Cat and Herring.

"Okay, I know you said not to touch it. I didn`t. I DIDN`T. I just sat on it, okay? You said it was a herring, okay? I was just looking.......

........now could you please help me unwind my tail from this thing??????????"

Socks that Rock.

Well, I`m not sure what to make of this. Over on Cara`s Blog she got over 800 entries to win one of thirty skeins of Socks that Rock. Me, I got four to win a skein of Hipknits sock yarn. If I ever meet Kerrie of Hipknits, I won`t be able to look her in the eye, lol.

Go on, don`t be shy, scroll down one post and leave a comment. You`re too late to enter Cara`s contest now anyway. :-D

On the knitting front...well, very little knitting but I did drag out the Herring wheel to give it a buff up and oil, with the view to putting it in the lounge to spin on once the windows are in. (If ever the windows happen.....) Remember my beautiful Herring, my modern work of art?



Also I have been packing up my carders and tools and day to day fibre stash, plus all the rest, just to keep it away from all the muck and dust when the workmen put the windows in. (If ever the windows happen.....)I gleaned out a few more odds and ends for Ebay also...actually it makes me feel quite good to have at least one portion of our overwhelming possessions organised and under control.

I was reviewing my dejunking efforts yesterday, actually. I started this back in September, right? Now I don`t think I`ve kept to a binbag a day of discarded junk, but I`ve certainly averaged a steady three or four a week, I guess. Would you think I now have a totally empty house? You`d be wrong....some days I look round and I can`t belive I`ve even started yet. It has made the difference between being jammed to the rafters (quite literally, given our huge attic) and being jammed to the picture rails, that`s all. Sigh.....we moved here eight and a half years ago, realised we had twice the space of our old house and gaily set about filling it, without ever throwing a single item out. AND we didn`t dejunk our last house when we moved...we didn`t pack our own stuff but paid someone else to do it. So everything came. EVERYTHING. I have a junk backlog of fourteen years to deal with.

So though I have now been round every room in the house and hauled out massive amounts of unwanted, unused items, I`m going to do it again. I estimate I have cleared 10% of the total. I have recycled much of this moutain through Ebay, Freecycle, the local charity shops, friends and yes, the dump, but there`s still more. Now I`m going round for another 10%, eek.

Wish me luck. I may be some time......

Blog Anniversary.

I just realised that today is my Blog Anniversary. Wow, how time flies, no? One year of ... meanderings is probably the right word. Certainly an awful lot mote "misc" than spinning or knitting! Oh well, that`s my life, really.

Sooooo....tis traditional to have a wee contest, no? Okay, here it is. Send me a comment telling me why you think "Spinning Fishwife" is a good (or bad) name for me. No theory too extreme! It doesn`t have to be the real answer of course...that would make things far too obvious for these that know me well! (Eh, Shona??) Entries will be judged on amusement value, originality and quite possibly drawing the names out a hat. I have a skein of HipKnits 100% cashmere sock/fine 4-ply (400yds per 80g skein) in Candycane as a prize for the winner.

Stripping again.

It`s a nice dry sunny calm day here, so the workmen have descended on us to strip the flat roof of the old felt and pitch. Now this was one of the main problem areas up till now, basically because it leaks quite badly in a couple of places. There`s not many five year olds that calmly report over breakfast that they woke up in the night, heard rain on the window and got up to put the plastic waste paper bin under the drip hole in her ceiling, is there? That leak has been there for five years, and thanks to the Evil Neigbour that co-owns the roof with us blocking the repairs for four of them, we`re only just getting it fixed.

There really is an incredible noise going on up there. The study is directly under one part of the flat roof and as they work overhead I can see things bouncing slowly across my desk and see the percussion rings in my cup of tea. (Cue *ominous thudding*) I`ll be interested to see how Mairi`s room survives....what with the long term leak, the ceiling plaster is a bit boss and loose in places on the lathes. I know we`ll have to get that area replastered when the roof is finished, but I`m mildly concerned that the loose section may dislodge today...*eek* ...concerned enough that I`ve put a big dustsheet down under the dodgey area anyway! (I`m hoping this precaution may act as a talisman to prevent the ceiling coming down...if I don`t put the dustsheet down, the ceiling will come down for sure, yes? )

I finally got to spinning group yesterday...lots of the regular gals there, despite the official start of term not being till next week. It really is good just to be able to sit and natter about all sorts of fibre things with like minded folk. Very relaxing. I spent my time getting used to treadling with my left foot....I`ve always used my right till now, but I seem to be getting a lot of pain and swelling in my right ankle these days and I noticed that not only did it get better over the holiday period when I was not spinning, it also seemed to be worse on the two days directly after spinning group. Fortunately the Louet has a nice big single treadle that is accessable from both sides, so I`ll change to treadling with my left foot for the forseeable future. Not a major deal. I`ve not got quite as fine control with my left foot as with my right yet, but that`s just practice.

I also managed to drag myself along to my first session of the Rosemary Conley diet and fitness class for over two years. Sigh. The class was hard work, harder than I remember but I suppose it`s like the treadling...practice or lack of it! I got weighed too and though my weight wasn`t quite as bad as I thought it was going to be, it was quite bad enough and confirmed to me that I needed to be there! (As if there was any doubt .....) I`ve paid for the first five classes, anyway, and I`m not into humiliation, private or otherwise, so that`s me comitted to The Diet for the next month anyway. Watch this space.

Out with the old...

