Spinning and a Contest

These days I seem to be able to focus better on spinning than on knitting. Below is a mediocre photo of some rather lovely merino 2-ply sportweight, spun from Adrian's top in a colorway called "Gestures". I love these colors - mostly blues with some pinks and browns thrown in, overall effect of faded denim. Destined for a pair of socks if I can ever finish the ones on the needles now.

Below is my first spinning project on MaryJane. Kim's simply stunning merino/angora/silk combo called "Victorian Lace". Spinning on a double drive wheel is so much different than on my bobbin-led Louet. During my practice rounds with some more rustic fiber, I was able to long-draw like I was born to do it - a skill I had yet to even come close to accomplishing on the Louet. This blend from Kim still has me inching along, but the combo of the fiber and the wheel make spinning this just heaven.


There is also something special to me about spinning fibers that have been produced by someone I've met in real life, and both of these fit the bill. Thanks ladies.

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Contest: Guess When the Pumpkin Pops, (a.k.a. a pool to guess this babe's birthday/time)
Prize: Winners choice:

• 4oz (1260yds) of Zephyr wool/silk laceweight in Ebony
• 6oz Lorna's Laces wool top in "Purple Iris" and 2 hand-dyed silk hankies from The Spinners Hill Shop

Rules: Leave a comment or send me an email (addy in sidebar) with the date and time of day (hour and minutes) that you think the PumpkinBaby will make her arrival. Closest guesser chooses from the above prizes. Entries accepted until this Thursday 11/9/06 at 11:59pm EST.

Some Info to Help your Guess:

• My due date is Tuesday Novemeber 21st, which marks 40 weeks of pregnancy. Delivery occurs most often between week 38 and week 42. Tuesday this week marks the beginning of Week 38 for me.
• I delivered PumpkinBoy 12 minutes into the 39th week of pregnancy, but I was medically induced (i.e didn't start labor naturally) due to pre-ecclampsia. I have no idea what my body does when left to its own devices in terms of going "early" or "late".
  
• By this time in my pregnancy with PumpkinBoy, I was already developing early signs of pre-ecclampsia and was being watched closely by my doctors - I have no such symptoms to date (yee-haw!)
• I am totally "nesting" - scrubbing tubs, cleaning every square inch of inside the fridge, MagicSponging painted woodwork, glaring at dust collecting in crevices, having uncontrollable urges to clean places that I never would dream to clean under normal circumstances. (Edited to add: I am *not* a housecleaner type - I typically quite happily live with dust bunnies and moderately grimy sinks/tubs/fixtures. I told my almost OCD-ish husband of my cleaning desires and he said "welcome to my world". I can't imagine feeling this way on a regular basis - how exhausting!)