Then I picked up a set of crochet hooks, just to have. I do want to learn to crochet, kinda-sorta-maybe, but at the very least, hooks are useful for picking up dropped stitches. I think the two sides of the Napramach bag are supposed to be crocheted together, too. So the hooks will come in handy.

I also picked up nice pair of Fiskars short scissors with an extra-fine tip for snipping yarn, a set of craft acrylic paints for painting designs on the loft supports in my room, and a spray can of matte finish for the Ashford bobbins. Some of them are unfinished, and it’s probably not a good idea to leave them that way for too long.

I’m about 75% of the way through the BFL fiber, and hope to have it done, plied and finished this week. It’s been a while since I’ve picked up any of my knitting projects, and I’m starting to miss them!

I have not been knitting, and I miss it. It’s funny how, when I have a totally mindless stockinette project on the needles, I wish for something more complicated – and when I’m working something more complicated, I wish I could just knit on without having to think or count. Even the stripey sock isn’t completely mindless, since I keep having to count to five rounds and then switch colors. My vacation is coming up soon, though, and I bet I will get a lot done there, with no computers or telephones or interruptions!

Pirate-Husband couldn’t keep his feet off the treadles when I showed him my progress last night. I’m not fooling myself into thinking that this means he wants to learn to spin; I think he was just curious about how the wheel works. On one hand, it would be pretty neat if we shared the hobby. On the other, he might want to steal from my fiber stash! Can’t have that, right?

Grace is lovely. I am really enjoying the double treadles, and the ease with which I can get started. Not to mention, it’s so much easier to stop when I need to, without having to grab at the drive wheel! I am trying not to feel guilty, but I think I may like Grace better than Patience. Time will tell, and so will the next step of plying this yarn together. Plying on Patience is a pain; treadling is difficult and the bobbins are tiny. If I decide to keep Patience, I will be looking into getting one of the new jumbo sliding hook bobbins.

Someone asked me if I am on Twitter – I am, as cougrr, but most of my tweets are not about knitting or spinning. All the same, if you’re interested in my rambling thoughts and exercise tracking, please feel free to follow me there!

I spent some time sorting and filling them, and now I am feeling as if my room is much neater! It looks much better to have my stash in totes, rather than in a variety of cardboard boxes. I have one for sock yarn and one for miscellaneous stuff that got in my stash when I wasn’t looking. One holds the yarn for big projects, and one holds everything else. Three have fiber… but I think that’s about to be four, as I’m going to move the fiber that lives near the wheel to a tote. Having everything in sight will probably keep me from impulsively buying more, and remind me to keep working on the time-consuming projects, like carding alpaca.

Slowly, slowly… organization is happening. I still have not yet painted the room, so there’s a lot that isn’t unpacked yet. After over a year in the house, it might be time to get around to that, y’think?

I used this tiny sample that I got from Bullen’s Woolens at Maryland Sheep & Wool to try out the Sonata. I think it was merino/silk; it couldn’t have been more than a gram. When I split it in half, my scale didn’t register any of it. I spun it into the finest singles I could and then plied it into a laceweight, more just to have spun it rather than for any particular purpose. There’s not enough to knit anything from it.

I seem to be starting to get the hang of this spinning thing, though I’m having an annoying bout of paralyzing perfectionism about the BFL that I plan to spin into fingering weight yarn. I split the top down the middle; one side is 7 grams more than the other and I’ve gotten over that, as 20 yards or so on either side might be washed out by inconsistent spinning, and okay whatever. Now I’m just sort of wondering how to best make the colors line up. Pull off chunks at the color changes and spin them? Seems like the thing to do, I guess. I’ll try that tomorrow.

A closeup shot. It’s not the most even yarn ever, but it’s the best I’ve made so far! I am quite pleased with it. This will probably be the first of my handspun that I’m going to knit with. I’m feeling like I’m making some significant progress in my spinning skill. I might not get it right all the time, but I know enough now to know when I’m getting it wrong. I’ve heard that one needs to spin about a pound of fiber before the skill starts blossoming, and I’m at about that amount now.

So, about that next yarn… I am considering how to split the top. If I just fold the length of fiber in half and pull at the middle, I’ll have two even pieces that won’t have much in the way of matching color. Great for a barberpoled sort of yarn. But if I want to aim for soft stripes, I’ll have to split the fiber lengthwise, and that means getting out the scale to be sure I’ve done it evenly. Choices, choices…

I can totally understand why people get a jumbo plying setup – the plying bobbin is already more than half full and it barely looks like I’ve made a dent into the singles. Maybe that will be something to ask for as a birthday present for the Sonata… Hmmm! It’s a good thing I’ve a few more empty bobbins to ply onto, for now.

I’ve had a few broken strands but think I’ve recovered nicely. It’s just a reminder to put way more twist into the next yarn than I think I ought to. Hopefully it won’t impact the stability of the finished yarn too much. It might be a little on the thick side for socks, but I’ll decide once I’ve washed it. I could make a thick pair of boot socks for extra winter warmth.

