I did something today I haven’t done in years.

Really. Years.

I wore my hair in a ponytail.

I’d forgotten how very bouncy that feels!

I have a couple “rules” about ponytails–the hair has to be a sufficient length that the tail falls past the nape of the neck. If it’s too short, the hair doesn’t move, and I’ve always thought part of the appeal of ponytails is that special swing. Another rule is that bangs–if you have bangs–have to look “right,” and when I have them, I usually wear them long and swept to one side . . . and then they usually look pretty silly with the rest of the hair pulled back. Now, what used to be bangs are about jaw length, and can reach the back of my head (and the curl helps it all stay together back there, too.)

So, there have been reasons that I haven’t done this style in years. My hair’s been shorter in the last year or two than it has been since the early 1980s, thereby not passing the “length test.” Then too, ponytails can be damaging to the hair–if you wear them to often, they can cause breakage at the elastic–and of course they’re terrible for curls, pulling and flattening them out.

It’s silly, no doubt, to get excited about wearing such a basic, easy hair style–one worn by little girls, teenagers . . . people of all ages, really–but it was fun. I spent most of the day turning my head with just that little bit extra flourish to feel the hair brushing against my neck, and walked with some extra bounce in my step. It looked surprisingly nice, too, and even though I secured it with one of those snag-free elastics, I was able to wear a pretty, silver slide over it, to make it look even nicer.

What can I say? It’s silly, but it felt good!

  Speaking of bouncy, spirally, twisty stuff . . . Here, we have a picture of my pretty teal-shaded singles from the roving that Lizzy B sent me last May. I’ve been spinning them onto my Kundert spindle–it seemed appropriate because she was waxing rhapsodic about spindling at the time I started spinning this, so I figured I should use my drop spindle instead of my wheel.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to fit on the spindle, but think I wound it off at just the right time–it was getting just too heavy and the yarn kept breaking; nor was it spinning for as long. In fact, after I wound this off onto the niddy-noddy, I just started a fresh piece of wool on the spindle, so I’d have something I could pick up later on, and I couldn’t believe how long it spun and spun on one twist. The weight was clearly slowing it down!

  A closer picture, and remarkably accurate for color, all things considered, but there should be just a hint more green in there–it’s a little more teal than blue.

I soaked the singles in the sink with a tiny bit of shampoo and more conditioner while I took my shower . . . What’s that you ask? Conditioner? Yes, that’s what I said . . . Um, what? Why? Well, I’m kind of in the middle of telling . . . oh, okay. I conditioner-wash my own hair about every other day instead of using shampoo, and you’d be surprised at how clean it can make your hair. It doesn’t need to be as thoroughly rinsed as shampoo, either, and so a year or so ago, I started using it whenever I washed my handknit sweaters. It’s not like they get that dirty being worn around the office or the house, so a good soak in conditioner-laden water pretty much takes care of it–and then doesn’t require as many rinses as soap or shampoo would. I figure, hair and wool are pretty similar, and if this works on one . . .

So, anyway, yes, I put the tiniest bit of shampoo into the water, and then a good dose of V05′s Kiwi Lime clarifying conditioner (great for washing with and cheap, to boot) and let the singles soak. They are now hanging–with a weight–off the rack in the bathroom. I lost count as I was winding them around the niddy-noddy (and anyway, forget what size that is, anyway) so I can’t tell you the yardage. It’s less than half the wool, though, and pretty fine. Definitely enough for some kind of lacy scarf–just like Lizzy suggested! I’m thinking that I’ll try knitting it as singles instead of plying it. I’ve never tried that, and am curious as to how “energized” it will look.

I mention a lot about how unsatisfied I am at the color quality of my pictures–yarns almost never photograph the way they should, and I’m getting frustrated. I’ve got a good digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 3100, and it’s only a couple years old (three, maybe?), but . . . I think I was happier back when I used my old Canon Elph–the original model. It was a great little camera, but I “upgraded” to the Nikon for something lighter (that Canon was small, but heavy at 6.7 oz/190 g.) and that had a better zoom and some more features. The Nikon, don’t get me wrong, takes some lovely pictures. It’s just that it doesn’t seem to be quite at good at indoor pictures at night–which is when I take most of my pictures for you folks. I’ve heard good things about the Canon SD400 which has some very nice bells and whistles, but is also supposed to be better at the whole color-thing. (Risa bought one not too long ago and has said good things about it.)

Not only that, Amazon.com is having a sale on this camera for the next couple of weeks. It’s a sign, don’t you think??

Tags: General, Hair, Knitting/Spinning // 10 Comments »