Monday, October 22, 2012

So... I am done working for the day. I have weaving and spinning and sewing in my head... I know that I need to start on the weaving project that I got the yarn for.

I was just on Ravelry and I started writing something that really didn't fit in the forum I was on... but I feel that it is important and valuable to me as a person. So... I am going to post it here:

Hello. I am fairly new to Ravelry (been a member for along time but haven't really been on the site very often).

I have wanted to spin since I was very young. I took a spinning wheel class about a year ago in preparation for buying one of my own. However, since I now have Multiple Sclerosis and my feet are numb, I found that I couldn't treadle correctly (the wheel kept circling backwards and I couldn't tell what I was doing that was making it happen). I kept trying and trying, moved to different wheels with different treadle configurations and I couldn't make it stop happening. I was so frustrated that I left in tears and never went back.

The teacher reached out to me so many times... she was so helpful and kind... and I was just having none of it. At the time, the M.S. issues were still so new that I hadn't really accepted it yet in my head. But... I am different now. I know that I have M.S. and that changes what I can and can't do and I am okay with it. Now I am back with a new determination to enjoy spinning somehow.

A couple months ago I contacted her and she, of course, remembered me. I told her that I wanted to buy a spindle and some roving. I showed up at her shop and she gave me a one-on-one, free-of-charge class on how to spin with a spindle. She even gave me an old spindle that she had and lent me a new one to use also. I bought some gry wool roving of some sort (it is in a bag and I just look at it sidelong and covet it).

I think I am afraid of trying... and that means that I am just a big, huge chicken. :(

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Hello. Long time, no post.

I am preparing to weave something and I felt the need to document my journey. It has been years since I have done it and I have to take an old, failed project off my rigid heddle loom. It's a little bittersweet... I had meant it to be a baby blanket for Little Michael but I chose a yarn that wasn't strong enough for the warp so some of the warp ends were breaking and the entire thing just started feeling saggy and lost some of its integrity while I was messing with it in frustration.

So... in true "me" form, I put it aside out of anger and haven't touched it for years. Literally. Little Michael will be 4-and-a-half soon.

I am going to take a picture of the loom with its saggy fabric to post to this blog as a record of sorts before I do a hem-stitch and cut it off the loom. And the battery to my digital Rebel is dead (because it, too, hasn't been used in a very long time) so I am going to wait until tomorrow to do all this.

I will be back to post soon. Really. :)