Sunday, September 30, 2007

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you all for the compliments about my new hair! I am really enjoying it, although the first night, I washed my hair and went to bed with it wet (as I've always done), and woke up with a head full of Shirley Temple ringlets. Turns out I have curly hair. Who knew? I haven't quite figured out the blow-drying thing, so I have yet to get it looking much like the stylist did, but it still looks pretty good, as long as I manage to straighten out some of the curl.

There seems to be a rash of birthdays around blogland lately, at least among the blogs I read. Today is mine. Last night, the darling husband had a dinner at our house for me. (The dear man worked his handsome butt off, too. I think he spent the entire day in the kitchen--after coaching Pee Wee football at 8:00 am.) My parents came, and our oldest and his girlfriend drove down from college, and some friends also joined us. The meal was lovely and the company was fabulous--and my sofas arrived before the guests! They turned out exactly as I had pictured and I'm very happy with them. (Of course I didn't let anyone sit on them, so we don't know whether they're still as comfortable as they used to be.) But the real news is my husband's gift to me. The spinning wheel that I bought last month was supposed to be my birthday present, so I wasn't expecting anything; the wheel was a great gift. But hubby (who's really racking up those bonus points lately), surprised me with these:

For you non-spinners, these are really, really cool. That odd looking thing with the arms is called a Woolee Winder. The other things are bobbins for the Woolee Winder. The WW, as I'm going to call it, replaces the flyer on a spinning wheel. Why? Well, look at the flyer.

See those little hooks? Those little hooks guide the yarn onto the bobbin. You start by looping the yarn onto the first hook. Then, as each section of the bobbin fills with yarn, you have to stop and move the yarn to the next hook, then resume spinning. This may not seem like a big deal, but as you get faster at spinning, and especially when you're plying (which goes much faster and takes up more space per yard on the bobbin), it starts to get pretty annoying to keep stopping to move the yarn. Each time you stop, you have to let go of the fiber, which untwists a little and changes your tension and thickness and generally makes it harder to get a nice, smooth, even yarn.

Enter the WW. See how there's only one hook and some gears? Those gears cause the hook to move from side to side along the bobbin, all by itself. This means the yarn winds onto the bobbin back and forth, without the spinner ever having to stop and move the yarn from one hook to another. I've been coveting one of these for a while--actually, since I got the wheel and figured out how it worked (and that the hook thing was kind of a pain). But they're not really necessary, and they're expensive. In fact, I think the WW and the bobbins--the WW requires its own, special bobbins, because they have to have gears on the ends to work--cost about as much as the wheel. So this was a little luxury that I was never expecting to own.

But what makes it not merely a great gift but a truly spectacular one is the fact that my husband, who is iffy on the whole subject of my little fiber obsession, actually knew what a Woolee Winder was, and that I wanted one! I did not ask for this item. I think I mentioned that such a thing exists, but I certainly didn't point him in the right direction. And folks--he got the right model for my wheel, which means he also knows what type of wheel I have! This is way above and beyond the call of husbandly duty, even for my husband, who raises the whole husband thing to something of an art form. It even beats the ball winder and swift he got me for Christmas last year.

The Icarus Countdown: 1 school meeting+1 music lesson+1 football game+ 1 karate class=7 rows. 29 days and 24 rows left to go!

23 comments:

Gail said...

Happy Birthday! Your hubby is so great to get you something that you really wanted. My dad would have done something like buy my mom knives or a new vacuum on her birthday. I told my BF that if he ever does that he gets nail polish on his. LOL.

knottykitty said...

Happy, happy birthday! Sounds like it was a fabulous day. And what a great hubby to know all of those things you wanted without you asking---shows he actually listens to you! My husband always teases me by asking if I want some kitchen appliance for my birthday...at least, I think he's teasing! LOL! Glad your day was great!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday! Your hubby is awesome to get you such a great gift. I'll be interested to see how you like it, because I have the same wheel, and have been considering a Woolee Winder, but the cost is holding me back. If it's really fabulous, though, I'll splurge.

Tammy said...

Happy Birthday! And 3 cheers for you husband... that was very thoughtful!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday!!!! Did you have carrot cake? Glad to know you had such a wonderful party.

marit said...

Happy Birthday:-)

Anonymous said...

Hope you had a great bday!! Your husband definitely goes to the top of the class.

You have a kid in college??!?!

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Two words: styling products. You need an arsenal of awesome styling products and you will REALLY love your new hair!!

Happy Birthday, btw!

sophanne said...

Happy Birthday Blog Friend

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! I am not a product person when it comes to hair and makeup, but I love the ceramic flat iron I got. I don't have outright curls, but the bit of wave I have certainly makes it worth the 15 minutes it takes to use it in the morning.

And your husband ROCKS!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday!!!

knitwitmama said...

Happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear Yarnhog
happy birthday to you.
one can never get enough good birthday wishes. What a great day, and a thoughtful husband. They are rare. Mine does similar things, and my friends are jealous. The best is that he brings me coffee to wake up every morning. He says it is really for his benefit, but I love it. Happy Day to you.
Jennie

...Sarah said...

What a lovely man. He took an interest in what you do, paid at least enough attention to you to remember the model or at least where you bought the spinner, and he slaved in a kitchen for you. That is impressive. Have a wonderful Birthday evening!

Olga said...

Happy Happy day to you! May the coming year be blessed and prosperous, with knitting and such natch!!!!!

Sharon said...

Wow, I am so impressed that your husband went and got you that present! He really had to know his stuff to get just the right thing! Can we clone him? (I tried several times to explain the phenomenon of color pooling with hand-dyed yarns to Jason, but to no avail, he still doesn't get it. But that's OK, he's very sweet about my yarn obsession and never complains about it.)

Sending along birthday wishes, too!

a friend to knit with said...

what a fantastic hubby!
happy birthday...sounds like it was great!

MelissaKnits said...

what a man!! Happy Birthday!!

I have a woolee winder that I got at a junk shop in a huge pile of fiber stuff including two weaving benches and really a whack load of very cool stuff. It was for a Louet. But we didn't have a Louet. Then someone gave us one. So now we've got a working, usable woolee winder (somewhere in this chaos we call home) and a kid who prefers her standard Louet bobbins and won't use it.

Angelika said...

Happy belated Birthday and what a great one it was. Don't you love it when the husbands show interest in your hobby. What that would also make me a little suspicious. Does he want something?

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! What a great DH! He deserves mega brownie points for the WW.

Anonymous said...

Now I want to spin too. Sounds like a great way to increase my stash. For my last birthday, my husband arranged for everyone to bring me wool!!! Everyone did (except one friend who didn't believe him).

Karen said...

Happy Birthday! I hope it was the best one ever.

Hubby did good!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! And your hubby sounds like a real peach. (I've got one too - ain't it wunnerful?) You had quite the week last week - new toys, new hair, new furniture - oh my! Hope your new year remains as wonderful as it began.

Romi said...

Woooooooo! Happy belated birthday!!!! :D

btw, I lost your email address, so I couldn't write to tell you how much I *loved* your comment on my musing! Awesome. What a cool way to look at it. :)