I was complimented on my strength of will to not start a new spinning project with Grace before finishing this older project with Patience. Part of it is a determination to finish the first before starting the next, yes… but I think part of it is that I am a perfectionist, and the fiber for my next project is so beautiful that I am loath to begin for fear of screwing it up somehow. It was a gift from Pirate-Husband and I really, really, really want the yarn from it to come out well!

I love the turning on the spokes. It’s not too complex, just elegant enough to be appealing. The walnut color complements the wood perfectly. Kromski’s mahogany finish, a new offering on the Sonata, didn’t quite look right to me. I’m glad I got the chance to see the mahogany stain in person, rather than in pictures, or I might have ordered it!

Yesterday I finished the third bobbin (on the Ashford) of the potential sock yarn, and today I will ply it together and give it a wash. Pirate-Husband is amazed that I have been so firm about not spinning with Grace until after I finish what I’m working on, but I know myself and if I let myself start a new project, I’ll never finish the old one! And I’m so close to being done, I can’t stop here. I have to make myself finish – extra-difficult because I am not at all certain that what I’ve spun will resemble what I set out to spin! It’s a learning process and I’m not going to be too hard on myself if it doesn’t come out the way I wanted; I’m just going to have to knit something other than what I planned.

I also had to resist the temptation to buy new fiber to go with the new wheel, but then I looked through the fiber I already have and decided to save my money. Instead I made up a list of what I plan to spin from each fiber in my stash. I’m noticing that a lot of my plans involve fingering weight yarn for socks, or as heavy as DK weight for gloves or a scarf. Right now, I’m not at all tempted to spin anything heavier than that. Maybe one day I’ll get annoyed at how long it takes to spin fine yarn, and spin up a worsted weight for an instant-gratification project!

This is the first fiber I plan to spin with Grace. It’s BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) from Freckle Face Fibers that Pirate-Husband bought for me. I’m aiming for a two-ply fingering weight; with 4.4 ounces I should be able to get enough for a pair of socks. I just have to remember to put in lots more twist than seems right. The colors aren’t in any particular pattern or order, so I don’t think I’m going to try the fractal spinning method this time. I’m just going to split the fiber in half and go from there.

Meanwhile, the potential three-ply sock yarn is almost complete. I’ve got three bobbins that are almost full and almost evenly-weighted, and I am distributing the last bit of fiber across them after running each through the wheel again to add extra twist. When I looked at what I’d spun, there was no way it was going to be firm enough for a sock yarn. Fortunately it’s easy enough to add twist, and as it’s taken me months to spin this stuff, the addition will get the singles all active and springy again.

If it turns out that I fall out of love with the Traditional, I am sure that I will be able to sell it. It’s a great starter wheel. And if it turns out that I love each wheel equally in different ways, I can keep them both!

I’m already starting to think about which fiber to spin next! I am leaning towards this BFL from FreckleFaceFibers that Pirate-Husband bought for me simply because I thought it was beautiful. This time I’ll be smart about it and split the fiber evenly before I begin. Maybe I’ll try the fractal spinning technique on it. The idea is to split the fiber lengthwise, and spin half of it as it is, to get long lengths of color on the first bobbin. The second half of the fiber is further split and spun to the second bobbin, so that the final two-ply skein has parts where the colors match up and parts where they don’t. It sounds like a fun and interesting experiment!

Today is Spinning Tuesday! I plan to finish the second bobbin of my potential sock yarn. I say “potential” because even though I started spinning with the idea of making sock yarn, I think it may end up being too heavy for socks. If it does, it will be a great drop-stitch scarf and I’ll try again for sockweight with the next fiber.

So why did it take two years to finish the socks if the pattern isn’t hard? Simple: I hate the yarn. I wish I liked it – the colors are gorgeous and ripple together like sunlight on water, just perfect for a sock that looks like fish scales. Pirate-Husband says that they are a “triumph of stick-to-it-iveness!” I’d wanted to make matching armwarmers; It’s unfortunate that knitting with cotton blends makes my hands ache. I have 100g of it plus some change from the socks, and it’s up for sale or trade. If I get no takers, maybe in a year or so I’ll try those armwarmers.

Falkland Top from Bullen’s Wullens.

80/20 Merino/Silk from Bullen’s Wullens in the same colorway. I plan to spin this separately from the Falkland and then ply them together.

80/20 Merino/Silk from Cloverleaf Farm. I could not resist these colors!

“Starry Night” is 50/50 Wool/Mohair with some Angelina for sparkle, from Tintagel Farm.

Corriedale Solids from Stony Mountain Fibers, and a variety of glitz. With the nylon roving that I ordered from Sheep Shed Studio, I plan to card this into batts for spinning sock yarn.

Not a bad haul, and not over my budget, either! I am really looking forward to experimenting with all this stuff. It should be enough to keep me busy until next year’s Sheep & Wool festival!

I picked up both a spinner’s control card and a WPI (wraps per inch) tool, which is basically just a bit of wood with a one inch notch cut in it. These should help me get to a point where I’m more consistent in my spinning.

