Somewhere

...a sheep is laughing. It is a blue and purple sheep so I would imagine that it is pretty easy to spot. It also does not fear the driving rains as it is a superwash sheep and can frolic in the running waters to its heart's content without concern for shrinkage or felting. Even if you couldn't identify it by these qualities, surely the peals of laughter it is bleating out across whatever pasture it calls home would make it stand out a bit.

It is laughing. And it is laughing at me.

If you happen to see this merry sheep, please don't hold the laughter against it. Sure, I've directed a few rather untoward comments toward my woolly friend today. But, that was really more of a "heat of the moment" sort of deal. Deep down, I know that this anonymous sheep has every right to chuckle heartily at my expense.

I spin and I spin. I rest. Maybe I'll have a snack or try to work the kinks out of my back for a bit. And then I spin some more. All this spinning, understandably, might lead one to believe that one could finish a bobbin of singles and be headed for the plying stage of the process before the weekend is out. It is an easy mistake to make. It might even cause one to confidently predict reaching the finish line. One might even dare to post such a prediction on one's blog. Several times.

This is the stuff of merriment for the average blue and purple, superwash sheep. The BPSS knows better. The BPSS is fully aware of how long this is going to take and feels no shame whatsoever when it cannot help but burst into peals of laughter after the spinner realizes that she ain't gonna make it.

To be fair here, I am spinning sock yarn. I have certain expectations of my sock yarn, among them that it be thin. Spinning thin yarn means that each layer of spun stuff is thinner than I am used to. I've spun a great deal of wool over the years. But, thin yarn takes longer.

I suppose that, on some level, I must have known that...

Sorry about the blurry shot there. Without the extra hand to steady the camera, this was the best I could do. But, I needed my chubby little digits in there for some sort of scale. This is thin. Very, very thin. I have never spun anything this thin on purpose before. There have been those times when the wool gets away from me and I inadvertently spin something that looks like this for a short time. But, this is thin all the time and on purpose.

I may have mentioned that this is taking longer than I thought.

But, it is much, much closer than it was on Friday night when the call of the wheel could not be ignored. And there has not been a single minute of the spinning that has not been pure pleasure. So soft and fine is this roving that it fairly glides through the fingers. I can see its potential even before the plying. Hopefully, I'll get in a bit more wool-whirling tonight before I turn in and will be able to say that I am even closer to the finish line when I post tomorrow.

That BPSS can laugh all it wants. My lofty and prideful predictions pretty much demanded such a response. In the end, the last laugh will be mine anyway. I am going to love my sock yarn. So much so that I am putting it in my will that I be buried wearing the resulting socks and that any remaining yarn be encased in Lucite. It is then to be sent on tour around the world in order that others may admire it. I've got my people working on the schedule as we speak. The advertising budget is a bit limited, but we will make sure that we get the word out as soon as the dates are nailed down.

My only request is that the tour pass by the field where that sheep is laughing. That'll shut him up.

SA