All The Time

Where does all the time go anymore?

Let me preface this by saying, I do this to myself. Where do I begin…

I know a fellow teacher that keeps stashes of breakfast bars in her room. It’s always good to know folks like that. Yesterday, during my early duty, I told her if she gave me one I’d bring her a present tomorrow, lol. It was sort of a joke because she gives me breakfast bars anyway. But then the morning announcements came on and guess whose birthday it was?! You got it. Jokes on me. But, I had already had an idea so, I just went with it.

You know I am thinking on that whole idea of what kinds of knits I would be able to get done with short bursts of time. You can get done sweaters and blankets with short bursts of time, of course. But, I need instant gratification, at times. I need to be able to look at something and say, “I did that!” So, this whole idea of finished knits in under 30 minutes is really intriguing me right now.

Hence, this little baggie was born last night. Now, mind you…as this was being knit around 2 am (another story, another day), it took a little more than 30 minutes. But, it was quick and somewhat satisfying since my last knit was Christmas. And it does help with the stash busting of those little bits of handspun that you have no idea what to do with when I’m done a project. This is just a rectangle with some yo’s for the loops about a half inch down from the top for the cord. I had just enough to finish it up too. It’s whipstitched at the bottom for decoration and ease and seamed up one side. The cord could have been I-cord. But, I think they are too bulky sometimes for these. So this is two strands doubled up on each other and knotted at both ends as seen in THE TWISTED SISTERS SOCK WORKBOOK. I like that one better for small baggies and treasure bags. In the end, I decided a tag was better than a card. Writing something coherent at that time when I need to get ready for work in two hours just isn’t one of my many talents. I stamped a cupcake on the back and made an executive decision to catch some z’s.

In other news, here’s a project I started so I could see what could be spun up in 30 minutes…

Carding and spinning an alpaca fleece.

I’m spinning on my spindle, of course. But, I haven’t been giving my wheels any love. So, I took out an alpaca fleece, given to me by one of my very first spinning buddies, Natalie (who I only get to see on FB anymore…).

No time to wash it (although it’s a whole lot less greasy than raw sheep wool is). But it’s surprisingly not really all that dirty. Deduct a whole day from the start time here. Not so fast though since I have to use carders to process one rolag at a time right before spinning it. Mine are standard carders, not fine-which is what they should be for fleece like alpaca. So that 30 minutes feels like whoa. Because of the way it cards, I have to roll it up width ways instead of length ways. So I wind up with a fat hamburgery-looking rolag instead of a hot-dog type, lengthy tube. Not sure if I’m getting less mileage in the yarn that is produced yet, but there it is. I can even spin it without carding it at all. There’s much more halo that way and takes even less time. But, all in all, it’s going to be quite a few 30 minute intermissions of my life strung together before this fluff is put to bed.

Somehow, I don’t think Father Time’s on my side these days. But, I’m definitely going to give him a run for his money.😉