.... I am now spinning on my new wheel!!

Yes I got a new spinning wheel! I totally love it and have been spinning non stop since I put it together on Saturday when we got home from Thanksgiving vaca to Chicago to see family. I am such a lucky daughter-in-law to marry into a loving and caring family of my hubbie. My lovely MIL got me the wheel as my (and hubbies) christmas present. It is my hubbies too since the funds to get it came out if his christmas money too. =0) He will enjoy it too.

We (me and MIL) got it from a great small store called The Fold in Marengo, IL which we found out the hard way is about an hour drive from the west suburbs of Chicago. But it is a lovely small store runned by the kindest most helpful woman around, Mrs. Toni. She was nice enough to help a newcomer to spinning wheels and answered all my questions and concerns I had about all the wheels I tried out. She had about 10 wheels out for you to pull up to and test which helped me figure out which one I wanted. Which I think I already knew before stepping into her store but it helped to be behind the wheel and touch it up close. Mrs. Toni also was so kind to sit and talk with us about many things, my PH condition and what I knit for (PH research and donations), how long I have been knitting (1.5 years), what I love to knit (lacey shawls) and others things. Thanks Mrs. Toni for being so caring and kind to me and my MIL.

So back to the important part, which wheel did I choose??? I chose the Ashford Traveller for the smaller design and portability due to the lighter weight. I could not assemble it in Chicago since it would have to travel with a car load back and I did not want it to travel without a seatbelt if it was assembled. So I resisted the urge to tear the box open and assemble it piece by piece. But I did go straight upstairs and tear it apart after about 2 hours of being home on Saturday afternoon (I am glad the hubbie drove the whole way). It took me about 2 hours to assemble it with the almost 30 steps of assembly and this is without the hubbie's help. I was pretty proud of myself and I should be! Here it is in all its glory in a messy craft room:

Also I need your help on something. As per the spinning community, a great wheel needs a great name. What should be the newbie's name? I need to refer to him or her as a person since she/he works as hard as me to make the fancy yarnie goodness. Please leave a suggestion on FB or in the comments.

What should be her/ his name??

I am having so much fun with it, I already have two fibers done and one on the wheel. I have spun more fiber in 5 days than in the months I have been spinning with the spindle. But the wheel will not be my sole focus because I want to continue using my drop spindles since I still need to teach someone how to still spin and ply on the spindle. (This boy knows who he is) So the fibers I have been spinning are:

Haunted Vineyards in Polwarth

 The above fiber is for The Knit Girllls SAL (Spin A Long) / KAL (Knit A Long) that is from Cloudlover. The untwisted skein of yarn is what I spinned on the wheel and I am so happy because it is the first yarn that has come off the 'wheel' <-----enter new name for newbie.

 I also have finished a couple of ounces of the Superwash Merino from The Fold that I got with the wheel as a experiment fiber. The SW Merino is so soft and fluffy and a joy to spin. I got the undyed fiber since I want to dab my over achieving fingers into dyeing. I will be dyeing it with food coloring and kool-aid. We will see how that goes with some test yarn that I got.

Lastly as of right now is the BFL fiber from Corgi Hill Farm in the Dahlia colorway. I love the pink purple tonal variation and shown above is a single that I will ply with another bobbin of single to make my two ply yarn. I think I may try to navajo ply the second 6 ounces of this fiber to see how I like a three ply yarn.

The quandry I have now with making so much yarn is that I have so much yarn. I have no pattern in mind right now for them other than the Haunted Vineyards (it is part of the KAL). Should I sell or find something to knit? I know right now that the spinning is really cutting into my knitting time but I have to reverse that soon to get some projects done and off the needles.

Well that is all for now and I hope all have a great week and had a great Thanksgiving. We get to look forward to Christmas!