Meet Tess

She is here! Meet Tess. She's a Carson Cooper Sabrina, a small folding travel wheel, made specially for me in birds-eye maple and camphor burl. She's a sweet little wheel.

Tess - a Carson Cooper Sabrina folding wheel

Front view

She's going to accompany me up to Michigan in July, when I head to The Spinning Loft in Howell, Michigan for the first level of the Master Spinner Program. We've already had fun getting to know each other. Again, I seem to default to spinning thing on every wheel.

Testing different fibers

Did I mention she's small but mighty?

Spinning on the deck

Despite the current record heat, I've been keeping to The Schedule. Catching up a bit...

Sunday, June 10: 5 mi on the Elliptical Machine of Death in 68:17
Tues., June 12: 5.5 mi in 5:03:37 (5 mi = 57:17)
Wed., June 13: 6 mi in 1:07:53
Fri., June 15: 6 mi in 1:07:50 (5 mi = 56:29)
Sat., June 16: 5.5 mi walk in 1:16:31
Sun., June 17: 5.5 mi run/walk in 1:08:19 (hot)

Tues., June 19: 6 mi in 1:09:58 (still hot)
Wed., June 20: 5 mi on the EMD in 71:51
Fri., June 22: 6 mi in 1:09:11 (5 mi = 57:03) ... still slowing down
Sat., June 23: 6.2 mi in 1:13:59 (5 mi = 59:30) ... still wfhot
Sun., June 24: 5.3 mi walk in 1:14:31

Tues.: 6 mi in 1:05:56 (5 mi = 55:10)
Wed.: 6 mi in 1:10:17
Fri.: 5.6 mi in 1:04:23

Muddling Through

More fun at the lathe... I made some muddlers (those things you use to smash the heck out mint, in search of the perfect mojito).  And, while I was down there, I had a try at my first spindle. This one is a supported spindle, is 11" long, and weighs 27.5gm.

... so now I guess I need to get better at my supported-spindling.

All in blue mahoe wood from Puerto Rico:

Muddler, spindle, muddler

Spindle, muddler, muddler

Spindle!

Why I kept wanting to type "Mulder", as in X-Files, I have no idea.

Catching up on that avoiding-the-fat thing... running. I'm quite peeved that I'm getting slower rather than faster. So today I went out and walked - as in, WALKED - my Carondolet Park route. More muscle-tired, less overall-tired, which was fine since I spent the afternoon standing in front of the lathe. The summary since last time:

Tuesday, May 29: 5.5 mi in 1:03:22 (5 mi = 56:29)
Wed., May 30: 5.6 mi in ?? (watch fuckup)
Friday, June 1: 6 mi in 1:07:08 (5 mi = 56:03)
Sat., June 2: 6.2 mi in 1:11:21  (5 mi = 57:49)
Sun., June 3: did a 5.5mi run at CCL, then kayaked another 4 mi around the lake

Tue: 6 mi in 1:08:12 (5 mi = 56:44)
Wed: 5.5 mi in 1:03:30 (5 mi = 57:32)
Fri: 5.5 mi in 1:02:49 (5 mi = 57:01)
Sat: 6.25 mi power-walk in 1:24:55