Monday, May 18, 2009

You'll Think I'm Crazy, But....

First off - my husband completed the Assault on Mount Mitchell today in about 8.75 hours. that's about 1000 people who voluntarily choose to start at 6:30 am in Spartanburg and ride 102 miles (and 11,000 feet in elevation) to the top of Mt. Mitchell. It was 45F in Spartanburg when they left and fortunately warmed up to 60F on the top of the mountain. When he got up at 4:30 this morning, I asked, "Is this still fun?" I'm not sure who the crazy one is in this case!

Secondly, I have officially run out of the blue yarn for the wedge weave. I ran to Asheville over the weekend where I had bought the first skein. Unfortunately, they were out! So I now have it on order. But I came home and started weaving and weaving and weaving and now have the green block only one row from being finished. After that, I can't do anything else on it until the blue yarn shows up! I just couldn't stop going and going and going....
Thirdly, while I was in Asheville, I did buy MORE yarn! If you remember the Noro yarn I purchased from Theresa. I've been wanting a chocolate brown as a background color for that piece. So there it was and I bought it!
Lastly, I asked someone a couple of weeks ago if it was possible to spin Dakota's hair. He was mostly a German Shepherd and it's not exactly what I would assume one spins. She said yes and volunteered to spin it for me. So, for two weeks I have walked around with a paper bag picking up hair in all those places that dog hair ends up. And yes - I even resorted to the vacuum cleaner bag. All the hair I would curse all those years have now become VERY precious to me. I wasn't able to provide the best fur for spinning. We used to take clumps of that out every time we bathed him! But tonight I took all that I found and she was able to make about 2 feet of two ply yarn for me. My plans are to weave a mat for a picture of him and his yarn can be an accent.
A word to the wise - if this idea appeals to you, collect hair now while it's easy to obtain. You really don't want to know what's in your vacuum cleaner bag!!!

8 comments:

kaiteM said...

Jenn it's looking sooo good, makes me feel jealous that i'm not weaving at the moment. I do hope that you can get more of that blue yarn, but then.....if you can't you'll have to get out of the comfort zone and try something else and that's not all bad.

I love the tiny length of Dakota's yarn too, it will make a memorable accent. cheers, K.

Theresa said...

You are certainly not crazy, now your husband might be...:-)
There are books out about spinning dog hair and I for one have saved a wee bit of hair from all the dogs here and there. Not enough to really spin anything with, but it's there. I think spinning Dakota's hair into yarn for accent in a mat is a great idea. I also hear that the shelters are packed with puppies and dogs in summer and what a great time it is to incorporate a new addition to the family.....
The tapestry is fab! It's going to be a lovely piece when you finish!

Jennifer said...

I hope to get more of the blue yarn also. It's far enough away that I do not need the same diye lot, but I haven't yet considered that I may have to change colors - oooh I'm not ready to think about that!

Once I finish the wedge weave I can start on the mat. So I'm now in a mode of what if... My favorite place!

I do know there are many dogs out there. In fact, with the economy many people are giving up their dogs. But we've chosen with the kitchen renovation to not pursue a dog. We couldn't give it the attnetion it needs and I'm not sure about a puppy and naitls, hammers, concrete...

Now if one shows up on our doorstep like Dakota did that's another story. That being said I do not mean I'm giving permission to anyone to dump a dog at my house!!!

Theresa said...

Now if one shows up on our doorstep like Dakota did that's another story. That being said I do not mean I'm giving permission to anyone to dump a dog at my house!!!


Dang! I'm just too far away for the doorstep approach.
A kitchen reno, how exciting!!! There will always be needy dogs a plenty when you two are ready.
Isn't the idea/planning stage just wonderful.

K Spoering said...

Ah, another thing we have in common! Crazy husbands. My husband would definitely have been there. He rides from Durango to Silverton, CO (which I even hate to drive) and he rides the Colorado National Monument Rimrock Drive all the time. He's also done the Courage Classic a number of times - 3 100+ mile days, mostly straight up through the Rockies. I'm the Sag Wagon... in many ways!

Jennifer said...

Theresa - you're scaring me! You would be on the East Coast sometime after your hubby is better - How is he anyway?

Oh, Kathy - my husband would love to hear about those rides in Colorado. Hmmm... do I tell him? I generally stay out of that, but I wouldn't mind a trip to Colorado...

Life Looms Large said...

It's not you who I think is crazy.....it's your uphill biking husband!!!

So that one top green section of the wedge weave was originally planned to be blue? Maybe a happy creative accident is happening right now!

The Noro yarn looks like it will be great to work with - and in whatever you create!

The Dakota yarn is a really nice memento.

We were talking about a possible Colorado trip tonight also!

Sue

Jennifer said...

Sue,

Actually, the plan with the wedge weave is to go back through the colors in the opposite direction - so after green would be the blue green again. A different sine wave inthe background. But of course if the color doesn't come, I'll have to dream up something.

I'm looking forward to the Noro yarn to - just because.

Let me know what you decide to do in Colorado!

Jennifer