.... 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!

... I love to go to Fiber Festivals!

If there is one thing I would love to do with all the money in the world is to attend Fiber and Yarn Festivals everywhere. I loved going to the Fiber in the Boro with my friend Kim. We had so much fun touching and oohhing and aahhing at all the fibery goodness there. Though I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by all the goodies since this was my first fiber festival. But still fun! Here are some of the many booths at the festival:

First in the door your see beautiful fiber in many colors and blends at Blue Goose Glen. I kept on going back to them through out the time we were then and finally bought a Merino Tussah silk blend in the Red Colorway with streaks of red, blue and white silk. I think it will spin up beautifully.

Next was the booth I really wanted to get goodies from is Unwind Yarn Company. She had amazing color and I wanted it all but I only came away with three (with alot of self restrain). I have oogled over her stuff on Etsy for a while and I wanted certain colorways and went straight for them once I shimmied my way into her booth. I got the Sugared Violets fiber in Merino/ Tussah blend which she mentioned is a new fiber for her to dye so I am excited to try it out, plus the color is all about me with the shades of purple.

The other fiber I got from her is the Abalone colorway in 100% Superwash Merino and I love the blend of colors and it looks like the inside of an abalone shell to me.

And the last goodness I got was Superwash Merino Sock yarn in the Cerulean colorway and it is the perfect shade of blue that I cannot wait to make a shawl out of. Maybe socks but we will see.

Those three items from Unwind was my biggest purchase of the day and I am happy with all my lovelies.

But next to Unwind's booth was Stoney Ridge Alpacas. My friend loved the colors and feel of their Alpaca yarn and throughout the festival we touched other alpaca yarns but none were as soft as Stoney Ridge. Kay Kemp, the lady manning the booth, knew which alpaca each yarn came from and that was interesting to hear and great to know that she is a local farm to TN.

I think sometimes that I would love to buy local more often  and I try to do that by getting yarn from my LYS (Local Yarn Shop) but it is hard to find fiber locally without going back to the convience of Etsy. I notice on most of these farm's website that the site is just a site to get information and see pictures of the animals and other things but you cannot order online or if you do the tax and shipping adds $10. Well I guess I just need to take several weekends to travel out to these various farms. That will hopefully be our 'staycation' since the hubby does not want to travel much these days because of work. (That gets into another post)

Then the next booth that caught our eyes was the Creek View Crafts. Sue had great fiber blends for a reasonable price and a wheel she was spinning on. The wheel was a great price and looked great (not cheap looking). The Ashford Traveller is what she had in her booth and she loves it because it folds up and travels well. Since it was unfinished the price was lower than other wheels that are finished.

Then she mentioned the smaller and beginner wheel that is lower in price and that was the Ashford Kiwi that I thought was also great looking and would be a great first wheel for myself.

The only thing I regret not doing at the festival was trying out the various wheels that were sitting there waiting to be used. It was great to see people sitting around spinning on their wheels in the middle of the barn and others showing newbies how to use the wheel or spindles.

The last bit of fiber I got was from Mulberry Fibers in the Sunrise colorway in a Merino Tussah blend. She also had great colorways and I have stalked her on Etsy too. I did get a fiber from her several weeks ago in the Lavender Fields colorway which is a surprising shades of purple.

Even though I got great fibers from the festival the best was the door prize I won fromThree Creeks Farm. The book that was donated by Beth is Fiber Gatherings. It is a book about festivals that the author traveled around to see and this makes me want to take many road trips next year to see several of these Fiber Gatherings. I was so happy to win this since this festival was my first but for sure not my last.

But the best sighting I had of the day was to see Laura and Leslie of The Knit Girllls. This is a video cast that I watch weekly and I love their personality and the goodies they show us each week and to get to meet them in person was so much fun. I got to talk to them briefly but it was AWESOME-sauce! And the knitwear that both girls had on was amazing (Leslie's sweater was better in person) and you can see them on the latest video on their website. Thanks Girls for saying hi and chatting for a bit.

Well finally that is all my fun at Fiber in the Boro and I hope all have a great week.

... other things are going on in life.

