Years and years ago when my relationship with my husband was fairly new, he suprised me one Friday evening with a present. We had been going out long enough that I was there every weekend, but were not yet at the point where my apartment had become just my cat's apartment and a place where I stored my couch. We were exclusive, but not "forever" serious yet.
It was in a pretty gift bag and he seemed pretty pleased with himself. I was pretty pleased to be getting a gift. I opened it up and found....
a towel.
A blue beach towel to be exact.
I was a little confused initially, and must have looked it, because he said "It's for here."
Then I understood. Being a new(ish) girlfriend I had tried not to complain too much about the towel situation, but it was a bit of a problem. He was a single dad and they didn't have a lot of towels, they hadn't needed them, it was just the two of them. The towels they did have were small ones, I liked to be able to wrap my towels right around my body. His were what I'd have called "hair towels", suitable for wrapping turban style around my head to dry my hair, but not for a good post-shower wrap up.
This new towel was big enough to wrap around me. And it was designated "mine", for my use when I stayed the night.
It seems like a small thing, this towel, but looking back the gesture was huge. Phil wasn't just giving me a towel, he was saying "I want you here, I want you to be happy and comfortable and have the things you need while you're here."
It marked a turning point for us...before too much longer I was there several nights during the week as well as weekends. I started bringing my laundry over (including some of my large bath towels) since I was never home long enough to do laundry...and that led to just leaving my clothes there since it was "easier". Before too long we made the decision to just have me move in...there was no sense in me paying rent for my cat. We combined our two households worth of stuff (linens and all), had those big Forever and Ever talks...
Blink your eyes, and it's 9 years and 5 kids later.
Phil's given me many gifts over the years, but only a handful with heartfelt sentiment as powerful as that towel had.
It was an indicator of how sweet and thoughtful he was. That he would think of my needs and do what he could to make sure I was happy. He still does that today. He works hard to provide the necessities as well as the creature comforts for his family.
I'm a very lucky woman. I have the towel to prove it.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Spinning!
A while back I showed off my new wheel, who I have since named "Ashley", but I never did show you what she can do.
The first yarns off my new wheel
The fibre is superwash merino from Yarn Pirate, in the colourway "Culture Club". I split it into 3 equal(ish) parts and spun 3 bobbins up and then started the 3-ply. I ended up with 2 skeins of 3 ply totally 236yards and about 58 yards of 2 ply. It's really soft and lovely.
Because the bobbins on the Ashford are smallish they fill up quickly. I like spinning on it, so for my next project I spun the singles on Ashley and did the plying on Charlotte.
Which resulted in this yumminess
349 yards of merino. The fibre for this was a gift from a friend and it's so pretty. I think this would make really great mittens.
One of the groups I participate in on Ravelry did a swap that coincided with the Tour de Fleece, which is a challenge for spinners to spin every day the Tour de France rides. The swap we did paired spinners with those who don't spin, and the spinners spin up 8oz of fibre into yarn to send to their non-spinner, and in return they get 8oz of fibre. Plus goodies. It's a good swap.
For my partner I asked local artist and belly dancer extraordinaire Uberwench to make something special. I told her I was aiming to spun 4oz of a semi-solid and 4oz of a multi coloured and then ply them together. I told her my partner's colour preferences and sent her off to her dye pots.
This is what she came up with
So pretty...and soft too, a lovely superwash merino.
I spun up the singles on Ashley, resulting in this loveliness
I got busy plying on Charlotte, and the resulting yarns are just amazing
As is typical with my spinning I had way more of one ply than I did of the other, so I divided the leftover multi and got about 189 yards. The 2 colours plied together yielded a whopping 945 yards. Depending on what she knits with it, she could end up up with some pretty subtle striping effect. I love this yarn, it was really hard to send off. But my swap recipient loves it too, and I have been assured that I can get more if I really really want it.
I also started spinning a 16oz lot of a bamboo/merino I bought years ago from The Unique Sheep on Charlotte. I love both wheels, and I am trying to get more spinning time in.
Which is good, because we've just added a fibre-bearing animal to our house hold. Not a sheep though, because even I can admit that would be crazy.
Meet Beatrix MacPoufybottom
She's a 5 month old black english angora. She's super soft and very loveable. I cannot wait to spin her fibre.
Look at those ears though!
No really, look at them!
Awesome.
The first yarns off my new wheel
The fibre is superwash merino from Yarn Pirate, in the colourway "Culture Club". I split it into 3 equal(ish) parts and spun 3 bobbins up and then started the 3-ply. I ended up with 2 skeins of 3 ply totally 236yards and about 58 yards of 2 ply. It's really soft and lovely.
Because the bobbins on the Ashford are smallish they fill up quickly. I like spinning on it, so for my next project I spun the singles on Ashley and did the plying on Charlotte.
Which resulted in this yumminess
349 yards of merino. The fibre for this was a gift from a friend and it's so pretty. I think this would make really great mittens.
One of the groups I participate in on Ravelry did a swap that coincided with the Tour de Fleece, which is a challenge for spinners to spin every day the Tour de France rides. The swap we did paired spinners with those who don't spin, and the spinners spin up 8oz of fibre into yarn to send to their non-spinner, and in return they get 8oz of fibre. Plus goodies. It's a good swap.
For my partner I asked local artist and belly dancer extraordinaire Uberwench to make something special. I told her I was aiming to spun 4oz of a semi-solid and 4oz of a multi coloured and then ply them together. I told her my partner's colour preferences and sent her off to her dye pots.
This is what she came up with
So pretty...and soft too, a lovely superwash merino.
I spun up the singles on Ashley, resulting in this loveliness
I got busy plying on Charlotte, and the resulting yarns are just amazing
As is typical with my spinning I had way more of one ply than I did of the other, so I divided the leftover multi and got about 189 yards. The 2 colours plied together yielded a whopping 945 yards. Depending on what she knits with it, she could end up up with some pretty subtle striping effect. I love this yarn, it was really hard to send off. But my swap recipient loves it too, and I have been assured that I can get more if I really really want it.
I also started spinning a 16oz lot of a bamboo/merino I bought years ago from The Unique Sheep on Charlotte. I love both wheels, and I am trying to get more spinning time in.
Which is good, because we've just added a fibre-bearing animal to our house hold. Not a sheep though, because even I can admit that would be crazy.
Meet Beatrix MacPoufybottom
She's a 5 month old black english angora. She's super soft and very loveable. I cannot wait to spin her fibre.
Look at those ears though!
No really, look at them!
Awesome.
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