It's Been a Long Day

"I'm just bloody knackered! " as our dear British friend, Peter would say. It has really been a long day, starting at 4 am and continuing, napless, until now.

This time change has really messed up my Circadian clock, which is strange as that almost never happens. Anyway, my leisurely awakening at 8 am has gone to hell and I'm now up, swilling coffee at 4, telling myself I do it just to get a decent cup for a change. Normally, there either isn't any left or it's 4 hours old.

I started a new piece today. It's a tree frog wall hanging approximately 10" x 16" on a jute backing. It's a bit more dimensional and all the excess jute will either be sewn to the back or trimmed away. Then, since the cute little bugger is perched on a branch, covered with vines, I shall add more vines hanging down to give it the dimension of close to 4 feet high. It would be so easy to go crazy with the vines, now that I can spin wool into yarn which will make the center of the vines very strong ... don't tell Tarzan. I have to stick to my plan or it will be overpriced and I need more mid range value. The piece is going better than very well, so well in fact. that it's inspiring and I'm thinking that I won't want to part with him. Hmmm.... must refer to business plan again.

Spinning? Yes, I did mention that. Another story really and kind of funny. I had been curious about drop spindles and found a couple instructional video on YouTube. I left them on the screen while I wandered off to felt for awhile and my darling husband had a look. Next thing I know, sitting in front of me is a perfectly serviceable drop spindle ... the hardest part of making it was finding a small enough hook to screw into the end of the dowel. Don made the disc and drilled the hole perfectly centered so it spins nicely. Now to try it out ... oh my god! Funny! I had wool tangled everywhere, but finally got the hang of it enough that I made a short length of chunky from core wool which has a longer staple. I can't quite manage the dyed felting wool from Acorn's Journey yet but might draft some into some longer staple wool I have on order. I'm expecting 4 different natural colors in half pound lots from 4 different breeds of sheep so I can explore what different wools will do. Anyway, the yarn I made today is really pretty ugly but damn strong so will do nicely for the centers of my vines.

Exhaustion in setting in pretty quick. I'm trying to stay up later so I can get up at a reasonable hour in the morning ... daylight being optimum. It's nearly midnight now, so likely safe to try to sleep. However, I have to walk right past that tree frog piece I love working on ....