So, in my last post I was trying to crochet wolf ears for my costume. Yeah, less than 2 weeks out is not the time to start crafting for a costume, and I knew this. I have decided to make my life considerably easier. I purchased a quantity of Makeup and tomorrow morning I will use makeup, spray on hair coloring, and a bit of ingenuity to make myself into a ‘spinster’. Since I am a spinner anyway, I believe that blowing out my hair instead of using smoothing products (maybe giving it a bit of a boost with the salt volumizing spray), putting a silk hankie in it (silk cocoons spread over a form, pulled apart further for spinning), and adding a spindle and bag to my velvet cloak should create an interesting effect. If it is decent I will post a photo, if not we will forget I ever had this idea.
In other news, Jimmy Beans Wool had a scrap bag sale that I could not resist. This means that I have started knitting a simple triangle shawl started with a garter tab, also with a garter edging. I love how this is turning out. Since I am going to be using scraps that are 20 yards or more it will be interesting to see where the stripes are going to end. The progress photo looks a little cramped since I am using a DPN and needed to have some rubber bands to keep the stitches from slipping off the end when stored. I will transfer this to a circular needle soon.
October was known as Inktober, where artists decided to do their best to follow certain prompts and create ink drawings each day during the month of October. Since I am not an artist, I enjoyed the concept and stuck with my crafts. November, however, is also NaNoWriMo. This is National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month. The breakdown of this is: 1,667 words every day or, 12,500 words a week (not counting the first week which is 2 days long). I sort of stink at making goals, however I think that I will make something of an effort to work toward writing down some of my ideas toward a novel. The first draft might not be too coherent, however I think I have a chance. Of course, I also have 4 Civil Service Tests to fill out, starting November 1. It looks like my next 31 days are going to be busy.
Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!
Unfortunately within the concept of larger classes and getting people hooked on fiber arts, the price point is a little high for a giveaway.
The shaft becomes a great little spindle, a bit awkward and no independent spinning like with my original spindle, but you have a lot more control over how the shaft spins, very neat. This becomes a bit more of a reasonable price point, all a teacher would need to provide is a stick (dowel) with some cup hooks screwed into the top. (also Wool) Dowels are not that expensive, the cup hooks aren’t too bad price wise…I’d just have to find a way to get the cup hook into the dowel without it splitting. I think I saw something about putting a nail in first to keep the wood from splitting, definitely worth considering.
Okay, they came from China, and I’m washing them in hot soapy water before using because I’m a little paranoid. (I didn’t realize that the Sari Silk from India might contain some really nasty diseases that are fairly rampant over there). I try to Order American when I can, if you know of an American equivalent/retailer let me know, but these are fantastic. They spin, just a tiny bit, on their own but allow for complete control. They are lightweight and easily spun in one hand. It is very easy for the spinner to see the twist as it enters into the fiber. At about .25 each, they are cheap enough to be a giveaway that doesn’t hurt the pocket book. I do think that I will glue the shaft to the propeller before showing these to anyone else, but it really does make for a great spindle alternative.
A Little More Abstract 