Wednesday, February 11, 2009

One tequila, two tequila ....

Three tequila, floor - or so the saying goes! I clearly would not know anything about the effects of tequila, having never imbibed said substance. Clearly. And indeed.

I'm holding out on you all for the final Lizard Ridge squares because despite all appearances to the contrary I have been playing with my other toys as well, and in particular my joyful Sonata.

My parents-in-law visited at the weekend and I pulled some fibre out of the basket to show off the wonderfulness of (a) spinning, (b) the wheel and (c) their son who gave it to me.

I have a decent quantity of different sorts of 'practice fibre', much of it delicious but sensible merino, blue faced Leicester or alpaca, and then I have my wild card.

Back at the Iknit day last September, which would be the day before I learnt to spin, I (and many many others) kept being drawn back to one particular stand which overflowed with baskets of tempting fibre mixed in batts of incomparable craziness. Rockpool Candy, whose tagline I love; "feed your inner fibre fiddler".

I came home with two 50g batts and it was for one of these that I reached:
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Tequila Sunrise: 50g of (take a deep breath) merino, corridale, soya, silk, banana and angelina.

It's insane and I love it to distraction! I swear I spent most of the spinning time giggling at the fibres. This:
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is the first 25g spun up, the rest is still waiting for me in fluffy form. I deliberately spun it much thicker than either the sock yarn or the laceweight singles and my aim is to have a 2-ply fluffy yarn with slubby poofy bits somewhere between DK and Aran weight.

What I think is the banana fibre isn't terribly soft, it feels a bit like the hairy outside of a coconut which means that there are patches where this isn't the softest of yarns so I think in the long run it might make a hat or mittens, probably as a crazy variegated contrast colour to make the most of the yarn.

Or I might just keep it as a pet - it is the perfect burst of sunshine for cloudy grey days (even ones with snow in them!).
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I also think that it will have greatly assisted in the enspinneration of my mother-in-law, who was dropping some hints about how she might like a wheel - I offered her a go but she wants to keep practicing on the drop spindle first - famous last words uttered by yours truly amongst others.

And finally, my camera has revealed a secret and hitherto undiscovered form of life using the ice-crust in our garden to form a new habitat. I am English, and a westcountry girl at that, so I have little experience of the birds and beasties native to chillier climes because it doesn't get properly cold here very often. Accordingly I lay this one open to any dear reader who may be able to help me identify this new species:
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Have I, could it be possible that I have here on film (or digi-thing-film-wannabe) the first record of the existence of SNOWBUNNIES?
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They appear to be standing in formation - should I be worried?

6 comments:

  1. cute snowbunnies, cant wait to see the FO of that beautiful colour yarn - i love sunset too !!

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  2. Scary snow bunnies - they must be eliminated. Off with their heads!

    It was an interesting combination of fibres in that batt.

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  3. I for one welcome our new Snowbunny overlords.

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  4. Anonymous9:32 am

    OMG - snowbunnies - be CAREFUL! I've heard that when their little noses turn blue, that's when you have to start being really worried. And given the thickness of your snow, well, let's just say I'd be watching them closely.

    :-o

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  5. I have to thank you. When I saw your pictures and your commentary on snow bunnies, I just laughed out loud...which I desperately needed this week. I like your humor!

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  6. Anonymous10:16 am

    Hey Carie,
    thank you so much for your lovely, lovely words. They made me squeal with happiness.
    I can't believe you've saved my spinning yarn for so long. Get in touch (you can email me through my site) and I'll send you a bag of fluffy sunshine so that next time you and your mother-in-law get together, you can share you spinning experience.
    I'm so glad you enjoy spinning as much as you do.
    take care
    rockpool candy

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