We’re back on track now. My darling feels better. I just had a 2 night writing quarantine where plenty of writing was accomplished. Things at the shop are becoming more organized and the fleeces we need for classes for both me and Deb Robson are in the process of being chosen and scoured.
This coming weekend the Spinning Loft will be open on both Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to 4PM. Keep reading for all of the details!
But first. Ryan has a new hat. I knit this the last day Lou was in the hospital because I had finally realized I couldn’t think about working.
It’s a singles yarn that was about a worsted weight. I think that’s right because I knit the hat on size 5 needles and I am a very loose knitter. Patterns that call for size 7 needles usually mean size 5 for me.
The fiber is Falkland I think. It was dyed by Amy King and may even have been a club fiber. I love her dyeing and Ryan does too!
The pattern was just a plain old pattern. Cast on some stitches and knit a while then decrease till there are only a few stitches left. Pull those stitches together and like magic! it’s a hat.
Also, today, patience was rewarded. Well, the thing was delivered yesterday but I was in seclusion so I did’t get to look until today.
It’s a Watson Martha which is an accelerated wheel. Andrew Watson builds a custom box to ship his wheels in.
Isn’t it fabulous? I think I’m going to pain the box and use it for a shop fiber container.
I took off the front panel and here’s what was inside. Beautifully packaged and also tied down with twine so nothing moved in the trip from Canada.
Little by little she was revealed and the assembly happened with only a tiny bit of confusion and question marks floating over my head.
And here she’s ready for her first spin. I was a little nervous. She’s fast. Faster than anything I’ve ever spun on. I need to get the ratios from Andrew but I did just sit and treadle for a bit.
That brass plaque makes me smile:-)
Each bobbin has a little slot so that when taking a bobbin off the wheel the end of the yarn can have a little place to stay and not get lost.
This is the large whorl end of the bobbin with the small flyer whorl. See? Fast!
This shows the small whorl end of the bobbin! I’m gonna try that one out tomorrow night…after the Pinewood Derby.
Just a photo of the other whorl on he little storage spot as well as three bobbins on a built in yarn admiration device.
And here she is with a few of her friends. The lady behind her is the Vermont wheel that came to stay a short time ago. She’s gorgeous too. And on the left is the Jensen 24″ Tall Castle Wheel. My favorite of the Jensens I have.
Hunger Statistics Facts About Hunger In Metro Detroit & Michigan
- When people in the U.S. speak of hunger, they define hunger as an inability to obtain sufficient food for their households. People skip meals, cut back on the quality or quantity of meals, and may potentially suffer malnutrition over time.
- In Macomb, Oakland and Wayne Counties, one in five children live in poverty. In the tri-county area 500,000 people including nearly 200,000 children, live in poverty.
- Four million households in Michigan live at risk of hunger.
- Michigan lost one million jobs over the past decade. A large share of the jobs lost once resided here in Southeast Michigan. Those lost jobs were high- and middle-wage lower-education jobs in lower-education industries. It is unlikely these jobs will ever return.
- According to Feeding America’s National Hunger study, the number of individual emergency food recipients who receive food each week in Southeast Michigan grew by over 78%. [2006: 56,700. 2010: 101,200]
- In Forgotten Harvest’s 2010 annual survey of the metro Detroit emergency food providers it serves, agencies informed us:
- 19% turned away people–Not enough food was available for distribution.
- 84% said the numbers of people seeking help has increased dramatically.
- 79% said they could distribute more food if it was available.
Facts About Hunger In America
- In 2009, in response to the question, “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”
- 18.5 % of people in the U.S. said “Yes.”
- Nearly 1 in 4 households with children said, “Yes.”
- U.S. Department of Agriculture study on food insecurity:(2008)
- 49 million people experienced food insecurity.
- 1 in 6 across the nation face hunger including 17 million children.
- 1 in 4 children in the U.S. faced hunger or food insecurity in 2008.
- Today, many of the people receiving emergency food are new to dire financial circumstances. They are the “The New Face of Hunger”. According to the
- Feeding America “Hunger in America 2010” study:
- Nearly 8% of the clients had been unemployed for less than three months. Over 17% of the clients previously held or currently held professional or managerial positions.
I think Forgotten Harvest is a great charity and I love keeping the money right here in Michigan.
