Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Setting the Twist

I realized today that I have a couple of pounds of hand-spun that I never set the twist on. I dislike having to set the twist. It is analogous to all the finishing that has to be done on a knit sweater; something I dislike so much that I only knit blankets, which almost never need any finishing.

With spinning, when I am done, I want to be done. I have a product. It looks finished. And yet, it's not - the twist needs to be set.

I decided today to quit my procrastinating and get it done. I would do a massive setting of the twist, using the bathtub. (I do not know if it's bad form to put different fibers and dye lots together in a tub, but it's efficient.)

I piled all my fiber in. It looked like this.



I let everything sit for 20 minutes while collecting copious hangers and towels. I then took the skeins out of the tub, squeezed out the water and hung them to dry. This took over half and hour. Now my bathroom looks like this.




I also have clothing and towels scattered all around my apartment as I needed a lot of towels to dry the yarn and didn't have enough spare hangers to hang the yarn. It will probably take a while to dry because it's a rainy day today, but I have the fan in the bathroom going to expedite matters and have hope that the apartment will be organized again by the time Seth gets home.

In other fiber related news, I spun up two of the Baby Cakes last night.



Great fun! I can't wait to do the next four. Plus, I have another dozen coming in the next two months. What a wonderful gift from Seth.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Meanwhile, I've been Spinning...

We made an offer on the condo in Amherst yesterday and today it was accepted! Mega-joy! I think things will now get crazy busy, as we plan to close in under a month.

Meanwhile, I've been spinning.

First, I spun the Silverado in Color in bulky weight singles.


Next, I spun the Cotton Candy from way back because Seth really loved merino tencel when we were at Rhinebeck. (He said he wants me to make him a blanket out of this, but I only have 4 oz.)


Going forward, I plan to spin this:


These are called Baby Cakes and are 0.5 oz fiber batts from loop (on Etsy). Seth got me a three month subscription to the Baby Cakes club for November - January, as an early-middle-late Christmas present. Off to spin!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Echo Hill

Today, after work, we went to view a condo at Echo Hill. This is right in our old neighborhood in Amherst from when we lived at Rolling Green. I used to walk back in Echo and think how lovely it is. So what of the condo? Absolutely love it!

Here are pictures. (It's a link.) The pictures aren't very good, and don't do it justice. Two garages for cars, refinished wood floor throughout, new cabinets and appliances in the kitchen. A finished basement (with washer and dryer hook-ups). A lovely back patio all enclosed. The cool red sink in the bathroom. I especially love the brick walls that crop up. Actually, I especially love everything.

We're looking at two places in Easthampton on Saturday, but this Amherst condo is a real contender...

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Condo

Seth and I are thinking of purchasing a condo. We want to build equity and have a place of our own. We're working with a realtor. Today, we looked at our first place! (We don't want to do to much before we talk with a bank and get pre-approved.)

We looked at a place at Hillcrest Park. Click here for pictures. (n.b. Some of these pictures seem random, but I wanted to look closely at cabinets and windows.) This condo is a two bedroom, approximately 1,200 square feet, and is located in South Hadley. It's along a lake, hence the lovely view off the back deck. My favorite part is the washer and dryer - I really don't want to pay (or have to go to another building) to clean my clothing anymore.

We're very excited but need a lot more education. We're attending an information session on Thursday, have e-mailed a banker about meeting to discuss mortgages, and plan to through to a multi-part first time home-buyers program.

It's a lot to think about but, as I said before, very exciting.