Drop Spindle Making

So my husband and father-in-law made me 2 drop spindles on Saturday night. One is a top whirl and the other is a bottom whirl spindle. They used old wooden drawer knobs with a hole drilled right through the middle, a dowel stick and cup hooks.

I bought some roving on eBay (natural and a bag of 8 shades of red). I'm having a blast.

So I'm not the only fruitloop!

So I was surfing the internet last night and found a person just as fruity as myself.... Not only has this person used the cotton found on the inside of medicine bottles as spinning material - but has also collected tumble-dryer lint and spun this too! I'm going to start collecting my lint from now on and then card it with the cotton puffs - should become and interesting colour at least!

Now all I need to do is get my spindles made!

New bug has bit

Okay, so I think a new "Creative bug" has bitten me... I've decided to try my hand at spinning some cotton... I know it sounds like this should take up hours of my time - but I found a group on Ravelry named "10 minutes a day" and that's what I'm going to try and do with the spinning.

I've GOOGLE'd making a spindle... I've found a YouTube tutorial (using a rubber doorstop), I've found written instructions for a wooden spindle using a draw knob - so I've asked my DH really nicely if he will help me make a step by step guide to making a wooden spindle - WITH PHOTOS! I think all us newbies out there would appreciate something like that... Especially those of you who are like me and land up trying your hand at everything out there and don't exactly want to spend a fortune on your new creative endeavours. Let's stick together on this one!

My idea is to make a Wooden drop spindle (top whirl and bottom whirl) to see which one would be best to learn on... Then I'm going to see whether I could make a Spindolyn spindle (which means making another spindle to fit in to it)... I'm not so keen on any of the other support spindles.

I've read up on spinning and the various spindles... I've also read up on the various "tops" used to spin yarn... I'm going to try and be COMPLETELY out of the ordinary and try to spin cotton using 100% cotton puffs which you can buy at any local supermarket... It's 100% cotton... Why not try it? I will definitely be updating you all on my endeavours in this little experiment... Hell: I might even make my little girl a nice winter beanie with my spun cotton!

Let the experiment begin!

Squishy spot!

I'm so happy... The top of my tummy is getting squishy... So Teagan is moving down... WHHHHHOOOOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOO! Peter and I are still hoping she'll arrive in this week. It would be wonderful if that were possible!

She was really the whole day today. I've been sitting on the couch with my feet up and knitting on a shawl to keep my hands occupied. I think she might like the movement of my arms against my tummy whilst knitting. Strange.

Lets hope she comes soon - only 12 days to her EDD.

Scare!

We had a bit of a scare yesterday! Teagan hadn't moved the whole day - and my usual tricks didn't work. Usually if I drink really cold juice and eat raisins the sugar gets her wriggling like a little worm. After trying these for about 2 hours I decided to phone the Triage at the Maternity ward at George Elliot: they told me to come right in and they would monitor her to see if there was any cause for concern.

Peter and I went together, the staff were really helpful and I didn't feel like a complete loony being worried (as a first time mom I worry about every little thing!). They monitored Teagan and all was well. Luckily it seemed as though the heat had affected her and she was just being lethargic. I was so relieved!

I was told that I should always ring if I feel that something isn't right. I shouldn't assume that she's not moving "because of the heat" and contact them with anything to put me at ease, that's what they're there for! I'm really happy about that. I feel much better now...

2 1/2 weeks to go....

Well, I'm 37 1/2 weeks pregnant... I'm patiently (yeah, right) waiting for my little girl "Teagan" to arrive... I'm running out of things to do around the house... Blah blah blah...

I'm desperately trying not to stuff my face with everything in sight... I tend to eat when I'm bored. My feet have swollen to the size of balloons and it seems as though my hands are following in close second place! I'm busy cross-stitching a hedgehog which I'm planning on attaching to a bag which will velcro to my rocking chair and allow me to keep a muslin square within reach for burping Teagan. I've also been scratching through all my patterns looking for things to keep me busy while waiting for little miss to arrive.

I've started the whole "Nesting" thing, but I've already cleaned everything within an inch of its life - so there's not much in that department to keep me busy.

We're expecting our landlord around on Monday night to discuss the replacing of our tv-room carpet - it's looking a little sad and could do with replacing. We've already re-painted the window frames (at our own cost) and the landlord seems quite happy with the results (of course he does - HE DIDN'T PAY FOR IT OR DO IT HIMSELF).

Teagan is having a little hiccup fit at the moment, which could last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. You'd think that running out of room would make her move less: not this little girl! She's as busy as always and just getting busier. Hopefully she'll get so busy she'll drop and arrive early. That is wishful thinking on my part: I know!