This then that

I love babies. I know I’ve told you that before – I think everything around them is brilliant.  First you have a woman, then a bigger woman and then she unbelievably becomes two people, and then one of those people changes from a baby into someone who can do algebra, play the violin and scream “you don’t know my life”.  (It is very loud magic.)  I feel the same way about knitting. First you have some string and a plan, and then you wave your hands around (a million times) with some sticks, and poof. A sweater appears. it’s the same with spinning – it’s a fantastic act of transformation. Watch this:

nerdroving 2016-04-20

Nerd Girl Yarns roving, 100% Cheviot, in the colourway “I will not eat them Sam I am.”

Then I waved my hands around a wheel a little bit:

nerdspinsingle 2016-04-28

nerdspinsinglesboth 2016-04-28

Then I waved those together with the wheel the opposite way:

nerdnoddy 2016-04-28 neryarndone 2016-04-28 neryarndoneopen 2016-04-28

Whammo.  From baby to adult in the blink of an eye. (Okay. It took several hours, but compared to something like pregnancy, it was super fast.) Now that little roving can go on to be something else. What? I don’t know. It’s made it’s trip with me. It’s about 275m of fingering weight, something so pretty and now it’s up to someone else. I’ve done my part of the magic. This is destined to make something else happen, it’s going to turn into services for a client (or clients) at PWA. I’m going to kick off this years fundraising with it. If you want it to be yours, send me an email (stephanieATyarnharlotDOTca (replace the AT and DOT with the right things, and notice the .ca, not .com) with what it’s worth to ya. I’ll email you if you’re the highest offer, and you can make the donation, and I’ll send it to your house.

Boom. Transformation.

(If you’re looking forward to this years Karmic Balancing Gifts, don’t worry. They’re coming. I’ll explain more about them in the coming weeks – but basically, anyone who helps, with a donation, with spreading the word, with social media, with good thoughts and wishes… you all qualify. Help the Bike Rally somehow, and send me an email at that same address with the subject line “I helped” and you’re in. Same goes if you help any knitter doing the ride. That’s MeKenPatoCameron or Heather (she’s blog reader, and a new knitter on our team.  Let’s get this party started.)

33 thoughts on “This then that

  1. I’ve continued to be amazed that I can take a piece of string, et voila: there is a beautiful piece of lace or other cleverness, made with my own hands. I think that’s always the thing I’ve loved about knitting.

  2. Quiet magic – knitting! Very loud magic – the change from baby to adult! Love both, especially when the quiet magic helps one through some of the louder magic bits…

  3. Wow. Wow. That’s gorgeous, and I never would have guessed it would come from that roving. Peace to you my dear, and thank you for all the good energy (knitting and otherwise) that you put out into the world.

  4. Kids turning into adults = loud magic, especially with 4 of them in the house.
    Me turning yarn into anything impressive also = very loud some days…. 🙂

    I wish my spinning were up to your standards. Must practice more!

  5. What a great way to start the donations coming in for PWA. The yarn is beautiful, and I’m sure it will kickstart the campaign for the Rally. Go Team Go!

  6. I had 2 babies. I think knitting is easier. That second baby is almost 16 and she plays the violin and screams!! Knitting is magical and quiet.

  7. My first paycheck from my new job will have a donation in it for you. I just don’t know when I’m starting but it will be soon.
    Ride like the wind!

  8. That yarn is so colorful! I can imagine it being made into something for that loud bit of magic, before that bit becomes self-propelled. . .-)!

  9. Your yarn is just perfect! Love the colors! And I am also fascinated by the evolving process of knitting. Sometimes I look back at my FOs and can’t believe I actually made them with a simple thread!

  10. It is so beautiful! You make spinning look so easy. I tried spinning with a drop spindle, lost my patience, and stomped off in a huff to my knitting needles to make myself happy again. I will have to try again. Again what you made is so beautiful!

    • When you learn a new skill you have to be very gentle with yourself. Every single thing you have ever learned took time and patience, and your brain had to ingrain the actions needed to accomplish it before it became automatic. Everything. Spinning on a handspindle is wonderful and it’s the way spinning was accomplished for millennia before the invention of the spinning wheel. You will get it – it’s a knack that comes with perseverence. I taught myself to spin with a cheap handspindle more than 35 years ago, and I try to spin some yarn every day on one or another of my several wheels and spindles. Keep going, it’s more than worth it! I’ll hold a good thought for your success.

  11. Thank you so much, Harlot, for posting this…I would never have guessed that the end product would turn out like it did! The roving had so much white, and painted with such bright colours, I imagined something entirely different.

    A bit like raising a child…constant surprises lol

    Oh! The other day I was picking up my “baby” from high school and was waiting outside…I had some time so I thought I’d look on the blog. It wouldn’t load and I kept getting a message that the site wasn’t allowed. Puzzling. Dan got in the truck and started laughing and told me to turn off the wifi…I was picking up the schools’ service and no…apparently Yarn HARLOT is not an accepted site. It turns out that the principal can’t read you until she gets home either. We had a good laugh 🙂

  12. I am in awe of that yarn. Color adventures are stressful for me, and to see something like that roving turn into something completely different – well, it really is magic.

  13. The transformation from roving to yarn is really special. I’ve looked at roving that is so bright and wild and can’t imagine what it would look like as yarn. Thanks for showing us the before and after pictures. Looks like I’ll have to take up spinning before long! It’s really beautiful!

  14. I used to look at my obsession with fibre and yarn as something odd. Then I took a look around at my whole family and it turns out that it’s just a different iteration of the same thing. My father was a carpenter, my grandfather was a farmer, my brother built motorcycles from boxes of what looked like junk, and my mother was a dressmaker. My oldest son loves to work on cars and trucks, making something that runs and looks great out of something that didn’t; he also loves carpentry and wacky designs for spindles and wheels made out of weird materials from strange sources. My youngest paints and draws, loves woodworking, builds replica weaponry, and designed his first airplane when he was about 10 years old. The common thread (pun intended) between these activities and my spinning and knitting obsession is transformation: taking unlikely-looking and often unpromising materials and turning them into something beautiful and functional. When you get lovely and promising material to work with, that’s a bonus. It galls me that none of these things is considered “art”, yet transformation is the very definition of art! It’s also one of the most human of driving forces.

  15. Non-spinners always ask me what I’m spinning – I usually say “Yarn”,and when they ask me what I’m going to make, I usually reply “It will tell me when it’s ready”. But I love spinning in public anyway, I get to meet people I’d never have met any other way.

  16. Good on you for keeping up with the Rally on top of everything else!
    And I totally hear you about spinning. Funnily, there was a period after I had my baby when it was really hard for me to get back to knitting (that’s not odd) but spinning on a spindle was fine (that’s the odd part). I found it easier to pick up and spin a length entertainingly over little grabby hands, then whisk it away and wind on than to knit while holding a baby, I think? Anyway, spinning is wonderful.

  17. What if you like the rush of adrenaline you get from being scared? If you play the great room escape game called backrooms, you’ll have a lot of fun. Moving around all the time is the best way to avoid running into the most terrifying creature.

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