New Wheel! So Shiney!

Isn't she beautiful?

Isn't she perfect?

Isn't she shiney?

Unwaxed bobbin parts on left for comparison.

She bloody well better be! This is nearly TWO WEEKS! of sanding, waxing, polishing, primping and preening. But she's so, so lovely. I can't wait to spin on her!
 

2nd Coat...

Yesterday I started the second coat of wax on the CS2. Unfortunately for me, the 2 coats are noticeably nicer than 1 coat. If it hadn’t been, I could have ducked out of doing more! sigh Waxing continues today.

I don’t think I’ll have the energy to do the three coats on the whole thing though - probably just the treadles and the parts that get the most “touching” during use.

Country Spinner Mark 2 Update

My CS2 and accompanying fluff arrived on Tuesday. I spent Tuesday-Thursday sanding and Friday-Sunday (this evening) waxing. And...

I FINALLY FINISHED WAXING IT!

That is, the first coat.

I’m so tired, and tomorrow I have the dentists AND an MRI. :-( Since it arrived on Tuesday all I’ve done in my free time is work on the wheel. I have to keep reminding myself that the effort I’m expending now will be worth it, and comparing the part I’m working on with my Traddy so that I think “Yup, still prefer the wax finish over the oil.”

I’ll take tomorrow off from the wheel. I’ll have my crochet with me for travelling and waiting-rooms. And when I get home I’ll just watch telly or read for a bit.

The ginormous bobbin is being left until after the wheel is assembled so I can have photos showing how the wax changes the raw wood, and will probably just get the one coat of beeswax for now.

The good news is that I can now judge that I’ll have enough beeswax in the tin to do the three coats I originally wanted. Whether or not I’ll have the spoons to do that remains to be seen.

Have some photos...

End of Autumn

There is a bush in the garden, the name of which I can never remember. It has clusters of tiny white flowers and small pointed leaves. At the start of autumn its leaves slowly turn gold. Suddenly, you'll notice that the top of the shrub has turned red. And then one day, usually around Samhain, you go outside and almost all the leaves will have dropped off overnight. All my life, that has signalled the end of any kind of warm weather. Other trees and plants might continue to boast amber hues, but the colour seems half-lie after that. This morning the leaves had dropped, and Mum and I spent what few daylight hours there were trying to get the last of the plants in. They should have been long-since in, and the bulbs besides, but the wet, miserable weather kept up from the garden. My big task today was getting the two clematis in. Mum physically lacks the strength and balance to weild a spade now, and the clay claggy soil was waterlogged. The spots we wanted them in were long-term "lawn" spots too. The sum meaning that I had to dig a much bigger hole than you'd imagine a clematis would need, and in the worst conditions. However, they now have a chance of surviving even our scheduled bitter winter.

Tomorrow I finally have a psychology appointment. I asked for help originally in December/January, and was assessed in March. I finally caved to the antidepressants in May. And at the start of November I'll hopefully get the help I need.

Since October was my birthday month, Ravelry has been amazing! At the start of the month I recieved two patterns, one for the Rusalka Cowl, which I'm half-way through crocheting in a lovely warm aran wool in cream, and one for the Belinda Vest. I started chatting to the Raveler who sent the vest pattern and when she discovered I had yet to obtain an aran weight yarn for the pattern, she offered me one she hadn't a use for. It arrived a week before my birthday - a lovely hazy soft purple - along with a birthday card! On the actual day of my birthday, asides from being overwhelmed by good wishes, I recieved an entire e-book of patterns containing two of the shawl patterns in the top of my wish list! The other two patterns (also for shawls) are beautiful too. Once my vest and cowl are finished for me to snuggle down in this winter, I shall have fun selecting which lace yarns from my stash will be lucky enough to be worked up!

On my birthday I had a lovely quiet day. All the exciting stuff (my usual trip through to Glasgow) was conducted the previous week so that I might attend the Glasgow School of Yarn. So it was nice to know that I had nothing to do. No laundry or chores, no appointments, no babysitting. Mum had to go out and I sat crocheting with the telly for a bit and then the critters and I went for a lovely nap in the living room. Mum came back with a birthday bouquet of yellow roses which have delighted me every time I catch sight of their sunny fanfare. We had fish-n-chips for tea and instead of a cake we had a huge strawberry tart each. I made Mum sing the birthday song. It was a good day for turning 28.

More twitches today. Including a rather uncomfortable total upper torso twitch. Mum was there for that one and reminded me what my sisters said - not to fight it. I made myself relax and it soon passed but my neck is a bit painful from where I was resisting at first. :-(

And my computer's wifi is still down, hence the absense of any photos from the last few weeks. Hopefully will get it up and running again before the new wheel arrives!

Country Spinner Mark 2!

That's my order in, all official and proper! It's not the most expensive thing I've ever bought, but it came quite close! I will be one of the first people in the UK to own the Mark 2 - so very exciting on several levels.

I have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery as the distributor won't get the wheel to my supplier till the end of the week and it'll be about Wednesday next week that it leaves them. When it arrives though it'll have company! 500g of assorted dyed merino, 300g of dyed alpaca, a new click bearing for Ai my Traddy, and a packet of needle-felting needles! And I'll be getting the lot of it for LESS than the advertised price of the Country Spinner on its own! Can't beat a Fifer for tracking down a bargain.

More "twitches" today but not a full seizure. So that's good.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I've already recieved a fair few of my presents and cards, but I'm still looking forward to cake at dinnertime. Yes, I'm 28 and I still get birthday cake. I intend to have birthday cake even when I'm 120 and they have to blend it and give me a straw to eat it. :P

Epilepsy and Spinning Wheels

As some of you know, I've been in the process of being tested for epilepsy. I've had a number of absenses (being termed "episodes" by the doctors until it's official) which we're trying to keep track of and some slight judderyness when tired, but so far that was it.

On the other side of the story I’ve been toying with the idea of getting an Ashford Country Spinner to compliment my Ashford Traddy… well… pretty much ever since the announcement from Ashford that they were going to release the Mark 2. Then I got my birthday monies early and decided to take the plunge and start the ordering process. But I was still feeling a little guilty about spending so much on something I just “wanted” rather than “needed”.

However, today I had my first “definate” seizure. :-( I’ve been having absenses for a while now but I had never noticed anything seizure-like. Today I had one in the kitchen while my younger sister (also epileptic) was visiting. My whole body jerked and the cup I was holding went flying. The family made me sit down and I promptly burst into tears. Lil’sis hugged me (which is INCREDIBLELY unusual - she’s not at ALL huggy) and later (after I’d calmed down) informed me that my arms continued to twitch and jerk the whole time I was crying. Between the seizure and the emotional outbreak I spent the rest of today exhausted.

I also stopped feeling the least bit guilty about blowing that cash on a second wheel.

So properly saying “Yay!” now, and on Monday when the shop I want to order from opens again I’ll complete the order process. I won’t get it for my birthday on Tuesday, but at least I’ll know it’s on its way.

Oops

I have so many things I want to do and talk about and no energy to do any of it. My oops is that after the PF Camp I got caught up in the Tour de Fleece and then Ravellenics and then we got a puppy and I've just been so.... tired. So I'm trying to get back to blogging before I run out of year! :-) Look forward to more updates soon, including puppy photos.