I survived November and NaBloPoMo and I can knock one item off my 101 goals.

99. Do NaBloPoMo 1x

1 down, 100 to go. Next month? NaSpiYaMo – My own unofficial personal spinning challenge. Spin or fiber prep every day in December.

I have cancelled most of the fiber clubs I’ve participated in, but I’ve re-upped with the Black Bunny Fibers fiber club. It’s not every month and you don’t have to pay a bunch of money up front. There’s also another reason:

My camera can’t convey the depth and variances of the color, but it’s amazing. The colorway is Poinsettia and the fiber is 4 ounces of Cormo roving.

I’m going to wait a bit to spin this. It’s so gorgeous as is.

Today was a good day. Spent the day with family, cooking, laughing, eating. Good times that I cherish.

Hope you day was good as well.

I’m so happy to have these days off. Today was a good day.

Spinning

I finished up the first ply of the 2 ounces black Merino that I’m spinning and started the second. This is true combed top so I am spinning from the side to do more of a supported long draw. Spinning goes much faster that way and more air is trapped in the single, ultimately making the yarn squishier and warmer.

Learning

My work hours are such that it is impossible to take classes or attend a knitting group on a week night. So, the alternative is online learning. And there are a lot of things I want to learn and online learning allows me to learn what I want, when I want. Today I took advantage of that.

Lynda.com – Online software training & tutorials – I have Adobe Creative Suite CS3 and only really know how to use two programs included in the Suite – Premiere Pro CS3 & Photoshop CS3. Today, I did some training on Illustrator CS3 – the ‘One-on-One: The Essentials‘ training. Adobe software can be a little intimidating, but I’ve learned that perseverance and time will get you to the skills you need to learn so you can do the fun, exciting, creative stuff you want to learn.

Beaducation.com – Online jewelry making tutorials – They have several free classes, which I watched today. Much better than reading instructions that, like a knitting pattern, can be confusing. I finally saw someone do the basic jewelry techniques that I’ve been reading about – and for free! I can only imagine that the paid classes are even more in depth and I look forward to trying them out. The class I found most intriguing is the Byzantine Chain. Oh, the possibilities!

Never stop learning!

Wherever you are, I hope your day was a good one.

… another expensive hobby. Knitting… spinning … and now… jewelry!?

Recently I’ve been wanting to buy some hand cards, but I couldn’t decide which ones so I hadn’t bought any. So I used that indecision money and bought tools and supplies to make wire jewelry today. Because of fiber addiction purchases, I’ve been putting that on the back burner but also lamenting that I didn’t have the tools to do what I wanted. And I’m talking just the basic tools. It’s very reminiscent of when I started knitting and every time I wanted to try a new pattern, I had to buy new needles.

I also bought some sterling silver wire in three different gauges. I have two rings that I wanted to try and some earrings that I want to make and if they turn out well, they will be a Christmas present for someone.

This interest in making jewelry has taken me by surprise. About 10 years ago, I tried beading and was very quickly bored. Beading by itself is not enough to hold my attention. But wire looks very interesting, with or without beads. And of course, I have no desire to start with a beginning project. I’m drawn to the Love Knot Ring (shown on THIS page) Fun times ahead!