Not So Blah!

Now I know why I was feeling a bit off on Tuesday. I ended up with a full day migraine yesterday. So I just knit and read and now I’ve finished the left front of my NSGS sweater. That’s a total of 2 sleeves and one front and I still have a full 3 skeins left. My skeins are big so that’s lots. Plus I grafted the toes on T-Man’s Socka Socks and they’re all washed and blocked. Unfortunately I can’t take a picture because currently it’s dumping rain and so dark I need all the lights on in the house. My flash totally changes the colours in the socks so I’m going to wait until it dries up enough to take a photo outside. Whenever that might be.

We’re still boiling water. I refuse to buy bottled water because those guys are just making a killing on this. If you can’t drink your own city’s tap water, you are in deep doo-doo. Maybe now they’ll upgrade the water processing (more ozonation please, I’m sensitive to chlorine) and admit that they should never have logged in the watershed. Even if they aren’t doing it at the moment. Whatever were they thinking, the fools! Apparently they found one measly E. coli bacterium in one sample yesterday (which they think was tester contamination) so now they are sampling more and still not lifting the advisory. I can see a marked difference in the water this morning where it looks much clearer, but who knows after this new downpour. We’ll see.

Some good news is I heard from my dear friend and alternative pusher…er, supplier, Jane Stafford, that my new Louet Victoria wheel is on it’s way! Yippee!! I’m trying to justify yet another spinning wheel by insisting it’s the first new wheel I’ve bought since 1992. Does that work, d’ya think? Or do I need an excuse at all? While I’m waiting, I realized there is very little information about the Victoria out there. I’m having trouble even linking to a page but here’s a PDF. Also try here on the Dutch website, choose English (unless you can read Dutch or German!) and then there should be 4 article links in red with some info on her development. Jan’s granddaughter is sure cute and I think it’s appropriate that they finally have a name instead of a number for their latest wheel. I had to give my S-90 his name “Klaas” because he got tired of just being a number, poor thing! I think I’ll call the new one “Tori” for short. After all, everybody who has one will have Victoria, so she has to be different. Now I can hardly wait. Did I mention she’s made of oak? Klaas is beech with black painted details (there was no choice) but this time I could choose. I have lots of oak furniture in my house and I love it, so oak she is.

Now I’m sure you’re wondering why I decided to buy a brand-spanking newly-designed spinning wheel sight unseen. Even though always I tell my students to try before they buy, I…ahem, never follow my own advice. Never ever have I actually spun on any of my wheels before they became mine. There are several reasons for that: the first one was a kit and had to be assembled (by us) before it could be spun on and at the time I didn’t even know how to spin. The second one (Klaas) had to be ordered just like Tori and there were no demo models to try. I even had to pay for him before they would order! (No, that wasn’t Jane. That shop has gone out of business a long time ago.) The Twins (cottage-style wheels) were gifted to me, one by a very elderly lady in a tiny apartment who has since passed away and the other by a friend of a friend. They both realized they would never use them and just wanted them gone to a good home. I figured I could sell one of them, but I haven’t. The little antique parlor wheel that sits in my parlor, I mean living room was another gift from a stranger who was moving to Ontario. It’s non-functional with missing parts but it’s sure a pretty little thing with bone turnings and dangly doo-dahs. Lastly, there just are no Victorias around yet. They are too new having only been prototyped this summer and ready for sale just now. Why did I choose to get one? Ummm…I’m not really sure. I’m not really a fan of double treadles, but this light little wheel folds, has her own backpack, has a good selection of ratios and has a sliding hook. The first prototype had a smaller wheel but I like the look of the bigger one better and it gives a higher set of ratios than the first version. They also plan to make a high-speed set for ratios over 1:20 which I will likely get. But still, if portable was the criterium why did I get a Victoria instead of an Ashford Joy? Because I like the way Louets treadle so easily? Because Klaas wanted a baby sister? Because I’m not a huge Ashford fan even though I teach almost exclusively with them? Dunno really. I absitively posolutely hated Louet’s last new wheel the S-45. It’s butt-ugly and I didn’t like the spread your feet have to do to reach the treadles. I suppose it’s versatile but it just didn’t speak to me. I guess it’s kind of the same reason I got the S-90 instead of a Lendrum. It wanted to be mine! Or something. More on this when she comes.