The kids are back at school. (Hurray!) Hubby has gone back to his ivory tower for the start of the new Uni term. (Hurray!) I am alone (except for the catlings)...alone with a vast pile of laundry, unhoovered floors, beds that haven`t been changed since before Christmas, mucky bathroom...well, you get the idea. Actually, I was glad to get some time to get on with things. Even I, a confirmed House Slob, like to see the carpet or the bottom of the laundry basket occasionally.

However I kept the Resolutions in mind and managed to combine a little of #3 (declutter) and #4 (me things) into one activity, which was basically clearing out the two top drawers of my dressing table and dumping all my out of date/unwanted cosmetics, toiletries, general gunk etc etc. We`ve all got this sort of stuff, no? The last half inch of that posh perfume that has gone off a bit, an almost empty mascara or six, dried up nail polish etc etc. Can I mention now that I hardly use make up? I`m very good at losing it though, which is why I have so many half finished near identical items. And a set of blushers that I remember using before I got married.(14 years ago.) I recall reading somewhere that make up should be replaced every year because of germs? Mascara every three months? *Eeek*! I`ve also got an amazing collection of unused hair dye, which is somewhat wishful thinking on my part since I don`t dye my hair......

Out it all went, an entire wastepaper bin of pointless stuff. I`d better get it into a bin liner though, because if Mairi sets eyes on it she`ll pinch the lot. She`s got some little girl make up of her own, of course, for parties (applied by me) and dressing up (trowel job by her) but she covets mine extremely. A couple of weeks ago she explained to me that she "needed" a new set of make up brushes, after watching me use mine. I said I`d find her some in the sales, but guess what I couldn't find next time I went to put on the glitz for a party? My goodness, that girl is a good liar. I just knew she had them, but she still almost had me convinced. Hubby certainly was! I wasn`t cross with her or anything, I just wanted my brushes so we could go out, so when the box suddenly rematerialised on my bed I had to laugh. And she did own up later in the car, lol.

Better get on with the list of chores. I like making lists, because I get to tick them off. I never get to the end of any of them though. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

PS. Knitting? Not today, though I just have to graft the underarm stitches of Duncan`s sweater and it will be a FO. And my spinning group starts up again tomorrow. I`m looking forwards to that. I`m still working on my pink merino/angora blend, but I think I`ll have enough soon. Must weigh the bobbin and make a guestimate as to yardage. I`m just going to Navaho ply it (because I`m lazy) and because it spun up thinner than I really want, so three ply will be better than two.

PPS. I`ve just looked out the study window and seen a huge builders lorry arrive, It has a vast amount of...stuff...on the back, but I haven`t the least idea what it is. Huge thick slabs of spongy looking stuff, in pale yellow. Insulation for the flat roof?

Ebay and the Big Wheel.

As part of the Great Destash/10% Reduction in Life Possessions, I`ve decided to sell one of my spinning wheels. Yes, I know, one wheel out of five is a 20% reduction but I use this one the least, I can do most of what this one does on my Louet, I need the space and I could do with some spare cash for SkipNorth as well. So I`m selling my big Ashford Country Spinner. It`s on Ebay as I write, with six days to go.





Feel free to look and wonder, but no, I`m not seriously expecting any of you to bid on it. It`s more to pass the word out because I know this sort of wheel doesn`t come up a lot on Ebay and to the right person it might be a real find second hand. Of course a little self-promotion never goes amiss either....*blush*. It is a cracking good wheel though...I`d like it to go to a good home.

Resolution #2 in action.

Resolution #2 in action....it`s 10:10 am here, I`m sitting at my desk and the HK sale started ten minutes ago. Clearly then I am not there. Or buying yarn. How`s that for self restraint? HK is the nicest wool shop in Edinburgh.

I`m onto the last twenty or so rows of Duncan`s all-in-one-piece-knitted-in-the-round raglan sweater...will get it finished this weekend, I hope. Gosh it was boring. Stocking stitch all the way...and because it`s knitted in the round, all you get to knit is knit, not even a row of purl to break the monotony. Ohhh, the excitement of reaching the stitch marker every 200 stitches of knit....then you don`t even get to turn the piece round. You just knit on like a hamster running round a wheel and winch yorself s-l-o-w-l-y up this intermiable sweater......

Naturally at this point I had to cast on something else. I have a sock in progress in my backpack, going very slowly because I`m not 100% sure I even like the colour but don`t dislike so much that I want to frog it. Yet. I have two UFOs, a cardigan and a sweater, both of which are about 75% finished. I intend to make at least an attempt to finish one of them before I cast on anything big for a new project.

But I wanted something quick and instantly gratifying, so I have cast on for the Sock of Doom. I have plenty of odd balls of DK left over from the dark days of intarsia oversized sweaters, I need a pair of socks for wearing round the house given thahere are gales sweeping in through every crevice in the walls and finally you just have to love a sock that`s only got 48 stitches in the round and is knitted on 3 3/4 mm needles. I actually stopped and checked the size of these brand new needles, because I couldn`t belive I was supposed to knit socks on needles that big, lol.

I still feel HK calling.....but what I`m going to do today is go for a trawl round the charity shops. No, wait, I`m supposed to be decluttering too, so I can`t go to charity shops, bah. I`m feeling a bit grotty today, so the allotment is not appealing. I think I might go and tidy up the stash a bit, see if there`s anything for Ebay. Polish my bobbins a bit. That sort of thing. It might take my mind off HK??????