It's the whacking that changes everything!

Ok, so when I was plying the yarn and hoping the plying would make it look pretty and suddenly I'd like it? And then I finished plying and still didn't like it? I still don't LOVE it, but setting the twist did change the yarn a lot. Now, besides being bouncy and light, it looks like this:

And because I'm in love with the focus on this pic, here's it posing with the n-plied left-overs from the singles:

I'm very, very afraid

It's all I have left in the whole world!

What a surprise

This looks pretty:

if you like orange. Which I don't. But it made me think of a beach sunset, as if the bottom of the cop were beach sand, going up to the sea, reflecting a little of the sun on the horizon and the sky still blue on the top. Except I don't even like sunsets, because they're orange. And yellow. I don't even know why I dyed this fiber in this way. Still, the damage was done, so I spun it.

And kept spinning (there was still orange)

The orange never left. Maybe I was in denial, because I kept thinking maybe when I plied I'd suddenly like it because it would look pretty.

Not so much. I guess everybody disagrees with me, and seeing these pictures, I disagree with myself and think it's a little cute. It looks all primary colours and happiness and little fish. But the cake is a lie, and I think these pics totally fail to capture just how hideous this yarn looks IRL. It looks dirty and muddy. Seriously, while I was plying, my thoughts kept getting grimmer and grosser with each yard. At some point, I thought it looked like someone had chewed on all the art yarns that I most dislike, swallowed it with Fanta, then puked and spun the result in even, nice, perfect singles. It was a fight to finish plying after that.

Still, I have one good thing to look forward now:

Whacking! I love whacking. I wish I could whack everyday. I'd be so much more relaxed. As would the yarn.

sw merino, 125g, 393 yards

Doing things

I don't feel like I have anything completed to show yet, working on several things at once makes for slow progress. And when I say many I mean it.

(I like to keep things close to hand.)

House

I went to the bathroom yesterday just before midnight and was very surprised because my pee was bright green.

I freaked out and started planning to go to the hospital immediately, but then I remembered that House episode with the Cat of Death, and the nurse with the green pee was faking it by taking some medicines she stole from her elderly patients.

I didn't steal anyone's medicines, but I was taking some new pills prescribed just yesterday morning, so I checked and yes, it's a known side effect of one of them. Phew, I'm not dying.

This story reminded me of my friend Erin Lynn Jeffreys Hodges. 

I didn’t finish the second of the 2 main projects I had for the Tour, but I feel like I achieved a lot.
I worked with 2 new fibers to me, tencel and pure silk. I didn’t expect the tencel to be so difficult to spin as it was for me, and I sure didn’t expect the silk I got to be a really bad preparation, almost as difficult at moments as the time I tried to spin cotton balls. After these two challenges, when I got to the easy merino/silk blend I could feel just how much my drafting had improved.
I managed to spin from the whole top as I decided to do before the Tour, not pre-drafting and not splitting. I’m better at keeping a triangle drafting zone instead of drafting from one side only.
I learned long draw, spinning from the fold, and how to use a supported spindle on Challenge Day.
I got more than 1600 yards of plied, finished yarn, and some singles to be finished yet. I even have part of that already knit.
I learned to use my camera on the manual mode and deal with focus, white balance, exposure, etc.
If I have to choose only one achievement, though, I think I’ll go the sw merino/tencel yarn, because with it I spun thin and even enough singles to navajo-ply them and still have it at laceweight, and I took a top alternating pink and black zones and used it to make a yarn that starts in baby pink and ends in black, all the while fighting the fiber with nails and teeth. So I feel like with this yarn I really showed the fiber who was the boss, and got exactly what I wanted at the end.

The final result, with a bad pic to disprove what I just said:

On MSN, about TdF Day 16

Me: on other news. have you seen this pic?

Dan: No, I don't think so.
me: it won
me: like, 2 days ago
dan: Hmm. On any particular merits? It doesn't look stunning.
me: probably because there wasn't any rainbow yarn on that day
dan: Ah, k.
dan: Wait: this is yours?
me: : yeah
dan: :o
dan: You won?!
me: yes
dan: woo!
me: too late
me: not stunning
dan: Honestly: you've done other stuff that I think's been better.
me: i agree
dan: It's good, but not your best.
me: i think it's very good photographically. not spinning-wise
dan: Didn't mean to be blunt! Didn't realise it was yours...
dan: :-(
me: hahaha
me: but see, you were honest
dan: <-- ass
me: i'm more pleased that way