One Week Anniversary...

I've had my Joy for exactly a week now. Still haven't picked a perfect name yet, she's just 'the wheel'. Yet somehow I know she's a she. Go figure.

I'm so in love. I love that I can easily spin and ply four ounces of fiber in a day as opposed to a week or two. I figured while I was still getting fairly thick yarn I should work on spinning the stuff I want to be worsted-ish weight, quick, before all I can spin is lace like on the spindle. :)

Upstairs I have drying 3 skeins of worsted/bulky yarn that started out as 12 oz of Spunky Eclectic Wool Blend in "Poison". No finished pictures, but I do have a couple of progress shots:



I'm still waiting on packages, one with 6 pounds or so from Sheep Shed Studios (3 pounds Coopsworth Locks, 1 pound Punta Roving and 2 pounds of Mill Ends) as well as more bobbins (I'm discovering the need for millions of them) and this month's Phat Fiber box.

On the off chance you haven't heard of Phat Fiber, I highly reccomend you visit their website and/or Ravelry Group. It's worth all the effort you put forth trying to get one, constant refreshing and hysterical clicking when they show up in the store... I was sure I wasn't going to get one this month, but figured I'd try, just in case. Low and behold, I wound up with one. I think my OCD pays off when it comes to things like this. I'll show off my goodies when they come.

One package that came last week from ChristinaMariePotter:




From top to bottom (all Corridale): Twilight inspired, Cylon inspired, and my personal favorite: Fruity Oaty Bars, a Firefly inspired colorway. I was a little surprised when I got them (partially because the Cylon looked pink instead of red in the pictures, although it said red in the listing). Each 4 oz braid (or 6 oz in the case of Fruity Oaty Bars) is 3 seperate colors of fiber braided together. Now that I think about it, they look way too perfect for a handpaint, but nevertheless I didn't realize that.

However, the more I thought about it, the more excited I was. I'm going to break out of my comfort zone even more with these. As soon as I get more bobbins I'm going to try a real live 3 ply with the Twilight colors.

Many more spinning pictures to come!

*dust off blog*

Hey look! I'm alive! Ravelry kept me busy for a full year and a half, but it's about time I get back to blogging. If anyone's out there, hi! Welcome! Comment so I'll remember to blog more.

Two very special packages arrived today. I'll start with the less exciting one:

... which is actually pretty exciting. A large order from Spunky Eclectic (which took me about four hours to get due to everyone overloading the site when Amy updated). From left to right there are 4 oz braids of: Organic Merino in Lucas, Shetland in Brain Freeze, Orchard, and Mandy, and Panda in Burning Ember.

The reason that is the less exciting package? See what else came:



MY FIRST WHEEL!!!!! A double treadle Ashford Joy I ordered from Carol over at Sheep Shed Studios. I'm a little excited in case you can't tell.

Anyone who's seen all the fiber I've ordered this week has probably figured out that I think this wheel is going to make spinning faster. However, I was living under the happy delusion that after mastering the drop spindle the wheel would be a breeze.

I was a tad bit wrong. Like learning to spin on a drop spindle, knit for the first time, ect, it feels like you're an elephant trying to do ballet. Awkward. There's all this.... stuff... going on. The wheel turns. It turns two ways actually, and it's easy to mix up which way it's supposed to be going. The flyer... moves. Yarn falls off the hooks. The leader gets sucked through the orafice, sans fiber.

All this produces:


Lumpy bumpy "why-no-I've-never-spun-before-even-on-a-spindle" yarn.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. After all, it's a spinning wheel. A spinning wheel I wouldn't have been able to afford without what I affectionately call "The Bank of Mommy*" (*The Bank of Mommy not available in all areas. Subject to exceptions. Interest may include cleaning of bathrooms) However, I guess I had some unrealistic exceptions.

Tomorrow will be a new day, a day I can spend most of spinning on my new wheel (which needs a name, btw. Suggestions, anyone?).

Maybe I'll master drafting on the wheel before the other two packages of fiber I'm getting arrive.

*stares* So close, so close..... *runs off to take pictures of stash*