There has been tons of knitting going on but on the weekends it has been lacking. We have been so busy hanging out with friends and getting ready for the winter that the weekends just fly by. One weekend we went on the river with some friends for about 4 hours just cruising on their boat. Here is a picture of the "Captain"

It was fun to be on the water, too bad we did not fish. But if we do this again with our friends, I will try to catch some trophy fish =0)

Then this past weekend was such beautiful weather that we could not stay inside all day. So Chris helped the neighbors out with chopping some wood to get ready for winter. Especially since I love a nice fire during the day at home when it starts to get cooler. The contraption to chop the wood is quite scary but hubby jumped right on in to get it to right size.

I am so proud of him being so brave! Eventually our neighbor will make a country boy out of him, no more Chicago blood soon.

So to the many knits I have done. Or atleast to me it is lots. Four garments are done and sent our to their recipients. Two are for hubby's family and they came out beautiful. The Live Oak Shawlette came out so nice and the color and drape of the cotton was amazing. I adored the construction of this shawl since it did not have a main spine down the middle but two spokes, I think that will help it sit better on the shoulders.

The Second knit is the Rose Lace Stole in a beautiful red linen yarn. It is so lightweight and long that I think it will not be to heavy for delicate shoulders. The construction was interesting in this one also because you started knitting from the middle out then came back to the middle and knitted the second half.

Third knit is my sis that is not so little anymore. She turns 21 this month!! UGH!!! So I had to make her a beanie in LSU colors and it turned out great and perfect size.

The Fourth knit is the Semi-Precious Shawl for a PH fundraiser called Zumbathon for PH. The shawl will be in a silent auction and I hope it sells well. It was a quick knit that I finished in a week and half. The yarn is made from 100% corn and knitted up nicely.

Well that is all I have for this post and hope you enjoyed seeing all that I do during the week and weekends. Have a great week and see you next time.





... I am looking for Fiber Festivals!

I have been knitting alot the last few weeks to finish up a couple of gifts for my MIL and hubby's grandmother. I hope to get those out to them next week since I just finished the second gift. Also I finished up a gift for the sister so she will get that soon too for her birthday. YAY! But now that I think of it, I don't want her to have THIS birthday since she will be turning legal drinking age. UGH! I feel so old now and terrified, she better behave this football season =0)

So since I have been knitting constantly to meet deadlines I have been looking at festivals around Nashville. The first one that I came across through the latest videocast episode 79 on The Knit Girllls is the Fiber in the Boro that is about an hour from where I live and I think this would be great fun for me and my friend to explore. Also I am looking forward to Pumpkin Fest in Franklin, TN but that is on the same day as the Fiber in the Boro. Ugh, oh well the doggies will be glad that I will not go to Pumpkin Fest since they don't have to dress up for Halloween.

I hope all are having a good week. Sorry that this is a short post but my brain is mush and I need something to wake me up. Have a good one!!!

... I am exercising, finally!

The cooler weather in TN has brought on a bug to exercise. But the funny thing is that I am inside on the treadmill. I should be doing it outside with the doggies but I don't want to deal with them is the excuse. I am exercising is the important part. I noticed that I HAVE to do the 30 minute walk first thing in the morning or I procrastinate about it later in the day because I am watching TV and Knitting (very important, more than the exercise). I now set up my laptop to the TV upstairs to watch one of my knitting videocasts while I walk. It is nice to watch something while walking.
Though I do not want to walk with the doggies on leashes I do LOVE to take them to the doggie park nearby. It allows them to roam around without leashes and socializes them with other dogs. Plus a bonus is that I knit some more while enjoying some fresh TN air.
The same knitting is going on from last time with the addition of a football baby hat for a friend of a friend's child. I have it done but pictures need to be taken. I started and finished it within 3 hours or so (half a day on and off) and it is adorable. I might make one for my lil sis.
I promised a picture of the baby shower gifts and here they are.

Blankie and Monster for Baby Strohl

Also lots of spinning is going on also if not knitting for Mom G and Grandma. I loved spinning the Highland Handmades Merino/Tencel fiber in the Loki's Whim colorway. I have finished 2 of the 4 ounces and got about 205 yards.  The tencel adds a bit of sheen and helps the merino slide to allow the fiber to spin up beautifully!

The other fiber I spun up and finished a small portion of is the fleece from Mom G. I plied almost 2 ounces and got about 109 yards so I have tons more to go!!! But it came out beautiful and I can't wait to knit up something from it.



Well that is all for now and I hope all is doing well and having a good week. See you next time.