Spinning my wheels

I've been really busy this week getting ready for this weekend. This is the direct opposite of most people's schedules--who wouldn't want to rest over the weekend? Apparently, not me-- so here goes:

Yesterday, I got to lead a family service at synagogue. This is only an hour long, but when working with people ages 3-adult, you've got to have a lot up your sleeves. It went very well, but by the time I came home, walked the dogs, and did things like eat leftovers for dinner, I was exhausted. I did try to have a conversation with a friend on the phone yesterday and I'm afraid I sounded entirely incoherent. (Meanwhile, the professor helped out at the service with the kids 10 and under in the AM and then rushed off to help someone move his belongings to his new house. Luckily, he got there after all the hard work was done!)

Oh--I also supervised the making of not one but two apple chocolate chip cakes, as the professor undertook dessert making for today's festivities.


Today I'm off to teach a spinning workshop at the Manitoba Craft Museum. I'm pretty excited. I've assembled these kits for each spinner. Here's what they look like:

In 14 reusable grocery bags:
One handmade low cost spindle (made by the professor and me)
4 oz of Romney white wool
4 oz of Romney cross brown wool
1 oz of a cherry blossom pink wool/alpaca/mohair blend
Information on skirting a fleece, washing a fleece, basic spinning info and a postcard each on Knit Green and Fiber Gathering and a free knitting pattern...

I'm bringing along some other kinds of both raw and washed wool, processed and unprocessed for them to check out and they will be able to "shop" for other things to spin from that.

For those who misunderstood the depth of my wool stash? I didn't buy any wool for teaching this class. Instead, I was able to empty two packing boxes. If I actually get 14 students, that would be just under 8 lbs of wool that I'm divesting myself of, and that's just in the bags! I'm probably bringing 2 lbs more for the "shopping" part of the class! Last I heard, I had 11 signed up, and apparently people do appear at the last minute. I'm perhaps overprepared...but who knows?

When I get done teaching, I may be able to scoot over to visit our neighbor. She's a Polish grandma who invited us to call her "Grandma" in Polish when we met her. She's turning 90 this weekend so there's an open house to celebrate. We'll bring one of the cakes.

Then, we get to go to a Spring Equinox potluck dinner at the professor's department head's house. (A department head is equivalent to his boss) We'll bring the second cake.

We've had to skip a couple of other things that were also scheduled for this weekend...including a philosophy discussion group that we both thought sounded fascinating. There's only so much you can manage in one weekend! Winnipeg is a pretty social (and intellectual) place!

The professor's car is currently being repaired so it will be up to Canadian inspection standards. (That's called being safety-ed here. Maybe it's spelled safetied?) So, right now we're a one car family, which has required more preplanning and money and time budgeting than we'd expected. The professor even figured out how to take the bus to work. It's busy around here.

I'll end with another special treat left in our house. When you move into an old house, sometimes things get left behind. We'd found a pair of knitting needles in a closet, but better yet is this picture, done by an artist called "Dougherty." This picture was hanging in the landing on the way to the basement. It's not a particularly scenic staircase, and we mostly do laundry and visit the freezer in the basement. I love this little chance to admire art on the way downstairs. Click on the image here, and look at the front porch. Perfect for a spinner, don't you think?

PS: I hope to get back to talking about knitting soon. I'm currently working on world's slowest sock project, and I've finished that scarf a mentioned a while back. Neither is photographed or ready yet for the big time!