theyellowhobbit

Today in Comparative Religious Ethics class our professor lectured on the life of Gandhi.¹ She mentioned his campaign to liberate India and his strategy of boycotting everything British. He tried to get all the Indian elites to stop buying British clothing, and encouraged people to spin their own yarn to weave their own clothes. Many elites were not happy about this, since spinning is long and hard and time-consuming. The professor gave the analogy that it would be like professors here spinning their own yarn.

When she brought up the spinning, I squeed, and after class I showed her my drop spindle, which was conveniently in my backpack. She said that if I really wanted to do it, I should have a wheel. I replied that I did have a wheel, at home. She said I should bring it into section for a demonstration.² She also said that she once was somewhere where they tried to teach her how to spin, and she "was too much of a klutz." And she was impressed by the fact that I could spin.

( a picture of the spindle and the silk roving, for fun )

It's actually more full of yarn now, since this was pre-elections, and I did an insane amount of spinning at the HRSFA elections. And the coloring isn't accurate. And I know that the wheel would be quicker, but this way I can work on it outside of the house. If you want the yarn in the very near future, crewgrrl, I can spin up the rest of it on the wheel, and go back to spinning scandalous red wool on my drop spindle.

Speaking of spinning, hatam_soferet, your scarf is currently around 18" long and is 8" wide in some parts, though since the yarn is uneven, there are some parts that are thinner and some parts that are thicker. Actually, measuring it against an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper, I think even the thinner part is around 8" wide which means the wider part is around 9". And I just spun up and plied the second skein of yarn and I'm working on the third now. So if I try very hard I could finish by this week or next week.

So two points for me. Having a +2 intelligence bonus and full rank in craft (weaving/spinning/knitting) is definitely useful. And I totally rolled a natural 20.

¹"Gandhi" is the correct spelling, as "Ghandi" means "the smelly one"
²Technically a lendrum DT is a transportable folding wheel, but when you lack a car, this is not so practical. Plus, my section falls on a day where I have other classes and am on campus all day running around in different directions. Carrying a lendrum DT on my back, in addition to a backpack, is a recipe for disaster. But maybe she meant my drop spindle, which is perfectly doable.

I had a dream last night, in which I was in RI on Friday, right before Shabbat, driving around the East Side of Providence with my mom.

Mom: Rachel, where am I taking you for shabbas?
Me: That's a very good question. I don't know.
Mom: You don't know?!

So I made a bunch of frantic phone calls within the 18 minutes and ended up at the Yavners. They had a weird breakfast meal for Friday night dinner.

*Note to self, arrange the Shabbats of spring break before that Friday afternoon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had a midterm in primates and I think I did decently, though there were a few questions I messed up on. But it was a section that wasn't worth so many points so it was ok.

I also tried biking in the snow today. Bad idea. The bike lanes are not plowed, so there are 2 options- bike in the street or bike on the sidewalk. The street has the risk of cars. The sidewalk isn't completely shoveled, and has crazy pedestrians who can't walk in a straight line.

I also biked through actual snow at one point, and almost lost control of the bike.

I survived, barely. Perhaps because of this and Saturday night I should Bensch Gomel on Shabbat. I'll ask Seif.

Rachel:1
Snow:0