I'm way behind schedule

What schedule? I ask myself over and over this fiber obsession is a hobby. I should not have deadlines because then it would be a job. Somehow I always have a schedule in mind some sort goal to finish a certain project or accomplish a certain skill etc. It's just how I "roll" and lately I'm "rolling" out of control.

I've seen movies like this when a drug dealer offers somebody some drug and says just try it one time. You can't get hooked by trying it one time! Then suddenly you have an out of control drug addict. Now I need an intervention "Hello my name is Ana and I'm a spinning wool addict". I have the urge to spin all the time. Having the fiber slip through your fingers and creating yarn is magical. I have fallen in love with spinning.

I originally got attracted to spinning by watching people at different knitting events. The first big event I went to was Stitches West, I had no idea that they had these huge organized "knitting conventions". It was like knitters Disneyland. People running around taking classes, shopping at the market place like a bunch of crazed ladies with a token man here and there. The stress level was on high, you would see people plopped down on a couch here and there with obvious total exhaustion.

(BTW I won "Editors Choice" when I entered their student fashion show. I was surprised but totally hooked I wanted more events and have not stopped since.)

While at stitches west and every other event I've been to since there are spinners. In the middle of chaos an island of calm. Usually off in a corner there is a group of people with their spinning wheels spinning yarn. And it's like somebody turned down the stress button from frenzy to total calm. This attracted me but it looked complicated, there is the wheel and even though it looks so easy when an expert is doing it I could tell this was a refined skill.

I decided to start slow and bought a drop spindle. Which one to get? I got the cheapest and thought if I made bulky yarn it would be easier than what I saw those spinners making "spider web" wool. Got the roving got the drop spindle had somebody show me and started to practice. Things just did not go well. But I kept trying for a couple of years I would take out the spindle and try, with a no this is not going well. Then I would buy a different spindle and try to realize once again it's not the spindle but it's the lack of skill. Then one day a couple of weeks ago it all "clicked" and suddenly it worked! Funny because I've talked to spinners who have told me about that aha moment and wondered if they were just making it all up. But no I had the aha moment too and now I am hooked.

I can combine it all: Dye the roving, spin the yarn and knit the project. Yes knit a project but I'm too busy experimenting with all this dyeing, spinning and plying and my knitting schedule is way behind.

A friend offered to send me a little baby sheep! Not funny Miss Leslie!

I'm getting ready for a class I'm teaching at the Santa Monica Library. The class will be September 1, 2010, Wednesday evening from 6 pm to 8 pm. We will be using food coloring to dye protein fibers. I hope I'll be able to share my enthusiasm and fun that I'm having playing with wool and color.