spinning

Remember this mess?  Well Let me remind you... I was not very happy about it.  I was innocently working on braiding rovings that will be sent on an order.  I turned to braid another roving and when I had finished I found this roving on the floor and two puppies with little pieces of fluff in their mouths.  Seriously I was a very very angry woman, luckily for them Kaye and Del were here to protect them from the crazy woman who would chase them down. Even though I did try to salvage the roving it was just not ever going to look like it hadn't been chewed on.  So I took the hit and had to spin it up for myself.  I can not describe how wonderful the feel of this roving is, but I will try.  It is 80% Superwash Merino and 20% Cashmere, and feels like spinning a cloud, soft, fluffy  and drafts like a dream.  I really enjoyed spinning this and my only regret is not planning the yarn better.  I wish I had put the colors together and spun it to a lace wt. yarn, would have made a beautiful shawl. I just split it down the middle and started from the opposite end for each ply. 

They look real innocent don't they??

I have to set this up a little.  Something you probably don't know about me is that I am a HUGE Anne Rice fan.  I have been reading her books since I was in High School.  I love them so much that I have almost every book she has written, in hard back.  

This past Saturday I was very happy to be invited to the home of a fellow knitter and fiber connoisseur, Kate.  We had a wonderful time and I will tell you more later but shortly after I walked in Kate said she had a gift for me.  First I was shocked, we have chatted, talked about our knitting, and she built this wonderful website for me but it was the first time to get to meet her in person.  A gift for ME???  She disappeared for a minute and when she came back she had  this....Merrick....

SIGNED by Anne Rice herself!!!!!!!!  Seriously how cool is that.  I have several signed knitting books and am so proud of my collection and now I have a book by my favorite author SIGNED!!!   I can't tell you how amazing it was to recieve such an incredible gift.  Thank you again Kate.  I have a feeling I have found a great friend in you, amazing what knitting can do.  By the way we also recorded a podcast, Kate and Tammy have a wonderful podcast Knit Together.  This is actually the second time I have been privileged enough to be on this podcast.  We sat and knit for a while and I brought my spinning wheel so everyone took a turn spinning, and they all did very well.  I brought all kinds of fleece to fondle (BFL, Finn, SW Merino, Pygora, Angora, Corridale and something I forgot). I may have been a little zealous in my sharing, I get kinda giddy with the wool fumes.  We had a great time and I made some new knitting friends (soon to be spinning friends) and got to see Tammy again.  Good Times.

I got up Sunday morning feeling a little queasy, not a great way to start the day.  Every morning I get up and check e-mail and Ravelry of course, and this morning I got a message from Rori.  A really great message that made me feel better immediately, she said that a package had been mailed to me on Friday.  Since it had been sent from Tulsa I thought that it might have been delivered on Saturday, we didn't check the mail Saturday so I immediately sent my sweet, dear hubby to the mail box.  I could hardly wait for his return, it really only took a few minutes but I was so excited!!!!   He came back with a manila envelope with this in it!!!!  I am such a lucky girl!!  This is the Ice Queen from the Winter '07 Knitty, and Rori made it just for me.  For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to meet the incomparable Rori, you are really missing out

She is always the life of the party and such an amazingly kind person, no matter what she says she really is a kind woman.  She is generous and giving in so many ways, in fact I know that this isn't the first Ice Queen she has given away.  Rori you are amazing!!  I love the color, it is soooooo me and the beads are beautiful.  Thank you, you made a yucky day much much better.

Seriously I am an incredibly lucky woman to get to do something that I love and have made so many wonderful friends through a common passion.