Pictures

Took some pictures last night of the two skeins I spun and described in yesterday's post.


The alpaca/suri alpaca skein for my Aunt.


The crazy mish-mash skein I made from my friend's leftover singles :)

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

I'm in such a good mood today.....how can I not be when I picked this up on Saturday morning!


I can't believe I actually FINALLY have a spinning wheel in my house!!! I am borrowing/ renting it from a friend and I think I am going to buy my own when I get my tax returns!


This is my first bobbin of wool singles on the wheel. It's a bit uneven, but it's different than a spindle, so it's going to take me awhile to get the drafting down pat. I LOVE pedaling it, though...definately a single treadle gal :P


My first two-ply yarn completely spun and plied on the wheel :) I LOVE it! It's about 80 yards...I can't wait to knit something up with it...or maybe it will become part of my brown wrap I'm working on :) Think I filled that bobbin up enough? LOL


Then, I cheated just a LITTLE bit and used the two brown bobbins of singles I had left over and plied them with a thin grey wool my friend had left on another bobbin to make this amazing three-ply yarn :D I have 58 yards of it and I love it so much! The grey is very subtle, but it just gives it the most interesting movement to the yarn :) So...I didn't spin one of the singles, but I spun the other two and I plied it...that's pretty close to being all mine :P

This was all done on Saturday afternoon, a few hours after I picked up the wheel in SF. Yesterday (Sunday), I made a totally awesome fun skein of yarn from all the various leftovers my friend left on the bobbins she sent with the wheel. I don't have a picture yet, but it's white and brown and dark brown and has a bit of pink silk winding through it and oh gosh, it's just such a fun skein. I know I didn't make it, just plied it, but I don't care...it's fun!

Then, yesterday I also spun some light brown suri alpaca on the wheel (oh my gosh, what a dream to spin!!!) and then plied it with the dark brown alpaca I spun on my spindle, measured it (30 yards) and skeined it. It's my Aunt Helen's christmas present...just a little bit late, but I know she's gonna love it! It's not a ton, yardage wise, but she can make some little something with it...the cuffs on a sweater, a pocket, something like that :)

I am SO IN LOVE with this wheel spinning! *happy spinnng dance*

Yarn porn

Two recent yarn acquisitions....I just want to pounce into a pile of it all!


This is some delicious thin alpaca yarn I won on eBay. I got 8 skeins. It's called "Indiecita" and it's all-natural, not dyed. It's a very orangy brown with some greenish tan brown plied in with it. Pure heaven. I have a lot of it, so I need to come up with something extra good to make with it!



This is my Knit Picks order I was cheering about below :) The squat green and orange skeins are alpaca and silk (70%/30%, I believe). Super soft, delicious stuff, it's called Andien Silk. I have two skeins of each, but I couldn't find the second orange for the photo shoot :P The larger skein of orange and green are both Superwashed wool and nylon. I bought it to maybe make socks out of...green and orange striped socks :D The three stripey skeins are sock yarn called "Dancing" in the colorway "Two-Step," which is cotton, wool, nylon and elastic. It's a lot of oranges and greens and blues and I think it's gonna make some amazing, self-striping socks :)

Finally...how am I gonna make the socks, you might ask? Well, using the Magic Loop method, of course :D My sweetie got my the booklet on how to do it for Christmas, so I am all set to go!

Crafty update

Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! You're as welcome as can be!

I got my yarn from Knit Picks and it's yummy and delicious and I have to take a picture soon to share :D

*soft alpaca love*

I finished my mother's lace scarf for Christmas and blocked it (my first time blocking something!!!) and it's wrapped up and ready to go. I forgot to take a picture of it before wrapping, so I'll have to take one when she opens it. I sur ehope she loves it!

I'm also knitting a dishcloth with the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon on it for my Aunt who is in remission from Breast Cancer. I'm almost half way done and expect to finish it tonight :) I am having weird ladder issues when I change from purl to knit for the ribbon part. Ah well, I'm hoping it will come out in the washing/blocking :)

Yay! Holidays!

Other good news: A friend of mine is lending me an Ashford Traditional spinning wheel!!!! I am just gushing with excitement to have a wheel in my home to practice with and try out to see if I want to buy one. I'm getting a large tax return this year (I think) and I would love to spend some of it on a wheel, if I decide I like using one and can justify the purchase :)

Still left to do for Christmas knitting:

1) Finish the dishcloth
2) Finish spinning the alpaca yarn for my Aunt Helen.
3) Knit a nose cozy as a joke gift for my Butch :) :P

I can do it! I have Thurs and Fri off, so I have a 5 day weekend and the presents for my Aunts won't be given until the week after Christmas sometime anyway...so I can do it!

*feeling like the little engine that could*

Apparently, I don't have enough yarn :P

I want to make these amazing cabled fingerless mittens...here's the pattern. However, I wasn't sure if I liked the yarn she made them in. I've also been wanting to try some of Knit Picks yarn because I love their patterns and needles and well...I just wanted to try some :) I found some alpaca blend yarn in a similar weight and bought 4 skeins....and some closeout sock yarn for when I start trying to make socks :)

7 new skeins of yarn on it's way to me! Yay!!!!

Yarn = love.

Picture catch-up :)

I realized I never posted a picture of my Fiber Arts center! It is a bit different from these pictures now, but you'll get the idea :) Basically, that messy shelf in the middle is now neat and tidy in a wooden tray and the fiber to spin is in plastic zippered bags all uniform and matching. Still need to hang the spindles from that shelf, but I got cup hooks a bit too big and haven't taken then back to OSH yet to get the right size :)



I LOVE my fiber arts center...did you notice that the lower shelves holding my yarn pull out?!



I also realized I never posted a picture of the cables purse complete, with lining and handles attached, so here you go :) I think it turned out AMAZING!



*Happy crafty beyatch dance*

dreaming of needles

Last night, I dreampt that I got an email from a woman saying that an elderly lady died in the house that this woman owned and she was a knitter. If I wanted any of her needles or yarn, I should come over and go through it all.

I went over and was rummaging around and ended up leaving with gosh, close to 100 wooden and metal needles, straights and circulars. Not much yarn, though...it was almost all fun fur *dread shiver* but I did snag this awesome skein of soft furry orange and rusty red yarn to add to the needles :D

Wonder what it means when you dream about knitting and knitting stuff? That you need to be knitting more? Perhaps....