The Gates of Sleep

A new endeavor for me today...learning to spin with a drop spindle. After a two hour class I managed to produce about 10g of not too bad looking worsted weight yarn. It is pretty over spun though since there really isn't enough of it to bother plying.

Sadly the shop's spindle delivery was late so I came home with some gorgeous Mountain Colors roving and nothing to spin it on so I guess a trip back in a day or two is a must. I'm excited to try and spin enough of something to knit with.

The picture doesn't do the colors justice. It is an assortment of blues, from a shade just this side of teal that deepens almost to indigo, then for contrast there is rich bronze.

The class was late in the evening and on a sleepy walk back to the car with my family, who was kind enough to come along for the drive, we saw tiny little bats just coming out for the night. They were delightful to watch chasing back and forth across the street. A perfect twilight end to a great experience.

Spindles always remind me of Sleeping Beauty. So to continue exploring modern fairy tales I'd like to share a series I'm currently re-reading, The Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey. The second book in the series, The Gates of Sleep, is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story. It is a wonderful series that features heroines that are very modern yet believable women for their time (1900s). I'm hoping that another one will come out in the future.

The artwork pictured is a drawing of Mrs. William Morris from 1870 by Rossetti. I think she makes a wonderful Sleeping Beauty.