Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Warning: I Am Going To Complain

Before I get to the complaining, I thought I would give a quick update on my real life (as opposed to my equally as real, yet somehow not real, fiber life.)


I gave a recital on Saturday with my flute-playing friend.  I thought it went really well.  It was my Junior Recital (in order to graduate with a Bachelor of Music in performance, we have to pass our freshman jury - essentially a short recital with additional technical requirements in front of a panel of faculty - we have to pass our sophomore qualifying exam, and then give a half-hour junior recital and an hour-long senior recital.)  I'm well on my way to getting this degree, which is pretty sweet.  I'll try to somehow post a sound link to my recital recording in case anyone is interested in counting how many mistakes I made.  :P  I don't actually have the recording yet though, so that'll have to wait.

Two more weeks left of school (and a week of finals) and then I'm home for the summer!  I don't actually have a job lined up for the summer, but I hope to spend a good chunk of my day practicing so that I'm prepared for my grad school auditions, then I can spend my evenings knitting!

Ok, on to my complaining.  I normally stick rather strictly to talking about my fiber-related life on this blog, because that's what people are here to read, but I'm allowing myself to drift from that a bit today (I promise there is a bit of fiber at the end of the post.)

I'm really a bit frustrated today.  I feel like I have been stuck living through a series of unfortunate events (although those of you who have read the series by Lemony Snicket, don't worry, my parents weren't killed in a mysterious fire that then led me to endure numerous life-threatening situations.)  Back in April my check card number was stolen and someone spent all of the money in my checking account which, ironically, was all of my money period.  Thankfully I caught it the day it happened and I contacted Paypal (through which my card had been used) and they suspended the person's account, then I called my bank and cancelled my card and filed a fraud statement and went through that whole process.  Of course they sent the affidavit to the wrong address, I didn't get it in time and therefore they claimed they didn't have enough information to settle the claim and it didn't end in my favor.  Alright, so I was pissed.

Well, today I got a call from the bank.  Apparently someone has gotten hold of my credit card number (which is different from the check card I had just gotten replaced) and charged quite a bit of money to it.  The card is now cancelled and I will have a new one coming in the mail shortly, most likely to the wrong address again.  This time I didn't have to deal with potentially losing my fraud claim because they flat-out denied the charge and contacted me immediately (instead of the other way around), but still, how annoying is that?  Why can't people just be nice and leave my bank accounts alone?

Ok, I'm done ranting.  Here's some fiber:


You've seen that.  It's the alpaca/angora blend that Anne so generously sent me.  Well, over the past week I spun it all up into a 2-ply fingering-weight yarn.  I didn't take pictures of it on the spindle - whoops!


I also forgot to take pictures of the plying process.  I tried out the "Andean plying" technique, which is essentially plying from both ends of the same single, folding it in half to create a 2-ply yarn.  This process involves a rather painful process of wrapping the single around your hand in a strange way to create a "bracelet" from which you can ply.  It's only painful because I wrapped it way too tightly and it was cutting off the circulation to my middle finger and was bending it in an uncomfortable direction... I'm sure it can be done in a perfectly comfortable manner.

Anyway, instead of plying directly from the bracelet, I wrapped the two ends of the single together around a tennis ball from which I would then add twist to ply my yarn.

Sorry, still no pictures.  I think I added too much plying twist, but I don't think it's too much of a problem.

I wanted to take advantage of the softness of the alpaca and angora fibers, so I decided to try my luck with making a brushed yarn inspired by this post.  Don't tell anyone, but I didn't actually have a brush per se, so I used a toothbrush.  (Don't worry, it was new.)

Et voila, 2 oz. of spindle-spun brushed yarn:


I plan to use it to line a pair of mittens that I have yet to make.  It's going to be so extremely soft, I can wait.

Also, I'm really sorry if people feel like I am giving them the cold shoulder by not replying to comments on my blog posts - sometimes I just have no contact info and no way to get a hold of you.  Sorry!

11 comments:

  1. Ha! That first picture cracks me up. You look almost as though you have no idea where you are...which is how you look in real life anyway, right? :P

    That stuff with your bank is sucktastic. You don't have much better luck than I do!

    Cute yarn. I like the idea of mitten liners. You're just all smart like that I guess.

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  2. I like the swings.

    Who says we don't want to hear about the life beyond fiber? Bring it on.

    You've definitely gotten the crappy end of the stick with financial security lately. I've had a taste of this and it ain't pretty. You're picking up valuable lessons in...well, something. Hang in there, and rant here all you want, as far as I'm concerned. :)

    Love the spun up blend. Mmm, mittens lining. Makes my fingers tingle with anticipation almost as if it weren't summer. Almost summer.

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  3. Sorry about all the bank stuff. Bank fraud is becoming more and more of a problem nowadays. They say it's a mixture of off-shore cottage industries and organized crime. Really.

    The yarn looks great, and what a wonderful idea to brush it. I bet it will make a fantastic mitten liner.

    Next time you Andean, ply, try this:
    http://aestheticentanglementz.blogspot.com/2008/05/circulationits-good-thing.html

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  4. No matter how many of your yarns I see, I am always going to be in awe of the fact that you made it on a drop spindle. It looks just too good.

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  5. Thanks for the blog comments:) Congrats on your recital, and the handspun looks great! The perfect thing to keep fingers toasty on a cold day. Sorry about the streak of bad luck, hope it turns around soon.

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  6. Thanks for commenting on my blog. Sharing a mix of fiber stuff and real life makes a blog more interesting and I like your style. ;-)
    LOVE the yarn. You do good work on your spindle and brushing the yarn was a wonderful idea.

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  7. Hm...No other word for it. Totally sucks. Big time. Once was bad enough too!

    LOVE the yarn. I think it'll make a perfect knit lining for mittens. Nice and warm and soft!

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  8. Wow, great looking yarn!

    Sucks about the bank fraud thing. Shouldn't happen to anyone!

    Good Luck!

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  9. Congratulations on the recital.

    I'm sorry about the bank business. People really do suck some days.

    Love the yarn! You did a wonderful job.

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  10. Sorry to hear about the whole banking fiasco!! That really, really sucks.

    It sounds like other things are going well, though.

    Please do post audio or a link to it when you get a chance. I'd love to hear you play.

    Of course, your yarn is beautiful as always. ^_^

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  11. Fuck - you deserve to complain. That flat out sucks about your banking stuff. Plus, I like reading real life stuff! Pretty yarn! I hope your financial life gets better soon.

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