Finally, I’ve got my orange and burgandy yarn done. You’ll remember, I started with singles in each color, which I barber-poled together, until I ended up with 4 and a half bobbins full of yarn. Which then sat around in my closet, waiting for me to get everything wound onto my niddy-noddy, soaked and washed to set the twist, hung to dry . . . but finally, today, the last of it is done, and I’ve got this lovely pile of yarn.

That’s about a pound of fiber, about 940 yards (if I counted correctly and remember the size of my niddy-noddy correctly. 470 turns around it, at any rate–give or take one or two I may have lost while counting). The wool is Corriedale, bought from the Blue Goose Glen store on Ebay. The red dye ran ever so slightly when I washed it, but nothing to worry about.

Despite the flaws–it’s not nearly as well-balanced as a yarn should be, though the drying-with-weights helped–I love the way this yarn came out. I love the tweedy color. I love the way the two colors compliment each other, and yet the orange isn’t as blindingly orange, the burgandy isn’t as sober a red. They get along swimmingly. I’m thrilled.

Now . . . whatever can I make with it??? (You know, once I’ve finished my current projects. Naked Stix, you know.)

  I haven’t been neglecting my other spinning, either. My lovely merino-silk blend from the Sheep Shed. This is another I’m adoring the color of. At first glance, it just looks gray–a nice, medium-dark gray. But in fact, under a brighter light, it’s got a whole lot of purple going on. I really like that a lot.

I’ve always been a fan of gray wool. I don’t know why, exactly. Maybe it was those Lothlorien cloaks during my impressionable days when I first read Lord of the Rings. (And, in fact, grey cloaks seem to be a very popular garment for fantasy heros–the villains wear black. Need I tell you that I made myself a gray wool cloak when I was in college? The warmest thing I have ever worn for going for walks across campus in the cold.) I love gray flannel trousers, too. There’s just something cozy about gray wool, to me. So the fact that this yarn looks primarily gray? Loving it.

Oh, I want to thank Susan for sending me a copy of Bark magazine. I have read it a couple of times, but don’t subscribe, so it’s a rare treat to get to see an issue. Thank you for thinking of me and Chappy!

And speaking of dogs, Chappy and I are just a wee bit jealous of Lizzie and Max, Shelley and Marley, for fun playdate they had this weekend. I keep pointing out to Chappy that it’s 5-6 hours in the car to get down there, but all he keeps saying is that HIS blogging friends got to play, so now he wants to, too. Obviously, he won’t remember how much he dislikes the car until he’s actually in the car.

Remember a couple days ago when I was complaining about the early, early start to the Christmas music? I’m not the only one. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, love the music–but I really, really think the people at the radio stations could restrain themselves until after Thanksgiving. And I feel sorrier all the time for the people who don’t even celebrate this holiday and get stuck with all this over-blown hoop-la that gets worse every year.

My feeling is that it’s fine that Christmas is about gifts as much as it is about the religious connotations (like, you know, Christmas TREES or hats thereof). Really. And as much as we like to think that Christmas is really a religious holiday, its roots actually go back to the old, pagan, Winter Solstice days–the Christian Church just decided to “adopt” the winter celebration and turn it into a holy-day, since people were going to be reveling and whooping it up anyway. It’s really never been about the birth of Jesus.

I think that it’s gotten (and getting!) far too commercial, but really, it wouldn’t be the same without the gifts. I personally relish the chance to find something that my family members will love–it’s a chance to really show them how much I care about them, by getting them the perfect gift, that they wouldn’t get or make themselves. There’s something kind of nice about a holiday where you get to show the people you care about how much you care, how well you know them, rather than just sitting around eating (or whatever one does on other holidays). And let’s be honest, it’s fun to get gifts yourself, too . . . because really, who doesn’t love getting presents?

Tags: Finished Spinning, General, Knitting/Spinning // 16 Comments »