Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Did I mention, eeeeeee?


There it is, in all its glory. (With a cat and a swift in the background.) It took me a couple hours to put it all together last night, and I mostly did it by myself, by hand (said hands now hurt today, whoops). But at the end I wound up asking the husbeast for help with a couple screws and some knot-tying. He used a power drill on the screws. Of course.

The Goob was fascinated by the entire process.


And Sekhmet helped by laying on the parts and packing materials. At one point she tried laying on the directions. That didn't last long.


The husbeast is quite fascinated by the combination of old and new technololgy represented on the wheel; centuries old design, with silicon fittings. I'm sure he'll find it even more interesting, once I start spinning and plying things together.



In dye news, I got big piles of indigo and madder and cochineal with the wheel (same order). I've got the yarn to dye it with. Now I'm waiting on the alum I ordered so I have a mordant. (Mordants make the dye stick better. Like using vinegar with food coloring to dye wool.) I need to start skeining wool now... Hmm. Maybe I'll put the husbeast to work.

Green, the blog post, is still in progress. Honest. I'm trying to track down a chemistry geek I know, to ask him about some of the minerals used. If I don't find him soon, I'll write something up anyway. Oh, and with all the natural dyes coming and (hopefully) going, I've realized there will likely be a lot more color posts. I'll try to index them all in a new category in the sidebar. The "Local Stuff" section may get chopped to make room. Ah, well.

And for all you Goober fans, here's a photo from vacation. She's in my in-laws' vehicle, watching the DVD player, with headphones on.

8 comments:

Amy Lane said...

That really is COOL...but I would have totally wimped out and had Mate put it all together from the beginning:-)

It's funny--my cat helps me the exact same way:-)

Breanna S. said...

Your wheel looks awsome! Let us know how it spins!

Alwen said...

Yes, very cool (except in my case I'd have kept DH as far away as possible from parts & tools)!

Anonymous said...

yippeeeee!

spinning is something to which i've never aspired, but i look forward to your tales of learning the art.

if i tried it, i'd probably need a large bottle of nerxvg, my verification word, to soothe me.

Bells said...

Is she holding a piece of yarn there?

Sekhmet always wants to be in on the fun!

Donna Lee said...

That is so cool. I am filled with jealousy and I don't know how to spin. Is this something new for you or have you spun before? I can't wait to see what comes off the wheel.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the dark side. You'll like it here. However, if you think your other responsibilities got short shrift just from knitting, wait until you get going on the spinning. All the thrill of making something from string and sticks and your own ingenuity just got pumped up a major notch. My first ever item (a lace shawl) made from fluff to yarn to garment looks like crap to me now that I've been spinning longer and my skills have improved dramatically, but I still wear it and love it to death. It's like my own little miracle.

Anonymous said...

Is that a Beka swift in the background of the first photo? How do you like it? I've been considering buying one, because I like the clean-lined design, but was wondering if function followed form...