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.
ooh, ooh! I may have a solution! Buy into a fiber CSA--that way you're supporting a small farmer, you don't have to do the work yourself, and you get the slightly less vicarious joy of seeing baby lambs and kids. I have a share in this one http://mvknits.etsy.com and and the baby angora goats are being born right now--SO CUTE! http://www.flickr.com/photos/susangibbs/ to see them.
Ok, enough gushing. Hope the babies cheer you up a bit. Oh, and if you didn't have fiber critters, I would imagine it would be easier to go away--chickens can fend for themselves for a day or two, yes?
Posted by: Maggie | February 25, 2008 at 12:18 AM
Even without critters, land in the country sounds divine! I want that too, overlooking the Little Cahaba but far away from the college kids with their innertubes. Only problem is, I don't want to commute. Stupid job. Stupid money. :o)
Posted by: elizabeth | February 27, 2008 at 11:44 AM