Monday, July 2, 2007

Jersey Spinners

After much coordinating of calendars, Deb pulled together a meetup of local spinners at Risa's home. It was a relaxing day – perfect weather, congenial company, lots of fiber. I brought orzo salad for the table and lace flying discs for everyone as a keepsake of the day. Y'know, Jersey Spinners. Jessica, Risa, and Kim posed together with theirs.

Jersey spinners

Embarrassing to relate, I neglected to take pix of Deb [blushes, hangs head]. Er, here's one of her MOO cards, pictured with a familiar object for scale. I'd never seen a MOO card before – they have tremendous visual and tactile appeal, not to mention are just über-cool.

Deb's moo card

Even more embarrassing to relate, I did take pix of everyone's spinning (click on photos to view larger).

Kim's spinning   Deb's spinning
Risa's spinning   Jessica's spinning

The wheel spinners did their subtle best to convert the lone spindle spinner (me). Before I so much as unpacked my spindle, hospitable Risa got out her Lendrum and some spare roving and let me try them. (Hm... the Lendrum is like a three-speed cruiser bicycle. Classic. Nice.) After the delicious potluck lunch, I reverted to my trusty spindle and my Spun Stitches project, the never-ending braids of Blue Face Leicester.

My wheel spinning   My spindle spinning

(It occurs to me that wheels have an unexpected benefit: treadling exercises the shin muscles, often a serious problem area for older women. Compared with, say, knitting needles, wheels seem rather costly, but compared with exercise equipment, wheels seem quite reasonably priced. Not to mention most fitness routines do not include yarn production as a bonus. Hm....)

The day wound down with some swapping. After the success of Jaywalker cycling socks, I've gone gah-gah for Magic Stripes in Jelly Bean or Regatta, so Risa swapped me some similar-looking Regia.

Regia sock yarn

A happy end to a happy day. Thanks to all, and especially Deb and Risa!

6 comments:

--Deb said...

Wait. Subtle? You thought we were subtle about the wheel-pushing? Something must have gone terribly wrong, there.... And you know, I hadn't really thought about comparing wheels to exercise equipment as a price comparison....

It was so great to finally meet you, Ina!! And, well, at least you DO have a picture of me. Those Moo cards are nifty little things.

Bee said...

aww you guys look like you had so much fun!! I am sorry to have missed out ;)

Anonymous said...

Looks like fun - I think its more fun to spin with friends than alone.

CrazyFiberLady said...

It was definitely my pleasure hosting you all. Your orzo salad was totally delicious! I love the Jersey spinner. How totally clever.

Hmm, subtle? me? Wheel pushing? Nah ;) I have to admit, I hadn't heard about the shin exercise benefit to the wheel thing until you mentioned it Saturday. Excellent bonus to the hobby for sure! We'll definitely have to do it again!

Anonymous said...

It was an awesome day! Thanks again for the Jersey Spinner lace frisbee! So cool! Wheels are cheaper than exercise equipment! I laughed when I read that.

Carol said...

Spinning as exercise. I love it! Now to convert the world....Oh wait, I don't spin. Hmmm. That could be a roadblock on my world domination by spinning plan.