The double-treadle thing is new to me, but I think we can work it out together. It helps me keep rhythm better than a single treadle, I must admit.
Meet the new wheel:
My mother and I set out yesterday with the goal of obtaining her a new, travel-worthy wheel. We got to our favorite lys and were introduced to a few new wheels, but she chose to flirt a little with the Kiwi, and it was just about love at first sight. And when the Kiwi's attention was turned to me, I could see the merits of its charm.

We walked away with two.

We also got some free roving (romney) since we bought two wheels, and my mom gave it to me to get back into the groove with. I spent a few hours before work yesterday dividing it up into color bundles so I can get the colors to change without getting into n-plying. I'm not quite that brave yet.
So far, I've really just produced a lot of semi-yarn barf. It's not quite as bad as real yarn barf, but it's not constant enough to make anything really gorgeous out of. I will knit something small and plain with what I make, perhaps a headband or something for my hair.
We'll see.

I've been working an average of 37 hours a week at work lately, and they have been long ones. I come home rather tired and haven't done much knitting since my stitch count on In Dreams clue 2 went off and I had to rip back to my lifeline at the end of clue 1. It was heart-breaking to pick out all those tiny stitches and all those little beads. I think that I shall fall far behind on this KAL, but I set out at the start to take my own time and enjoy it at my own pace. I will not feel rushed.

Tim is starting to wake up out of his quasi-hibernation stupor and is eating a great deal more crickets than previously. It's a good thing that they're only eleven cents a piece. I'm bulking him up for when I eventually release him into a marshy crick/drain in the woods by the apartment. The mosquitoes and other insects swarm the area once the weather thaws, so he won't go hungry.
Flo has passed away, however, due to an overabundance of ammonia in the tank. Rodger has suffered ammonia burn and is left with black patches on his scales that mark where the burn was the worst, and where it healed. Randolph the pleco didn't grow fast enough and suffered death by eating.
So now in the tank Hannah and Rodger are surviving, with their new friend B.A. the koi. When I release Tim I will move them out of my 5g tank to the 10g that he's in. Or, I don't know, I considered switching them over beforehand anyway, because B.A. really kind of needs a bigger tank, and now that Tim is by himself he doesn't need all that space. I need a more powerful filter if I do that, though.

Well, I have just finished dinner (taco rice, which is just taco meat and fixings served over a bed of rice; try it, it's tasty) and I am going to relax with my wheel while Patrick plays video games. Daylight Savings Time has taken its toll on our internal clocks and even though the clocks say 9:21, my body says 8:30. It will take a few days to adjust, with me staying and waking up later than usual, but I have Monday and Tuesday off so I plan on sleeping in anyway and doing as much relaxing around my usual chores as I can.
Tuesday I'm having dinner with my parents and my Dad is going to help me finish my Kiwi, who is whispering a few names to me. Some are male, there's one or two females, but the one that's sticking in my head is the old English/French (my mom teased me gently about some of the name vibes I was getting... one of which was Sven) name Burl. It means 'tuft of wool' apparently.

My favorite part is the little kiwi carved on the treadle.


"I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefor, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease."
~Mahatma Gandhi