THE JACKPOT

OH. MY. GOD. HHGBUGHGULGHHH!

I hit the knitting lovers jackpot. So much yes.

A brief story: My mother is crazy, I know this. We have been thrift store shopping since I was an infant, I never bought a new piece of clothing until I was 16, and I go thrift store shopping to win, Im good at it. My mother is one who takes forever, but I can deal with that. After I snagged some 100% wool sweaters at my thrift store (to try this out http://www.craftstylish.com/item/29056/experimental-recycled-sleeve-dyeing-with-food-dyes) She said she needed to stop by a friends hows. Warning bells went off, I knew we would be there forever. So I warned her no more than ten minutes, and went inside to get the plants from her friend who was moving.

We walk through piles of half packed boxes, and I pause and stare in awe at at least 7 full baskets of beauuuuuutiful yarn. As I gape, she says "Ive already packed up what I really want, go ahead and take what you want" IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY! And I am not talkin cheap arylic here, this shits classy. pure wool, soft, some merino, some dyed some not - even a bunch of all natural cotton that is like a cloud. I walked away with two whole bags full, and a huge bag of wool for spinning. I am ridiculously excited. I can barely contain it. EEEEEK

Ill post pictures soon, but for now heres my most time - consuming accomplishment thus far - spun from raw wool locks, looks like where the wild thing are :)

I cant help buying when I search Etsy...

In a moment of weakness while searching Etsy I bought myself some roving - and from it I spun this 'rainforest frog' yarn

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40810469

This pink is some of the best I have ever spun - its thin and even throughout, I am kind of impressed with myself, I did only start spinning in November :)

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40655053

TEFL and friday things

Another sale! Horray! The yarn I mad with strawberries will get sent out today! I was begining to think that I was cursed...

This week has been very busy - I had my first day of TEFL practical hours observing in an ESL classroom yesteray, Ive been trying to readjust my sleep schedule, but jeeze 730am is such a ridiculous hour to have to wake up at every friday (that may just be my college student mindset speaking)

It was my friends 21st birthday, and I only knew about 3 people there. After we hugged the birthday girl we kind of secluded ourselves in her tiny tiny kitchen and did not talk to anyone we knew the whole time. I have always been big on judging other people, cant help it. But since Ive turned 21 (and lived in Scotland where they treat drinking very differently than they do here) parties have lost the very little appeal that they had...

Ill post the pictures of the layers of pink yarn I mad yesterday and will finish today, its the thinest Ive ever spun anything, so cool!

Snow day!

Finally CraftGawker is accepting more applications! Every time I have wanted to submit in the past they have been closed temporarily, we will see how this goes... Im not too sure, but hopeful at least. Below is the picture I submitted, wish me luck!

And on the bright side, its a SNOW DAY tomorrow! Classes have been cancelled, I have already threatened a few of my friends with tackling them in the snow, its going to be great. I am currently on the mend from a cold, and I am sure this will send me back into sickness but I am completely alright with that. I went to the grocery store to get some OJ, and it was complete and utter madness... I guess people in NY freak out whenever there is more than a foot of snow predicted, I cant waitttt

Chocolate (Fury)

If anyone needs a good action movie to watch, THIS IS IT
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183252/

I am not usually one for the kung fu type movie, but this was great. IMDB doesnt really do it justice in the description... its got great action yes, but also a storyline that pulls you in right from the first few minutes! Let me know if you watch it, and what you think

'Old Lady Hairs'

So, I managed to get my hands on some raw wool locks, and spend a whole afternoon earlier in the week washing them to make them not icky anymore. My friend W.W. says the pile of them in the corner of my rooms makes it look like I cut off a bunch of old lady hairs, but I think it looks like a fluffy multicolored cloud.

I fluffed them up a bit, and are turning out pretty funky as I spin them!

Also,
My friend noticed Teddy for the first time today (on the left) and ran out to get her Little Bunny who she still sleeps with, so they could have a little get together on my bed. It was happy to see that someone else who is a college senior still keeps their childhood close to them :)

Theres nothing like a delicious smelling ADVENTURE

Well, today sure has been full full full of interesting things

I had class, and yet again the same girl interupted people and muttered corrections (which were often invalid) under her breath. Its frustrating to have someone who interupts and corrects in a class, but even more so when they aren't even right. I managed to restrain the urge to punch her and/or loudly ask her to speak up so we all could hear what she had to say. must be calm.

But then went to work at the pool, always fun. Apparently I am guarding for a beginner swim class every wed. It was great to see my swimming coach (who I LOVE and is enthusiastic, hilarious, and ridiculously energetic, and of course a masochist) teaching people who were not even comfortable walking around in the water at first. By the end of the class she had them face in, kicking their feet, and moving forward! It was fantastic!

A swim team friend of mine wanted some hand dyed wool for a birthday present for her mom, so that is what I attempted tonight! After I finished plying the two strands together (and finished watching Enchanted, what a good movie!) I boiled the strawberries for about an hour, and while I was doing that the yarn was soaking in a salt bath (to help later fix the color in). I had to strain the mushy berries out, yuk! and now my yarn is happily soaking up the pink of the strawberries!

I was hoping for a red, but its def looking to be a light pink. Thats alright, but hopefully my friend wont mind :[ Still, now I can't wait to try out all kinds of natural dyes... If anyone out there is intersted, or has done it before please let me know. I think the next thing I am going to try and get my hot little hands on is some beets, that should get me a beautiful deep red.

Until next time,
S

Hello!

Hello everyone!
I am pretty new to blogging, I tried to keep up with one when I lived in Scotland last year, but ended up being pretty forgetful. But this time I have a goal! I am trying to spin a little bit every single day, or at least do something fiber related each day. And this is the perfect way for me to put up pictures, and let you se a little bit behind the scenes of whats going on in my life... Today I am experimenting with washing/cleaning raw wool locks for the first time, Ill let you know how that goes. Until I get pictures of what I am doing currently Ill treat you to some pictures already on my computer
Thanks for reading
Sara