Small Progress.

I haven’t been able to do much spinning or knitting lately (I started a sock today on the bus, but yanked it off the needles because the yarn wasn’t the right gauge for my chosen pattern — hard luck!); the usual enemies of work and school have reared their ugly heads. I’m helping to plan a conference for Halloween weekend: Poe and the Writers and Artists of New England. I would link you to the site, but…I haven’t finished it yet. That’s the main job for tonight (thank goodness for Kompozer), and then I can have the weekend free to knit and spin! I may be going over to Fuchsia’s apartment on Sunday for some of that much-needed spinning and knitting, with the added bonus of social interaction.

I went to my parents’ three weeks ago for a long weekend, and spent most of it knitting and watching over-the-top action movies (in one 24-hour period, I watched Predator, Predator 2, The Running Man, and Demolition Man). I guess all the excitement helped my knitting because I finished a record FOUR projects in four days.

I’ve already knit this pattern twice before but it never gets old, and in such a gorgeous yarn, I really didn’t want it to end!

(thanks to my dad for the impromptu photoshoot!)

Pattern: Laminaria from Knitting, Spring 2008.
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Oxblood, less than 1 skein.
Needles: Size 4 circs (Knitpicks Options — love these needles!)
Mods: I worked two extra repeats of both the Star and Blossom charts on top of making the largest size, and only used a single strand of yarn for the bind-off.
Ravelry Project Page

This yarn bled a bit while it was soaking, but the colors are still lustrous and rich even after two long soaks before blocking. The Madtosh yarns are addictive and I’m slowly buying up all the Oxblood and Silver Fox that I possibly can.

Currently on the needles: the Farmer’s Market Cardigan from the latest Interweave Knits (my Rhinebeck sweater, if I can afford to go!), Mokira, and a pair of knee socks in Madtosh sock yarn. I’ve got some Cormo for my bobbins, and a whole weekend ahead of me. Hurrah!

Spinning!

It took all the strength in my body not to make a pun of my title, using a certain well-known 80s’ hit single. Whew!

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to take Barbara Parry’s Introduction to Handspinning class at WEBS. I’ve been knitting for five years, and while I’m far from knowing everything there is to know about knitting, I’ve been feeling like all of my projects are a little stale. I felt this way about reading way back in high school: I felt like I was just punching into work every time I opened a book. It had gotten to be the same way with knitting. It’s my hobby and my passion — it shouldn’t be a drag!

What I realize now is that once you read or knit enough, you’re going to feel the need to create your own stories, your own yarn. They’re almost the same thing; yarn is a story that begins with the plant or the animal which is the source of your fiber and ends with you, running it through your fingers and looping it around sticks to make something beautiful. In either case, you start with a lot of raw material and inspiration, and end up with something that will keep you warm and make you think.

The class itself was lovely — Barbara Parry, the instructor, owns Foxfire Fiber and Design up in Shelburne, so she lives and breathes fiber, quite literally! There were seven of us in the class and almost all the other students had previous spinning experience, so I was bottom of the class from the first moment (Remedial Spinner, that’s me). We started out on drop spindles, which was a great way of observing how the twist of the spindle, the size of the whorl, and the fiber all combined to create yarn.

The wheel-spinning was really hard for me. I used a Louet S10 double-treadle wheel for the first day and a combination of not drafting enough (pulling apart the fibers so they don’t simply twist over and over on each other, turning into a thick ropy mess ask me how I know) and not maintaining a consistent treadling speed really set me back. I was grumpy, tense and frustrated through most of the first day. Barbara Parry had to sit with me and treadle while I drafted! So embarrassing — but she’s a wonderful instructor, and so patient.

The second day was much easier; something clicked and I was spinning! Not well, but there I was, making my first real single, which was quickly followed by my first real two-ply:

Leicester/Alpaca Two-Ply

Romney Roving Single

Most of the yarn I’ve made is badly over-twisted; it’s almost completely unspun roving in places, fragile cobweb in others. It’s mine, made with my own hands, with fiber and help from people I now consider friends.

The yarn feels like home.

Money/mouth.

Michael Vick’s signing with the Eagles has been dissected a thousand different ways online and in person but I think it’s a subject worth revisiting, because it’s highlighted so many issues plaguing professional sports, and the disparity between the crimes committed and the punishment served.

I’m so disgusted by the whole situation that I feel like I need to wash my hands and face whenever I think about it. He may have “paid his debt” to society, but society was not the victim of his abuse. The dogs were. Yes, he paid their medical bills, but the cynical side of me thinks that doing so wasn’t an act of contrition, but an attempt to salvage the tatters of his public image.

I don’t think he’s sorry about what he did. I think he’s sorry he got caught. Sorry that he lost all the privilege and money and the permissive atmosphere that he enjoyed as a star member of the NFL.

Now that he’s signed to a new team, and been welcomed back by many players and fans, he’s got his dream back. He’s got all the privilege and money and fame that comes with his position, and I don’t doubt that the temptations will reappear.

I’m pretty grossed out by the idea that my favorite professors and that really awesome police officer who responded when my apartment was broken into are struggling with debt, while this overgrown thug gets millions of dollars even after he’s proven he has no concept of empathy. It’s a problem with pro sports in general — they’re all overpaid, underworked, and too many of them have violent offenses on their records. Here’s my idea: if you’re convicted of a violent felony, you don’t play pro sports again. They may be talented, but playing at the pro level is a privilege, not a right.

I refuse to support a business that lets men like Ray Lewis or Michael Vick continue to play. As of last week, I started boycotting as many Philly Eagles sponsor companies as I could, and I will not buy from them as long as doing so means that a single cent could be going into his paycheck. That means no more hot chocolate from Dunkin’ Donuts after work, no more late-night Taco Bell runs, no more Pepsi products. I’ve let the companies know why I’m no longer going to be using their products, and that I’m encouraging everyone I know to do the same.

I won’t support a business that forgives violent crimes in light of superior physical ability. It’s a short leap from hurting animals to hurting people, and there are already too many players who have gone that far.