Spinning Away - Opus I

I am still so excited that I can hardly contain mysef. I spun and spun and then all of a sudden...I could do it. It's coming out nice and even, I can control the flow, my bobbin is happy. The top one is the second bobbin, much more even than the bottom. I had issues with starting and stopping and the flyer going backwards on that one but it's ok. All in good time, my dear, all in good time...
Here's Opus I. It's not as ratty as that picture, that's just because I didn't tie it as nicely as I could have. It's about 112 yards and I still have some yarn on bobbin 2 that I can ply onto itself for another 20 or 30 yards. I am tickled pink. I mean..yellow. I mean, full of GLEE!Here it is upclose. Nice? I then gave it a bath and hung it to dry with a little weight to set the twist.





Ok, ok, let's take one more look at the bobbin, nice and close. <glowing like a new mommy>

Must see if my BFF is up in VT today and feels like stopping at Webs on her way home to select some more roving for me. I'm going through withdrawal now.

Gotta go and check on my yarn! Happy knitting and happy spinning.

I Went, I Saw, I Spun!

Last night I had the pleasure of joining the Spinning Study Group of Long Island. The meetings are held at the Brush Barn, a historical site in Smithtown, NY. This is an old building set in the middle of a populated suburban town. It took me 10 minutes of driving back and forth on the busy main drag to find where to turn into the driveway. It's located well off the street behind an old tavern. This is not close to my home but it is only 4 or 5 miles from my job so attending these meetings will be a snap as they start at 6:30. Some members were already there and settled when I arrived at 6:40. (I was so excited I could barely contain myself.)

I had a great time! I was able to rent a wheel and meet some really lovely people who helped me get started. I only had a few moments to snap a few pictures because I was so excited that I was spinning away on a wheel! Hurray! This is the wheel I was fortunate enough to rent. It's an Ashford Traditional, single treadle. There were five new members and they had five wheels rented out. Wow! Must be growing even more in popularity. I guess I will have to go wheel shopping. Little DD was so excited when she saw the wheel. She knew what it was from Rhinebeck and Sleeping Beauty. I told her that I just borrowed it to try out, that it wasn't mine to keep. I told her that they're expensive and I couldn't buy one for a few months. She said that that isn't a problem, "Why don't you just ask Santa Claus to bring you one? You could put it on your Christmas List, even though it would be silly for a grown up to get a present you could try." She was so sincere and so cute! Naturally, she wants to spin, too. Back in the olden days they probably did learn to spin young. I'll have to research this....(what did we do before we had Google?) Click here for more info and you'll know all you wanted to know about being a Spinster.

Here's some of the other wheels. There were wheels of all types there but it seems the wheel of choice was the upright double treadle. After doing this a bit, I think that I would prefer to have a double but I'll try one out before I buy anything.

I was also lucky enough to sit between two expert spinners who were able to help me get started and before I knew it, I was well on my way. I spun this entire bobbin at the meeting.

It was so exciting. (I think it was number four on my list of most exciting things. Birth of children are tied for number 1 followed closely by knitting my first sock and then this....sad, isn't it? Ok, maybe number 5. Marrying DH has to be in there, too.) During the break, I was able to have a chat with my friend, ChristineA. She wasn't spinning. She was knitting. She was knitting a hat. She was knitting Koolhaas by Jared Flood. I laughed and pulled mine out of the bag. We were knitting the same hat! Being we were in the light instead of the cave where I usually knit, we saw that I am not following the pattern correctly. My hat swirls instead of having honeycombs but it is still very nice. Hmmnn...I am not cabling without the needle correctly. Being I'm on the last repeat, I will not be taking this out. However, I plan on knitting it again correctly. Remember how many times I don't practice what I preach? Do not knit tired or inthe dark. Maybe I'll do this hat again...maybe even use my own handspun!

This morning, I wound it up into a ball so I could admire its thick and thinness. Sometimes, I was doing that intentionally. I was experimenting and practicing.

I have some more roving at home and I will attempt to try this again today on my own if I feel better.

Anyway, I haven't been feeling all that well for a few days now and the lack of heat in this place on a 32 degree night gave me a chill that I just can't shake. I was up coughing and have that burning bronchial feeling so I thought it best to stay home. I need to be rested up and better for another busy weekend as well as a trip to the city on Monday to attend a reunion party with former co-workers.

I am running to the store to purchase a chicken and soup greens so that I can make a nice big pot of soup. All of us are under the weather a bit so now is a good time for this.

Happy knitting and happy spinning to all!

Eye Candy Friday - Fall Edition

Just some nice leave pictures for today!

Still knitting......!

November Knitting Rut

I'm in a rut.

Can't knit when in a rut.

What happened, you ask? Well, sometimes, there is just too much on my plate. I had to clean the house. Now I have the upstairs in a somewhat acceptable order, bathroom is clean, everyone's clothes are put away, rooms are mostly tidy. Downstairs kitchen is today's project, being I have the day off from work. I would love for my house to look like a model house. I have neighbors that have houses like that. Why do I have so much clutter? Where do they put their toys?

Yesterday, I spent the day balancing my checkbook. What happened, you ask? Well, back in November of 2007, I was off. I neglected to get around to balancing it for ... uh...awhile. I found the error, which was due to a store transaction that I logged correctly that the cashier messed up. I then proceeded to go through a year's worth of statements and bring everything up to date. Amazing. To the penny. Thank you, Quicken.

So, upstairs and finances somewhat in order, I sat down to knit. I remembered that I had a knitting accident the other day while working on my slipped stitch rib sock. The Harmony US 1.5 snapped. Knitpicks is sending me another, along with a new cable which also broke (40") and a new metal DPN, also size 1.5 which has a broken tip. Good customer service, no!? Being a sport, I picked up two skeins of that Kettle Dyed Essentials in Ivy, green of course. I can't wait. It's on its way.

I decided to make DH a hat, being he placed his order for one. He wants Jared Flood's Koolhaas. This is a gorgeous hat and is suitable for a male or female. So, I'm going to make him one. I wanted to use my lucious STR Woobu....one of my Rhinebeck souvenirs....

However, it won't work. The yarn is just too skinny to get the right gauge, the hat will be too lose and airy. I think I'll use Cascade 220. While I'm out today, I will pick some up.

So, I can't work on my little sockie until my needle arrives. Although, I do have a 1.5 needle in metal, I'm afraid that I knit tighter with it and the gauge won't match. So, I'll wait. Also, I messed up the front of the shawl collar pullover, so I have to ripit, ripit, ripit and reknit it. I can do that today while the kids are out of the house. Stupid directions counts rows instead of gauge so my front and back aren't the same. I have to fix the entire collar shaping on the front to match the back. Tix me off. I'm home today and I'm telecommuting tomorrow so I can stay up late and at least get that done if I can psyche myself up for it. So, sock and sweater are on hiatus. That's the cause of the rut.

For the same reason that I can't clean my kitchen, I can't finish my projects. Can you say procrastination?

Time to start the hat...yeah, that's what I need. Another thing to do!