The Snowy Day: New Handspun Pursuits

Our Buddha seems happy in the new snow suit he's wearing.

This little statue ended up in my garden because someone threw him over our hedge one night. I felt it was Providence and kept him even though his arm is missing.

This is my new Drop Spindle Kit--I love it! Oh, and my book, The Four Agreements--it doesn't come with the kit, but I thought it made a nice picture together.

Yummy new wool, new spun wool--on my new drop spindle!

Great Pyrs are bread to protect sheep. My girl here is smelling her ancestors in this, I believe. She would not leave my side--it was too cute--so I had to include this photo.

My new spun yarn washed and hanging to dry.

I loved the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. First published in 1962, it was one of the first books I remember having read to me as a child. I have always loved the way Ezra's illustrations captured the feelings of being in snow, of the curiosity of a child exploring in the snow, and the wonderful sense of snow--plus his bold colors and strikingly simple but remarkable drawings have stayed in my mind all these years later. I think this manifested a love of snow in me like nothing else has since. (Well, except skiing the back country in Vail, Colorado--that truly was a heavenly, god-like experience--if you ever get the chance to take a lift chair to the top of the ridge of the Rockies and be one of the first ski tracks on the back side of a mountain to carve out a path in fresh fallen snow--by all means, do it.) So last night we got about four inches of fresh, cold snow. I loved it!


As the snow approached, we were given dooms day predictions by our local news or, as I refer to them "entertainment" channels. Some saying: Worst snow in ten years! Stay home! I, of course, took no chances and ran to the store for three essentials: flour, yeast and soy milk. If armageddon was upon us, I would not be without bread baking material. When I turned the corner to the parking lot of our local grocer, the entire lot was packed--nothing short of a pre-Thanksgiving Day mad dash. I was stunned! It was mid-day, not even after three yet. Who are these people, where did they come from? Our town was on alert. I am sure snow prediction has got to be the most challenging thing in weather school there is. I remember in the 80s, when we first moved to Missouri and I was living in the Bootheel, we had a snow prediction of two-to-four inches. Mind you, I had just transplanted to this neck of the woods from the Lake Michigan region. I thought, wow, cool, a little snow down here would be good for us all. We got twenty-four inches of snow. Now, to my young mind, this seemed like a simple hyphen mis-read--something someone far-sighted like me simply mis-reading the ticker tape being rolled in from the National Weather Service. Certainly punishible by firing someone. Nope. There the weather/entertainers were the next day--all smug and smiles and using weather-speak to explain how this latest Alberta Clipper was "unlike any other" or something to that effect. Nonetheless, it was both memorable and quite funny. Like this snow. I awoke to this little storm's remnants and thought: Again?! I will note that one local weather/entertainer used common sense and at nine last night, really did not go all gang-busters with his weather outlook--he matter of factly looked out to his adoring audience and said: three-to-five inches, not eight like some others had predicted. Better safe than sorry to those caneling classes and offices allowing telecommuting. Some out there just do not know how to drive in snow. Ah, the life of a weather/entertainer!

So yesterday as the storm was heading in, so was my long-awaited package containing my new Drop Spindle Kit from Louet. I love fiber, I love knitting. I thought the next natural pursuit for me after all these years of knitting was to spin up some yarn of my own. I had been researching the craft for over two weeks: deciding on which spindle to try, how much to spend. I found the kit I wanted and placed my order last week. When it arrived yesterday--its timing could not have been better (you know after all the ick stuff). I was thrilled. Now to get spinning. I will tell you this. I caught on very quickly. But I am not a perfectionist when it comes to new crafts. I am someone who is like, It's not perfect, but I am cool with that. Unlike the anal retentives you sometimes encounter in the "craft" world. I like my imperfect outcomes as much as I do my eventual "perfected" outcomes. So you will see from my photos what I spent yesterday and this morning doing. I actually had to sit last night and begin to learn this from both the teeny instruction booklet, to watching hand spinning videos online. It disrupted our usual night time routine of watching DVDs of TV shows we like (but refuse to watch with commercials). I told my husband I felt if I started this right before going to bed, I would sleep with this on my mind, then wake up and attempt spinning (with success) after sleeping on it. Well, my method worked pretty well. Ta-da! I have spun my first hank of wool. I am both very pleased with this as a new craft and quite sure it can be my next compulsive hobby.

So, my snowy day has been a pretty good one so far. I'd love to get in the kitchen and bake something later this afternoon. I think a cake or some cookies are in order. For dinner, I am feeling like a potato dish would be nice.