Wednesday, June 3, 2009

A new definition of "torture"


Not to make light of suffering that involves blood, starvation and other really bad stuff, but I've found a new definition of the word "torture" :

Torture is when you receive a beautiful spindle, fiber and a book on spinning from a super-generous friend on a Saturday, and you have no time to play with it until Wednesday!!!!!

Saturday's mail brought me the collection of coolness shown here, plus a book on spinning. You see, Lorrie (wily fiber temptress) from Purl's Knit 2 Together is determined to pull me into the spinning thing. Now, I've been resisting the spinning thing since - oh, well, basically since I got my hands on a hank of handspun and went "Oooooohhhh! Luuuv!" I need another hobby like I need a sucking chest wound (DBF agrees, and after I told him of the wily fiber temptress and her generosity, admitted that the thought "Like you need something else to do" flickered across his brain but he was worried about saying it out loud lest he piss me off. But he has not objected to this new hobby because (a) we have an agreement about not trying to censor/restrict each other's interests, and (b) he knows it wouldn't do him a darned bit of good.)

Well, on Saturday I was committed to attending the grand opening of a local park, and that evening I was committed to dinner with my Auntie Helen (we di
d damage to the oyster population, and neither of us is even the slightest bit regretful of it), so I had to no time to play. Sunday required me to be in Asheville for my other Auntie Helen's 90th birthday. (Yes, I have two Auntie Helens; one on each side of the family. They're both chocolate fiends, they both love the color red, one knits, and the other loves crazy socks, so at least four of my passions can be explained by genetic predisposition.) It was with great joy that I realized that 90 y/o auntie's party was located just a few blocks from EarthGuild, which is an exceptionally cool place, and that the party ended one hour before EarthGuild closes. In addition to scoring a skein of TOFUtsies, a yarn I've been wanting to try in spite of all the gripes about it being splitty, I chatted with the sales lady about the spinning wheels, spinning in general, and the whole fiber addiction thing.

See, spinning on a wheel I could probably do. It's the drop-spindle spinning that
intimidates me. The EarthGuild lady assured me that my friend was in fact not the most wily fiber temptress on the planet, and said that she was, because she could addict me to wheel spinning in about 20 minutes. I resisted the urge to take her up on that offer, partly because I don't have a spare $700 lying around for a spinning wheel, and partly because I figure that if I'm going to get into this form of fiber addiction, I should start Old School and master drop-spindle spinning before I do anything else.

By the way, I have to post this photo of my wonderful 90 y/o Auntie Helen. Isn't she beautiful? Yeah, she's holding a photo of Barry Manilow. (It's a long story, having to do with
a Ravelry member's Fanilow sister, about 300 pictures from all over the world of people holding that same Barry photo, various Photoshopped images of Barry, and the hilarity that ensues.) I completely ignored my cousin's "No gifts, please" request, and gave Auntie Helen a pair of hand-knitted socks, a hand-knitted red/white washcloth, and two bars of chocolate-scented soap.

So on Monday, I was covered up with work-related stuff, Tuesday I had hearings to do, and today I had to complete an article, work on two other articles, get my driver's license renewed as well as do some shopping, plus get the dog to the vet for an appointment. Since receiving the spindle and stuff, I've only had time to review a couple of spinning vids on YouTube, and browse through the book.

Tonight, though, I've got the house to myself. Unless the brewing thunderstorms knock out the power, I'll devote some time to watching spinning vids on YouTube. If the power is knocked out, I'll read the spinning book by frigging candle light, if necessary. And if I get brave enough, I'll actually try to spin some of this fiber - instead of just petting it and cooing "Oooh soft - oi! No, kitty! Bad kitty! Not a toy! This is mommy's, not yours!!"

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