10 January 2007

Spinning and Stench

I would never have believed spinning could be this addictive. Until recently I thought of it as an interesting, but not very important, adjunct to knitting. Now I'm sitting in the office I'm meant to be doing Big Girl's Work in, unable to concentrate on the pile of books in front of me because in my mind, I'm drafting. ALL THE TIME.

A professor recently asked me where in the world I would like to do research, if I could go anywhere. "Somewhere in the Andes" sounded like a sensible anthropologist's answer, until I explained that the attraction was the spinning and knitting. What a dream job that would be.

I dyed roving for the first time last night. It was so much fun, like fingerpainting in primary school. I did it in the microwave because I didn't have the right equipment for other methods. The colours came out much better than I expected, but there is one huge drawback...this roving STINKS. I don't know if it's an unavoidable side-effect of acid dyes, or whether it's to do with the microwave technique, but I now have two beautiful bits of fibre that give off a pungent, lingering chemical stench, like the smell of depilatory cream but more potent. Bad.