I failed my driver’s test

Posted on | September 6, 2006 | 2 Comments

I like to believe I can do anything I put my mind to.  Yesterday, I received this in the mail.

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My spindling kit from Hello Yarn!  That’s four ounces of roving, a Louet drop spindle, instructions for spindling, practice roving (because Adrian is SO nice!) and a cute yarn card!  So last night, after working on my house projects, I thought I’d try it out. 

IT’S HARD!  It’s MUCH harder than I thought it would be!  Grace said it was hard, but *ahem* I really didn’t believe her.  I thought I could do it.  Overconfident, much?  I saw Marnie’s pictures of she and Julia spinning in nature and looking every bit like they just stepped through a time portal.  I printed several different sets of instructions from the internet, even watched videos of spindle-spinning, and man.  I couldn’t even get the roving to stay on the leader yarn, much less spin it!  I am sending off my registration form for the Beginning Spindling class at SAFF today! I really hope some professional, in-person instruction will help.

Speaking of house projects, I thought I’d show one of my many works in progress.  Since I have no knitting to speak of.  Well, I’m working on one secret project and the greenest socks ever, and I did cast on for the second Blueberry Waffle sock over the weekend (hallelujah – it’s football season which means guilt-free knitting time!).  But most of my time has been focused on knocking out the house projects.

We have a nook/butler’s pantry/teensy-tiny room between the dining room and the kitchen.  It’s my favorite room in the house.  When we moved in, it looked like this:

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Can you say bland?  White on the walls, ceiling, trim – everywhere.  While cleaning the cabinets, I noticed the paint was beginning to chip away. CIMG1327.JPGAnd I thought ‘Oooohhhh, how pretty!  Pretty dark wood underneath all these layers of (lead?) paint!’  I whipped out my handy heat gun, went to town on a small section of the cabinet door, and then left it.  For 10 months.  Partially stripped and looking like a huge eyesore.   Now it looks like this:

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It’s still a huge eyesore, but I can imagine it when it’s done and it’s BEAUTIFUL!  (Please ignore the almost empty bottle of George Dickel.  Sgt. Britty likes a cocktail in the evenings. And after stripping paint for at least an hour each evening, I occasionally have one too!) So, this is what is impeding my knitting progress.  Oh yeah, and I’ve decided to strip all the woodwork in the house.  Because I think it’ll look really nice.  Also, I’m insane and likely under the influence of industrial-strength chemicals and paint fumes.  And possibly some Dickel.  No wonder I can’t drive a hand spindle!  

 

 

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Comments

2 Responses to “I failed my driver’s test”

  1. maryse
    September 6th, 2006 @ 12:03 pm

    definitely insane!

    and yes, the spindling will be easier with some in person instruction. i think you need to see someone else doing it.

    good luck! and isn’t adrian’s fiber pretty?

    i love it.

  2. Christine
    September 13th, 2006 @ 12:43 am

    I absolutely *adore* woodwork that is … well, wood! So I think it is going to look so stunning when you are finished. Definitely worth it!

    I’ve spun some with an Ashford student drop spindle, and I finally got the hang of it. I have that same Louet spindle (it is the sheep that got me!) and I can’t spin with it well at all. So it is worth it to try other spindles if you have problems with the first.