Tuesday, 14 May 2013

A different kind of exciting

My birthday ceased being particularly exciting when I got to 32. (It is no co-incidence that our first child was born a couple of months later.) Until then we had a double income, our only dependants could be dropped off at the cattery en route to the airport, and we were keen to out-do one another with the scale and cunning of our surprises - for example I planned a surprise trip to NYC for D's 30th. He trumped that by proposing on Central Park Lake and taking me to a (pre-arranged) champagne brunch at the Waldorf (complete with harpist) while we were there. 

These days my birthday is usually much like any other day, especially when it falls at the beginning of the week. Like today. A rainy Tuesday. I woke at 6 to discover D had already left for work, dashing all hopes of a cuppa-in-bed. The children started playing (noisily) without realising there was anything different about the day. The dishwasher still needed sorting, breakfast had to be made, children readied for and then dispatched to (pre)/school. Thankfully a friend and my mum came around early which cheered things up somewhat.

I treated myself to a morning 'off' which meant that instead of working through my list of chores, I sat in the Cwtch with a new novel and some yarn and cast on (I'll tell you about that tomorrow) in the peace and quiet of an empty house. It really was very lovely. 

I had lunch with Little Miss and one of D's sisters, and when My Boy came home the kids prepared a "tea party" with my Mum's help. They were really happy to have organised the sandwiches and cakes themselves and seeing their excitement made up for the rainy weekday birthday.
My "party"
When the food was eaten and the children in need of some rest, I took up my spindle and after a few minutes of spinning (without needing to park and draft!!!) tried plying my singles together. You know what? The thick/thin yarn wasn't half as bad as I was expecting and, even more exciting, the improvement over the last week was really noticeable - despite only spinning for around 3 hours in total, the contents of the second spindle were fairly regular and fairly thin.

In no time at all, I ended up with this little 38g ball of wool. Yes, that's right - a ball of wool! I made a little ball of wool!!!!!! I have made lots of things over the last couple of years, but I think this is certainly one of the most exciting yet. Imagine taking a load of fluff, twisting it, and coming up with your own yarn - an inconsistent scrappy looking yarn, but still! It's amazing! Definitely worth the discipline of daily practice, even just for 15 minutes (my goal) and I can't believe that waited a whole year to give it a proper try. 

My very first plied handspun - 38g of inconsistent yarn, and I couldn't be more excited!

So yes, all in all, I've had a pretty exciting birthday - albeit a different kind of exciting. I am also excited to show you what I'm doing with the yarn... hopefully on Friday. 

13 comments:

  1. Your little ball of wool is very cute :) And get you with all the progress, it looks so neat and even already!

    Also - many happy returns :) Sorry the weather's been so awful though!

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  2. Happy Birthday Sarah!

    You are ahead of me in the spinning stakes ... I'll be coming to you for tips! Your ball of yarn looks wonderful :)

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  3. Happy Birthday Sarah xx. That's one of the downsides to getting older and having a young family. Your birthday becomes just another day.

    At least you managed to spend the day doing something that you loved :)

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  4. Happy Birthday! I'm glad you were able to enjoy your birthday - its so true that things are just different once you have kids, especially young one! :)

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  5. Happy Birthday lovely lady!Look at the sweet little bods making and baking, so lovely.
    Clever girl, that is a cute little ball of wool.
    xxxxxxxxx

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  6. Sounds like a good birthday. Glad you had a good day.

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  7. I agree with you that birthdays are less exciting once babies arrive but they are fun in other ways. Love the ball of yarn - almost inspiring me to dig out my spindle.

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  8. Happy birthday, and congrats with you very own first ball of wool :-)

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  9. La hanaus fade a bit after awhile yeah? Wat sweetness you had to munch on. I think your drafting rocks and the yarn came out so cool! I guess I'll need another spindle if I am to ply for a thicker yarn. I have pencil roving so I may not have to draft so much.

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  10. Hey! Happy birthday!
    It's the same with holiday's isn't it? We hear holiday, we think relax, rest, enjoy and then we get there and it's just like a normal week, but just not at home...
    Little pleasures - looks like you've got the knack of that!

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  11. I'm a bit late, but nevertheless: Congratulations to your birthday. I wasn't so bad after all, was it? The yarn you made is beautiful.

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