Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Good times.

Just like the weekend, everyone here is still sick. Except, oddly, me. (Although it could be said I AM SICK TO FUCKING DEATH OF SNOT, COUGHING, AND WHINING.)

The Goob spent most of the day looking pitiful:


Though she did perk up a bit when I gave her a sheet of stickers.



Since we were in my office most of the afternoon, I thought I'd work on spinning that carbon fiber. Uh. Yeah. I've got a love-hate thing going with the carbon fiber. When all is going well and it's drafting properly, it spins like a dream.


Unfortunately, when you put it down to, say, go to the bathroom or make a cup of tea, or take a break so your hands don't fall off, things like this happen.

Makes you happy to be alive, I tell ya.

The fiber is so slippery, though, even snarls like the one above are kind of easy to smooth out. For the spinners among us, what I'm trying to do is worsted-spin a longish staple (six to eight inches) fiber that's as slippery as silk (possibly moreso) and I suspect also has a smaller micron count. Someone walks through the room, and the 'wind' from their passing makes the stuff drift away. And the single fibers are practically invisible, so you can feel the fuckers on your skin, but can't find them. I'm starting to wonder if inhaling them will give me black lung or something.

Anyway, I'm considering a full-blown treatise on this stuff, what it is and how to spin it, because there's almost no information on the 'net about it. (Spin from the fold, they say. My pudgy white ass, I say.) Assuming I figure out what I'm doing well enough to have worthwhile information to share.

Oh, and the carbon fiber project is going to be called Stealth. I mentioned to a group of non-knitting friends that I was spinning carbon fiber, and one guy said "uh... you're knitting a steath bomber?" So there we go. The Stealth Sweater.


And lastly, an editorial comment from Sekhmet:

"The bald kitten is in my spot. And it's using my blanket. It has put stickers in my fur. I demand you make it sleep outside and hunt its own food."

9 comments:

Sarah O G said...

I love the editorial comment :D:D:D:D

Alwen said...

Don't worry, Sekhmet, the stickers don't show at all.

My black dog's undercoat is like that. The hairs float in the air and don't bother to land. They can get in your eye and you don't even feel them, then you rub your eye, start to pull, and pull three inches of fine black hair out of your EYE!

Amy Lane said...

She probably expects you to pick her up like a cat, too--with her head in your teeth! Love that cat!

The spinning looks ubercool... I mean you've gone from a spinner to an avaunt garde spinner with one awesome fiber!

Anonymous said...

Sekhmet is not putting slugs in your bed for clever cat revenge (yet) I had hair just like the Goob when I was little. She's still cute even when she is sick. Maybe it's the stickers all over her face.

historicstitcher said...

I'd be spinning it the exact same way. Though I haven't yet. Maybe I'll get some at my spinning class/shop sleepover in two weeks...

And some of the llama I've been carding feels like that - it blows away when I breathe. Ugh.

And the Goob is always cute. Even when she's driving you nuts.

Donna Lee said...

I remember when I could distract my girls with stickers. One warning, Pull them off her clothes BEFORE you wash them. The adhesive can be a bitch to get off of clothes.

Louiz said...

Stickers! I love it that stickers are so very very important when you're a toddler!

Anonymous said...

Sekhmet, your bald kitten will grow up and love on you and pet you...it will all be worth it, just be patient. BTW, our kitties call our girl "the people kitten" and say the very same things. he he he he

Anonymous said...

When I told my son (an elementary school teacher) that you had a cat named "Sekhmet, you Fucker", he was dazzled. He said, "You mean, as in Sekhmet, the god of....?" "Yup," I said.

I'm still dazzled that you can spin/knit and retain your intelligence with a two-year-old in the house. (Though she certainly is exceedingly cute!)