Wyoming Life: the Beginning

Hello from Wyoming!
After a few days of acclimation to the elevation here in Laramie, Wyoming, I am beginning to settle.
I come from Buffalo, New York; I've traveled a little and dreamed of seeing a lot. Thanks to my wonderful partner, Joe, I'm seeing (and living) in the West. Joe is working here and invited me to join him, which I have.
The drive out here, in our little car, was long (a good 22 hours to be exact). I remember the first part not being too exciting, but after I woke from my first, or second nap, we were on the other side of Ohio. That part of the drive didn't seem too much different from Buffalo. Then night fell.
We continued driving, past the Ohio border and into, what it seemed to me, to be the great wilderness and the frightening unknown.
I remember driving over the Mississippi River. It was at night so the view wasn't much, but the feeling that I have never been this far west in my life left me feeling new. I can't say as though it was a southern style baptism in the Mississippi, but it was something. We didn't stop, we kept going.
Night continued to grow, and so did the sky. At some point we switched driving and it was my turn. Just for the record, we switched off driving and napping (or attempting to nap) every 4 to 5 hours. It was in Iowa that I remember looking out the car window and realizing the sky was enormous, omnipresent, and dark, but filled with more stars than I had ever seen in my whole life. That was just the first of many scenes that my iPhone just couldn't capture with justice.
Finally we switched again. We both had to go to the bathroom and get caffeine and the car need gas, so we stopped at this little gas station off the side of the road somewhere in Nebraska. I had never felt air like that before; it was cold and crisp, yet fresh and revitalizing. Once we got and did what we needed back in the car we went and on we continued.
Daylight was coming up behind us and the world was turning into something I had never seen before, desert and plains. Cows kept appearing and empty corn fields were their feeding grounds. After a near disaster with a deer and some other cars we began to really climb elevation. The earth began to get grass covered hills, and then rock formations began to come up out of them, and from there I thought the mountains began.
It wasn't until we got close to the Wyoming border that the rock formations I has seen were little more than that and that the earth was hiding the mountains behind the clouds in the far distant. And then, ascending from the horizon came the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I had never seen snow capped mountains before. Joe kept snickering at me every time I said "wow" at each truly new wonder I saw.
I was a little nervous when we stopped for gas at a station in Cheyenne. For those of you who know me, let's just say I don't blend in, so I was worried being, basically, dropped into the West. Prior to moving out here I had to reassure my mother, through apprehension of my own, that all would be fine. She, of course, needed to bring up Matthew Shepard. I told her everything would be fine, that things have changed over the past 18 years, however I had a production of The Laramie Project in my mind from college. Success comes from strength, and I knew that if I was strong in my moment of fear that I would be successful.
And now, on the fifth of January I am, nearly, completely settled in Laramie, Wyoming.
Now I'm sure you're wondering where's the fiber talk?
I got a Schacht Sidekick recently. In moving, I knew that space was a concern and the two Ashford wheels that I had were not compact, so goodbye Ashford, which I loved, and hello Schacht, which I'm getting used to. With the Sidekick I got the super fast whorl for lace spinning and for cotton. Yesterday I spent a while spinning cotton samples that I purchased from a friend who was de-stashing. The first that I spun was ginned cotton. Ginned cotton, or cotton lint, is raw cotton from the gin. It has the seed removed and maybe a little vegetable matter removed. I took it to a pair of carders that I have, not the 200 point carders that are advised in the Cotton issue of Ply, but relatively dense ones. This gave me a more rustic thread, with lumps, bumps, and everything in between. In the same picture I also have organic green cotton sliver that I spun as well.

Left to right: Ginned Sea Island Cotton, Organic Green Cotton Sliver. Samples from Cotton Clouds.

Last night, as I'm laying in bed, I think of the snow outside. The snow here in Laramie is nothing like the snow in Buffalo. It's like sand here, or powdered sugar. It's so cold here, and dry, it doesn't melt, it just blows around. Spinning this cotton, and the recent snowfall made me think of knitting, be prepared for some snow inspired knits soon!

Coming up, a very rough draft for a cowl. Feel free to knit it, if you can figure out the directions, and show me what you make! Happy knitting, crocheting, weaving, spinning, Happy hand crafts everyone!

B