My Bright Ideas (or crazy ramblings)

So I gave myself a bright idea while leaving some stupid sleep-deprived nonsensical comment....I think every time I go to a random place that's not here and managed to make time to hit a yarn shop (which is pretty much everywhere I go that's not here,) I'm going to sneak a little surprise in. Like a scavenger hunt no one knows they're a part of - maybe a little twee handspun skein or something, a sock yarn keychain, a....I don't know, some little something. Maybe it'll catch on and traveling knitters will begin carrying little hide-a-surprises everywhere they go. (Or maybe I'm an idiot. I should go to sleep.)

(Oh, another thing I noticed - in yesterday's post, when writing about the comment whoring thing, I linked to a post on Turtlegirl's blog that discussed the whole whoring-for-comments accusation; I just wanted to clear up, in case you didn't click that link and thought that I was just linking directly to the person who thought requesting comments was whore-y. No - Turtlegirl rules. Woot.)

I got a couple of questions in the comments on the contest announcement post. A few of them had to do with spinning; namely, tips for newbies. Being a relative newbie myself (I learned to spin in October), I can tell you the best thing to do is to practice. And just like knitting, don't be afraid to try stuff and screw up. Every kind of fibre you can get your hands on, give it a shot. Fiber samplers are great for this, or if you happen to know of anyone who sells big bags of little bundles of different kinds of fibers - like, oh say, Funky Carolina (I know, I'm a total stalker) - give that a shot. I took a workshop at SAFF last year to learn the basics of spinning, and I loved the Lendrum wheel I learned to spin on. A good wheel goes a long way; if you can, try as many as you can before settling on one for purchase (said the girl who tried exactly one wheel.) I have the Spinner's Companion, which was great as a learning tool so I understood what I was doing. And the Joy of Handspinning website is great for instructional videos. Sometimes it's helpful to just cruise Etsy or the web looking at various types of handspun and just trying to copy what you've seen. But the most important thing is practice. And speed - I think it's almost always the tendency to treadle a little fast...take your time. And don't spin tired or frustrated - you'll end up with a huge mess.

I had the Greatest Mail Day Of All Time (tm) today, but I'll share photos of that a bit later or tomorrow morning - we have to run off to the grocery store and find ways to feed ourselves on the cheap, since I now owe all my money to Carrie.

Also, due to the Greatest Mail Day Of All Time (tm), I think it's likely there will be more than one winner of the contest. So keep on tossing comments around!