Friday afternoon, the other three big animals took off for Medicine Hat, so the human could find a new truck to get around in, and catch up with the cousins and aunts/uncles.
Right up until about 9pm on Friday, I was pretty stoked on the idea of a quiet weekend to myself. I planned to veg out, get lots of cleaning and organizing done, work out, and most importantly - fiddle around with my new spinning wheel!(on the right).
I bought it out at the Alpaca Loft at TNC Alpacas (aka Cathy Merkley's place) on Thursday night, and after the snow storm I braved to drive out and pick it up, I was elated to have it home (and be alive!). However, my enthusiasm was rather swiftly thwarted by an ill-mannered sister visitor, who was swiftly and enthusiastically evicted shortly after arriving, but the damage was done. All I wanted to do was call Warren and bitch about how much of a pain in the ass it is not to live here in relative solitude (pun intended).
Anyway, after venting to him, I decided to get over it, and get to attempting to spin!
I was actually surprised at a couple of things: I had watched a bunch of videos on youtube of chicks my age spinning pretty confidently, and was rather convinced that it would be a whole lot easier that I had always assumed. I turned out to be right, yet wrong.
The actual process of spinning the yarn is somewhat uncomplicated, at least for someone like me who is used to handling fibers and working with their hands. That being what it may, I found that getting started was pretty tricky - the basic action of getting the start of the roving attached to the leader line proved to be a challenge for me. I have a lot of tweaking and learning to do when it comes to optimizing treadle'ing speed and using a light touch on the tension, but I grasp the basics. Alas, I found it really trick to get a good pace going, and move the part of the leader that starts outside the orifice, onto the bobbin. Once I got the motion of feeding the fibre towards the wheel, it all started to come together (above, left).
After I worked out a good chunk of the bobbin full of somewhat even-looking yarn, I rolled it all up into a little ball. Woo! I made yarn! And it actually looked pretty cool!(evidence at right). I might try and figure out a really small little project to make with it, even if it's just a square, to hang onto it as a keepsake. I later read that leaving the yarn on the bobbin for 24hrs is a good way to set the twist... I'll keep that in mind for next time!
Now, switching gears to all-things-mama...
Lately, I've grown somewhat disenchanted with a couple of the baby blogs I follow. I'm not overly excited about your fashion choices, so when I see multiple posts informing readers where the writer bought every item of clothing they are wearing in the super precious and clearly retouched photos that their husband's reflection is evident in, I start looking around the blogosphere for something that doesn't smack so strongly of narcissism. And yes, I'm aware of the irony in looking for a non-narcissistic blog about people cloning themselves and sharing their every related thought with the world, but there's a line to be crossed, I feel. Also, giveaways. They just feel so cheesy and commercial to me, and the appeal or parenting blogs (for me anyway) is the unfiltered nature of the information, and the sharing of an amazing human experience. Mingle that heavily enough with commercialism or
fashion, and throw in a heaping serving of your love for Christ, and I'll catch you on the flip side.
I did find one interesting couple who just squirted out a spawn, and surprisingly, they're full-on Jesus happy. Not usually my style, but they both seem really dedicated to fitness and have a good sense of humour about their lives, so it makes for a humble and seemingly honest read. And while the mama/writer is super cute and has great style, it's rarely mentioned, and she certainly doesn't feel the need to do a big fashion photo shoot each week. Praise hosanna! If you're interested, here's
Martha's site .
I also started reading another baby book, one I've had sitting on my nightstand for a couple of months, and just haven't bothered to open and get in to. It's the Mayo Clinic version of
What to Expect, and so far, a whole lot less cutesy/vomitworthy that the namesake. Don't get me wrong, the original was a good place to start. But that was about it. The layout was so cramped and confusing, and the inset boxes of text often went through the main text in a way that when you were finished whatever came up in the box, you had to go back and start again. On the whole, relatively overwhelming and the information was very vague and broad. I really didn't relate to the tone of the book either. The Mayo Clinic version, however, has a much nicer layout and, GASP
real pictures of real people illustrating the text! The semi-computerized pictures on and throughout the first book were just awful. It felt like reading a manual on some sort of no-longer-in-use feminine product from decades ago.
The May book also has a cute little 'exercise of the month' section in each chapter, and that's the chronology of the whole book. The text is, so far, full of useful charts and options for comparison. I'll write some more about the read, surely.
This morning I found myself doing something backwards - I cognitively hoped that my ovulation test would remain 'negative' when I tested, and that I might ovulate (if at all this month, who knows?) later than planned, so the male human can come home and give me his seed at the appropriate interval, to optimize human-producing conditions in my
lady garden (yep I totally stole that term from the aforementioned blog, get over it). I realized that since a snow storm has blown into the prairies, not only will his truck-search be slowed by at least one day, but that his departure from the south will like be at least one, if not several, days later than originally anticipated. Luckily, we both have the flexibility in our jobs that these types of situations don't cause a major ruckus, but it occurred to me that we should be swapping fluids prior to predicted ovulation, not
exactly when I'm supposed to be eggywegged. We'll see how that goes! Praying (to a god I know doesn't exist) that he comes home sooner than later, or that I ovulate later than my little period tracker app predicts!
In related news, I was checking out a developmental chart in the Mayo book, and did some calculations, and figured that if we spawn on this cycle (stranger things happen than healthy people conceiving on their first 'try' but I'm not holding my breath or stressing) then Jorvulax (t's nice, and gender neutral, huh?) would be due just after December 4th - I think the chart in the book would predict about December 7th. Neat!
I would ask you to send me some fertility vibes, but the whole purpose of this blog is to keep this documented until after spawning has been confirmed, so you'll be seeing this knowing it worked, though maybe not this time. I chose to believe that you would have, if you had known.
