I’ve Created a Monster

Oh boy do I love spinning! I fear I may be going the route of Bockstark Spins and my poor pair of Kate socks will dangle forever on the needles and then my stash will start to hate me from neglect. I love how fast you can whip through a hunk of roving, how time just disappears and all you hear is the whirl of the wheel.

My first attempt was horrible.

I pretty much made overspun novelty yarn.

Then I worked on some roving I dyed with the Crocus Socks colors. That went much better as I pre-drafted a bit more, slowed down my treadling action and changed the drive band thingy to another groove. I did two spools. I want to try plying this weekend.

I spun this bobbin yesterday. It’s more roving I dyed up. I did about half the roving hunk. I want to ply this one too.

I ordered some roving from Spunky Eclectic. I really didn’t care what it was. I need more stuff to spin! Then Yarn Pirate did an update with roving. Oh how I am enjoying discovering new fiber. I’m noticing there aren’t as many hand dyed roving sites as there are sock yarns. It’s kinda sad in a way. Or are those sites just hiding? Enable me people – help me find some yummy stuff.

The Sweet Sheep stuff is finally up too. Hurray!

Will It Go Round in Circles

I am now the proud owner of a spinning wheel! YAY! Susan was about the sweetest shop owner I’ve ever met in real life. She gave me a big fat hug when I told her who I was followed with “I believe you have my wheel”. She set up the wheel ahead of time and even threw in this awesome merino/silk blend roving from Ashland Bay, a couple of bobbins and a neat spinning book.

She had this new breed of wool roving I haven’t seen before called Targhee. It’s made from sheep in Montana. Whatever – it’s pretty.

So if you are looking for a wheel at a fiber show, I recommend contacting Susan ahead of time.

The Great Lakes Fiber Festival was a blast. Jacki and Travis are cool to hang out with and I got to meet some new fibery folks. Dianne of Creatively Dyed Fibers is just amazing. She is a dyeing machine.

I cannot believe how much yarn and fiber she had at her booth or that she does shows almost every weekend. I bought a bunch of Sea Yarn and superwash merino fiber.

I didn’t buy too much roving as I know I’m going to spin like crap for a bit. It’s cheaper to dye my own if it is going to be essentially sacrificed to the learning gods.

Dianne and Jacki have up some photos from the Festival. I have a few too.

I tried to play with my wheel yesterday and did awful. I was pretty pooped from all the fiber madness and my patience is never that great for starters. I keep wanting to spin counter-clockwise. I should just stop fighting it and go with it. I can’t seem to get the hang of drafting yet. I had to pre-draft everything before I could get it to work right. Then it would break and I’d have to start it all over again. I’m trying not to get too frustrated. It’s a process and I have to just relax to figure it out. So if anybody has any tips, I’m all ears.

Oh I started some Tidal Wave socks using my Yarn Pirate in “Kate”. I’m on the foot now. I’m really digging the way they look. I’ve altered the pattern and am carrying the tidal wave stitch onto the foot.

I’m traveling for the next too days so there won’t be much time for spinning. Maybe I can squeeze some in this morning before I leave. Have a great and safe holiday everybody!

Anticipation

Have you ever knit something so wonderful you don’t want to wear it? That’s how I feel about my Cafe Au Lait Socks. I heart them lots. This pattern never gets old either. I’m going to use it again and that says a lot as I don’t really use patterns more than once.

And this part where the blue/silver bits pooled – heart that too. It would make one awesome semi-solid-esk colorway.

On a non-knitting front, I found this great website, Recycled Birdhouses. They make birdhouses out of found materials. It is run by a disabled men’s shelter which makes it even cooler. Each bird house is unique. My sister and I bought one for my mom for mother’s day.

May’s Booty Club offering arrived today. This is one of my favorites. It’s beyond perfect. If you want a spoiler, have at it. I’ll post more pics later.

The anticipation is killing me for this weekend. I won’t have much time for spinning after I get my wheel this weekend though. I’m going “camping” with some friends I went to high school with on Sunday and Monday around the Sandusky/Port Clinton area. They are camping in a tent. I am “camping” in a hotel room. This is a close to roughing it as I get. I thought our trip got canceled but it didn’t – just moved around a bit. We usually go Saturday and have for the last billion years. It’s nice to catch up with old friends.

Au Lait

Things have been pretty quiet around here. I’ve been getting some easy knitting done. Once I get that wheel, I fear my knitting is going to move to the back burner for a bit.

A big rave goes out to Zen Yarn Garden. My sea yarn skein of Cafe Au Lait is wonderful. The seacell has a little less give than say a tencel blend but not in a bad way. I don’t have any other reference points to compare it to as this is my first time using a seacell/wool sock yarn. It has worked up beyond fantastically with the Roza’s sock pattern from Interweave. This pattern is super easy, with a nice twist on regular ribbing (I used it before on some Yarn Pirate Daisy in merino/tencel). I used size 1 US needles to make a nice, tight knit. Now if Roxanne starts dyeing up roving again, I am in trouble.

I’ve been commissioned to dye up a yarn of the month club colorway for a new shop. I did a test sample yesterday; so far I am very pleased. It’s not self striping which is a nice change up from what I normally dye. I am using a new nylon/wool blend base yarn. It is much soft than what I was using before. I’m going to knit some of it up as soon as it’s dried. I don’t think it is going to be available for a while – like 3rd or 4th quarter of this year. I’ll post more info when I can. Oh – it isn’t teal, green or blue! Yay for breaking out of my favorite color rut.

Flower Feet

The Crocus socks are done. I’ve already worn them too. The louet base yarn is very scrumptious and makes my feet happy. You cannot go wrong with 3×1 ribbing.

The Sweet Sheep should be updating soon with some yummy new superwash DK merino. She even has a new exclusive colorway to show off (of which sadly I did not take photos). I sent her some surprise roving in her Lovesticks exclusive colors.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of dyeing roving.

Here’s some of my wayward Yarn Pirate. It was worth the wait. All the pictures are in my photostream if you are curious. The honey one is really fantastic in person; it has subtle color shifts that are hard to photograph.

It’s official. I have caved and am getting a wheel. I contacted the vendor at the Great Lakes Fiber Show to reserve one or make sure they were bringing this wheel in the first place. Susan has even offered to assemble it! Now I just have to wait two more weeks. Argh!

Odds and Ends

Yay! I finished the first super scrappy sock. I’m infatuated!

I wove in the ends as I went along so I didn’t have the daunting task of doing it all at once. I think this sock would blind a clown.

I have enough yarn to do the mate and perhaps at least two more.

On a happy note, my yarn finally stopped at Yarn Pirate HQ where it was beaten into submission. I really have to sing Georgia’s praises. Her customer service rocks as hard as her colorways.

Why couldn’t the post office have left a note in mail box that postage was due? Instead they waste money, time and gas mailing it back and forth across the county. I guess it makes about as much sense as this story.