My Epic Elephant Task

When I was working in the accounting department with a UK finance company, the finance director sent the whole department for training in Time Management. That was the first time I came across the term - an “elephant task”. An elephant task, our trainer told us, is a task that is so big, so overwhelming, involves so much effort and time, and very often it is something we want to avoid…so we keep putting it off. But it is also something that must be done if we stand any chance of achieving our goals.

Among my craft projects, I have three projects that are of the elephant size category: a patchwork, a table cloth and a spider wrap.

I first saw the spider pattern back in the 80's. It was far too complicated, and the size of the projcet was too overwhelming, so I carefully removed it from the magazine and safely stored it away…I thought one day.After I had purchased my first spinning wheel I started spinning the yarn required for this project. I showed the pattern to my husband but realised he doesn’t like spiders at all. So I gave up the bed cover but thought a spider shawl would still be nice. Over the years I kept spinning the yarn for the spider wrap, but somehow I always ended up using the yarn for something else.

It’s like I have a mental block, the shawl has become such a big elephant task, I have been putting it off and putting it off….well no more. May this year, I cast on the spider wrap. Hurrah! I have just finished my first spider. If I finish this in 2009 I might even enter it into the “Grand Prize - Epic FO” challenge. On Ravelry the finish-or-frog-it group issued a year-long challenge where you pick a project that you simply can’t frog, but that you’ve ignored for too long. This is a challenging pattern that requires dedication, concentration and determination.

Well, my spider wrap is certainly epic but not so daunting anymore. I am off to do some spinning now for 8 more spiders.

Firing up the Dye Pot

I have been playing with fibre this morning. I divided a Dorset sheep fleece into three batches and dyed each batch with a different colour.

The weather has been so hot lately, all the fleeces dried in no time under the Florida sun.

Carder Drum Holder

I was tidying up my spinning stuff and realised that I still don’t have a proper container to store the second drum for my carder. These are expensive items and I should really take better care of them. So, off I went to the nearest Michael’s craft shop, and I came home with this.
It is a sliding book shelf at a costly sum of $4.19 :) I used a jig-saw to cut two notches at the book shelf ends and it turns out to be a perfect holder for the spare drum.

Weighing Scale

I want some green and red yarn for my next project; don’t have any in my stash, so it’s time to do some dyeing. I weighed what I got left of a Dorset fleece, about 12 oz.

I thought I will show you the weighing scale I use: the Rapala Digital Fishing Scale.

Fishermen use these to weigh their catch. I use mine to weigh my fleeces, yarn, and big parcels…basically anything that is too big or bulky for my kitchen digital scale to handle, I just put them in a bag and hook it up. Mine has a 50lb capacity.

I first saw the hand-spinners in Wales UK using an old portable hook scale to weigh a whole fleece. It was a small piece of farm equipment. They normally used it to weigh bags of animal feed.

This fishing scale is much better. It is digital and is very accurate. Anyway, just thought I would share this with you.

Brown and White Yarn

I have nearly finished all the half-done knitting and crochet projects now. The only outstanding half-done is a little girl’s pink cardigan. I was ready to knit the band when I realised I didn’t have a circular 5mm knitting needles. I have ordered it on-line, but it is on back order, so I have to wait a week or two before I could work on it again.

I took a look at my other half-done projects: a cross-stitch lilac fairy, a patch-work quilt, and some brown and white yarn. It has been a while since I last used my spinning wheels, so I gave the wheels a good clean and then oiled them up.
Found some brown and white fleeces in my stash.

And… this morning I have two skeins of brown and white yarn. Just washed them and hanged them out to dry.