Off Day

Well, I won't say it was a wasted day, exactly, but I don't think I will be putting in for a table at the RA Centre sale next year.

I was trying to decide what to take of my stuff to the sale, and ended up taking everything but the rovings - there are enough knitters out there now that I've been tending to sell both yarn and finished stuff at each show. Three bags (with Mom's rugs), and the clothes-dryer for hanging things. I didn't know what the exact dimensions of the space were, but figured I might be able to put the dryer up at the end of the table. Maneuvered the whole pile out the door, and hauled them and myself to the bus stop this morning. Good thing about Sunday morning - even if the busses are running less often, at least they're not too crowded.

45 minutes and two busses later, I was plodding across the parking lot of the RA Centre. Found my table, and got set up. I couldn't put the clothes-dryer up, though. Might have been able to squeeze it in, but someone at the table next to me was in a wheelchair, and we needed to keep the aisle space free. Completely reasonable, but that was a whole bag and the dryer I could have left at home. Anyway, the extra got shoved under the table, and I settled down with my knitting.

And would you believe it? Not one sale all day -  a first for me! I really don't think it was the right crowd, though. They would look at my stuff, maybe try on a mitt or feel a rug, look at the price, and put it down. And meanwhile, the pipe-cleaner and bead ornaments beside me and the gift baskets of Avon products and ruffled net scarves across the way were selling. Definitely not the right crowd!

I did manage to get almost all of a fingerless mitt done today, though. And I certainly won't have to worry about re-stocking for the sale next week in Ste. Agnes. Which means tonight I get to tackle the design for the first of the commissions I have from school. They certainly don't seem to think my prices are unreasonable!        

Brilliance in Action

A couple summers ago, I dyed a bunch of fleece with logwood and indigo, and got it all carded together on a drum carder to make nice tweedy batts. I finally finished spinning and plying it, counted the yardage and decided there's enough for a sweater. I think it's going to be this one.

So I set the twist, and then noticed one of the skeins looked a bit funny. Most of them looked like this:

One of them looked like this:

It was still all kinky and hadn't smoothed out at all. Now occasionally I try to ply something in the wrong direction, so I checked and that wasn't (quite) the issue here. Turns out I spun one of the singles S-twist and one Z-twist. Yep. And didn't notice anything wrong before this. Some days ya wouldn't think I managed to make it through grad school, eh? Now I'm going to have to take the plies apart and ply each one to itself if I want a decent yarn. Good thing I wasn't planning on starting the sweater right away!