why spinning?

Okay, so I’ve been knitting for a few years, and have only been spinning for three weeks. Here’s why I’m already enjoying it so much.

It’s economical. Spinning my own yarn will stretch my fiber budget, as well as the amount of time that I can enjoy any given fiber that I have., since I spend the time spinning it as well as knitting it. For $20 on eBay, I bought a spindle, Lee Raven’s wonderful Spin It! book, and enough roving to create a hat’s worth of yarn, if not more. At the MD Sheep and Wool Fest, I spent about $15 on over a pound of roving - how else can you get a pound of wonderful, wooly, hand-painted, handspun yarn for only $15?

It’s portable. Portability is one of my favorite things about knitting, and while spinning isn’t quite as handy, it’s easy to carry along a spindle and some wool.

It increases my appreciation for the diversity of yarn. If you’re like me, you get annoyed when people ask you why you don’t just buy a sweater instead of “wasting” the time and effort to knit your own. There’s so much design and individuality and creative energy that goes into producing your own piece. There are so many choices to be made, just in the yarn: color, fiber, weight, not to mention stitch patterns and construction… spinning wool into yarn myself has made me more aware of further dimensions involved in the process of creating a finished product.

It’s relaxing. Not that knitting isn’t relaxing, but there’s something even more zen about spinning - the concentration it requires, the attention that you to your hands, the repetitive motion. When I get frustrated with my life, I recenter by knitting, and when I get frustrated with my knitting, I can recenter by spinning.

It’s gratifying. After three weeks and a little frustration, I can create yarn without too much trouble, and I can pick it up and have enough yarn to wind some onto the spindle in just a few minutes. I’ve spun over 100 yards, which is enough for a hat, in the space of a few hours, and now I have all that knitting to look forward to!

cicada pie

The Biologists at coffee hour today had a cicada recipe book in tow. If you could convince me that the dogs would only eat cicadas that we had properly cooked for them, and not eat the directly out of the garden and then later throw them up in the dining room, I would dutifully cook cicadas every day. At least I hear that they get glossy, pretty coats from the high fat content that they'll be enjoying from fresh bugs for the next two months. Ick.

Advising is winding down, and I am glad. I am tired, and that only worsens my ability to be patient with the students who inevitably come in toward the end of registration, who weren't motivated/intelligent/aware enough to come in earlier (despite three or four email reminders from me). Also had a transfer student open house today. What an inopportune time to have such a thing -- if they're current students, they're probably busy studying for finals, and don't need to take the time out to take a day out and visit us. Attendance was pretty low, but at least I got free food.

I have a three day weekend coming up, and I can't wait. I will clean and garden. We're going to put up a weed barrier around the garden that'll stand about 1 1/2 feet tall. We're hoping that that also blocks the sight line of the rabbit that may or may not be hopping into our yard to eat our plants. We'll also plant marigolds around the edge of the garden like last year to help with the crop-eating bugs. At least cicadas don't like small plants or evergreens -- that just leaves two trees in our yard that they'll flock to, and the baby willow will be burlapped up to try to protect her.

I've spent much of my time in the last two days putting together a blog for my knitting. I think it may help me keep working on projects, and feels more flexible to me than livejournal, although I'm sure I could bend livejournal to my will if I had the patience and the knowledge of web coding. I may actually finish my sweater this weekend -- I only have 1 1/2 inches of sleeve left before I can start decreasing it and then finish everything and block it. I think I'll make a blocking board out of plywood and fabric. I have lots of both, and the fabric will make the board prettier, if I can get it tight to the board, similar to the ( Sure Block Kit )

Okay, cleaning the desk in preparation for going home!