Florida, Here I come!

Boo Boo’s Fine 2017 Fleece

It’s been a while, well a very long, while since last posting. Years.

Yes, I’m still spinning but at a reduced rate since whatever ails me has ramped up its attack and I’m losing the battle. So I’m off to Tampa for an extended stay to see if a brilliant doctor there can put me back on my feet. Literally. IVIG quit working. Pretty much.

A week into this years TDF and I’m only 1 bobbin into Boo Boo’s Shetland Fleece from 2017. It’s spinning up so fine, both in terms of handle and diameter, that I might have ten thousand yards finished by fall yet still have most of the fiber left in the bin.

Spinning is Zen meditation for me and I’ll all the Zen I can get to see me through whatever treatment awaits me in Florida. Will it be heavy metals, pesticides, Lyme or mold or a combination of the above. I’ll find out Monday July 23rd just in time for my birthday. Wheeee, groan. Later

Happy New Year!

I'm not spinning this week but relaxing in the Turks and Caicos islands, on Pine Cay. Most of my family is here and it's sunny, breezy and very warm for this time of year. I found if I stay at my brothers house, on the deck, I can sit in the sun for hours and not over heat.

Caity turns 22 today! At 6:06 Pine Cay time. We'll have a party for her tonight with cake and presents, etc. The Smith family loves to celebrate any occasion, especially birthdays and will pull out all the stops and go hog wild.

Even gone, I've bought the rights to 3 fleeces, one Wensleydale, and two Blue Faced Leicesters. Am working on a used lightly motorized drum carder. After these purchases, I should be finished all acquisitions for 2014. It's going to be a production year!

I've taken a bunch of pictures, especially of the spectacular sunsets here on the island and the picture in this post is one of them.

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here is a collection, er ah playlist, of YouTube Videos on Beginning Spindle Spinning with top whorl spindles.

I've given several spindle kits from Yarnshine on Etsy to my best friends. I hope they will take up the hobby so I have real life friends to share my hobby with. No offense to my most excellent online fiber friends! Cheers to y'all too.



I'll be working hard on my Fiber Arts in 2014 and will share some cool yarns and home made videos with you as the year turns 14.

Cheers,
JJ

On to the Tour de Fleece

For my friends who have missed my blogging lately, I gave up whining about how crappy I feel from my autoimmune issues and have jumped back into fiber arts stuff after a 20 year layoff to raise Caity James.

So from now on, unless someone asks me about it, I mostly likely won't chat about MS, Transverse Myelitis, Thyroid Problems or Chronic Pain. Yes I have them, but they don't have me!

Meet "Tiger Woods" my new Hansen Crafts eMiniSpinner!
This 5 pound beauty spins like a dream and is made in America
of solid tigerwood. Hence its name.

Expect to see pictures and dialog about prepping raw fleece from sheep and alpaca, spinning wool, enjoying my late nights as a vampyre working on my hobby when its quiet and peaceful with no phone ringing and no text messages or email demanding attention.

Starting June 29th and continuing through July 21st, I'll be participating in Ravelry.com's Tour de Fleece for the first time. During the Tour de France bike race, we spin like crazy. We have teams and challenges and prizes too. I am looking forward to spinning as much during this time period as I normally would for the better part of a year. Its a great feeling to be part of something again and even have a fun competition to push me off the starting line and back into the fray.