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Well this has been a very interesting week. I wish I had more to tell you about but unfortunately I injured my knee. Do I know how I did it? Not in the slightest, but what I can tell you is that I’ve had to take it easy the past few days. Though Sunday I should have stayed home and not gone into the city, but it was fun. I even took public transit, which I have done in the past but since most of the things I want to do and see it’s easier or faster to take my car. But in this case it was not that much longer and not as stressful as driving. But after Sunday I really just had to sit at home and keep my knee from being used. It’s not even my knee, it’s more like the quad where it connects. I’m hoping I won’t have to go see the doctor, but I will if I need to. 

I did try weaving when I was feeling ok this week, but even on the David I had to stop after a bit. Though I have been getting better, like yesterday I was able to spindle spin for a bit. I am getting close to finishing this 1.33 oz of fiber on this spindle, it is a little thicker then I would normally spin on the wheel. Though I think it’s because I chose the slightly heavier spindle. Now I know what spindle to use for the weight of yarn I usually spin. If I had known this spindle would need to be spun a little thicker, then I would have planned on a 2-ply and not the 3-ply fractal that I planned. The fractal might not show much on this fiber because it’s kettle dyed, but it’s just a test, getting my spindle spinning chops back. It’s been years since I’ve really spun on a spindle. It’s great for portability and spinning in small moments, which adds up. Now that I’m almost ready to take the singles off I had to order some storage bobbins I can use on my bobbin winder. So once those come in, I’ll get to work on the next bit of fiber on this spindle. Or maybe I’ll grab another spindle and try to match these singles. I did some work on some more Vanilla is the new Black Socks, with yarn my partner chose in Seattle. I’m coming up on the toe and once I knit the second sock, then he’ll have 2 new pairs of socks. 

Since this week is Red Alder and I decided against going this year (I wanted to go, but I think I needed to plan ahead more), I’m going to do a mock Red Alder. There won’t be a market and I’m going to try and not buy anything (there’s something I have my eyes on right now, ok that’s a lie there’s a few), but I’m going to do some learning this week. I decided last year to sign up for The School of Sweet Georgia for all of the content in addition to having Jane Stafford’s School of Weaving. So I pulled a lot of spinning classes and a class on Krokbragd for what I’ll be trying to learn the next few days. Today will be Working from Fleece, I though that would be good to do since I have those 2 fleeces I need to work on. Then things such as “Spinning with Support Spindles” and “Spinning for a sweater” and I’m going to take lots of notes. I did watch a class with Laura Fry for the Intentional Weaver and I learned a lot of things I’m going to try and see if they work for me. If they do and even speed things up that will be great, but if not then at least I tried. 

Now you might say, that sounds great but what things would you buy if you were at Red Alder? Well the things I’m looking at most likely wouldn’t be at Red Alder, but since I’m doing a mock version then I can make up my vendor list a little. I got the itch, from seeing an ad for a class through Long Thread Media, on spinning cotton with a Charkah. Now I made one of these with my father years ago and it worked ok, but I never really got it working well. For some reason, the idea of spinning my own cotton (and short staple fibers) tickled my fancy. And the smaller charkas would not take up much space at all. It’s not like I need another hobby, but I could see brining this or a spindle to spin, instead of a wheel. Though knowing me I’ll go for the Bosworth because it’s pretty and they have a larger size that doesn’t need to be held in place (or used with a grippy mat). So there’s that and of course I want to get a different loom to replace the baby wolf. I have a few ideas for the future, but I can’t justify doing it right now. Well time for me to get ready for my class for the day.