thrilled about SOAR before, I certainly am now!

New hand cards

Perhaps Winter wasn't the best time to try the spending diet.  I don't do so well in winter and this one has been particularly bad.  The thought has ocurred to me that living somewhere else might be a good thing.  I love Spring in Michigan.  It's my favorite time of year.  Unfortunately, you have to go through winter to get to it and well... winter in Michigan really sucks!

So, because I've been depressed from frickin' SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), I bought myself some beautiful Schacht hand cards.  Saturday night I practiced carding Rambouillet and making rolags and Sunday I practiced spinning long draw.  I need a lot more practice.  My yarn was pretty bumpy but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Tomorrow night is my first spin night.  I have some beautiful, soft Polwarth/Kid Mohair roving I bought from a local seller (I try to buy local when I can.  God knows Michigan craft people can use the business.)  This stuff is cloud soft and I want to spin it for a shawl I've designed.  It's a fairly simple design but it incorporates some new things for me:  cables and using two different colors.

I'm going to be buying some land in the country some time in the next year.  I grew up in the country and I really miss the peace and quiet, having a vegetable garden and listening to the Spring Peepers when I'm falling asleep.  I love living in the country.  I want at least 2 acres so I have the option of getting some fiber animals, and chickens, if I decide I want some.  That's a hard one, though.  To be honest, buying the fleece from someone else's animal is much cheaper than growing your own.  Having animals makes traveling much more problematic.  You can't just go away for the weekend.  You're tied to your farm unless you have a reliable farm sitter.  And, since I'm single, there's only one person to do all the work.  Still, there's nothing like free-range eggs and I can only imagine what it's like to see lambs and kids cavorting around the pasture.  Like I said, something to think about.