Then I bought a variety of fibers to spin – a four ounce braid of Merino/silk in a foresty green and brown, four ounces each of Merino/silk and Falklands dyed in the same bluesy colorway that I plan to spin separately and ply together, eight ounces of “Starry Night”, 50-50 wool and mohair with a bit of gold glitz, and an eight ounce bag of Finn/mohair locks in a variety of colors that somehow all go together well.

Janis and I are splitting two pounds of raw Romney, but she’s taking the whole of it home with her to clean. I think that’s awesome of her!

I snagged about fourteen ounces of Corriedale in a bunch of solid colors for making blends on the drum carder, but I couldn’t find any nylon roving at the show. When I got home, I ordered a pound of it from Sheep Shed Studio. I got a few small baggies of glitz in different colors to blend in, surprising myself, as I never thought I’d like the stuff. It’s a lot less scratchy than I thought it would be.

What’s surprising is that I decided that I like the walnut finish on the Kromski Sonata better than the new mahogany finish. I had been so excited for the Sonata to be released in mahogany, as I’d seen both finishes on websites here and there and didn’t really care for the walnut much. Now that I’ve seen them in person, I’m definitely leaning towards the walnut!

On Sunday, I sorted out the colors in the Finn/mohair blend and carded two batts. The fiber seems to be less clean than I thought it would be; I’m definitely noticing lanolin on my hands, and wondering if I should re-wash it before I card any more. The first batt seems to be more mohair, and the second more Finn. I teased the locks apart with my fingers and fed the batt through three times. For the second batt, I used the teasing tool that came with the carder to open up the locks more, and only had to do two passes to get a reasonably smooth batt.

When I was tired of carding, I went upstairs and spun for about 45 minutes before bed. I’m working on some Ashland Bay merino top that might be thin enough for a three-ply sock yarn, and coming to the end of the second bobbin. I’ll have to weigh the singles, since I was stupid and didn’t split the top before I began.

More pictures when I have a sunny day, so I can get good shots with accurate color!

I’m planning to go to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival this coming weekend, and I’m getting excited! I’ve been making up a shopping list:

• yarn gauge
• variety of fibers, both natural and dyed
• solids for carding blends
• nylon for making sock batts
• semi-solid sock yarns
• DO NOT BUY A NEW WHEEL

Here’s the thing with the wheel. I’ve been drooling over the Kromski Sonata for a while now. Double-treadle. Foldable/portable. Smooth. I tried one at With Yarn in Front back in November and decided that when I get a new wheel, that’s going to be the one. Then I made a deal with myself that if I spun at least once a week between January 1 and the Sheep & Wool festival, I could justify buying it.

I have not spun at least once a week between then and now. Therefore I shouldn’t even be considering buying a wheel. Except… I am.

I love Patience, my Ashford Traditional. But I’m wondering if I don’t actually love spinning on her. I’ve always been drawn to the look of saxony wheels. They seem so classic, what a spinning wheel ought to be. But… well, I named her Patience for a reason.

And yet I’d feel terrible if I sold her, because Pirate-Husband bought her for me as a birthday present. (He says I shouldn’t feel bad at all, but I have this tendency to get emotionally attached to things.) Actually I’ve been thinking of cleaning her up and refinishing her, though that would be a huge project.

If I had a portable wheel, I could theoretically take it to Pennsic. Last year I did do a little bit of drop spindling there, but whether or not I’ll spin is completely dependent on the weather. Some years it’s not too hot; other years even the idea of holding wool is enough to make me run for the shade of the swimming hole.

I could afford to buy it, but I probably shouldn’t. The savings account has taken a few serious hits lately, and I need to build it back up. I also need to build a new computer, which has to take precedence as my desktop died over a year ago, and I’ve been working on the laptop since.

So now that I’m home from work, I’m going to spin for an hour with Patience. It is Tuesday, after all, and Tuesdays are for spinning. I know that I’m lucky to have a wheel at all, and I need to give her more of a chance before I decide to move on. Perhaps in another six months, I’ll better know whether it’s me or the wheel, and I’ll have gotten over the “new! shiny! want that!” that I’m currently feeling.

I think it was worth it.

No, THIS is the reason I haven’t been knitting. This is a 2009 Mazda 3 S Touring in Galaxy Gray, and today I drove it by myself for the first time. I didn’t stall on the way home from work (let’s not mention the way *to* work; I was tired) and I even managed to park it uphill and backwards in the garage. Having done that, I have no excuses left. I should be knitting right now. Pardon me, I think I hear my yarn calling! Hopefully I’ll have some progress pics to show off later this week!

I’m in a crazy mood today because I have an allergist appointment in a few hours, and I’m not at all happy about it. As a result, I want to do everything but go to the doctor – I tried spinning, but after dropping the spindle three times in five minutes I gave up on that. I guess my mind just isn’t in the right place for it. I don’t think I could get a good consistent gauge on Napramach, either. Maybe I should just go read a book and come back to the knitting tomorrow.

It obviously needs some blocking… and there are just a few ends to weave in. Actually, I don’t think I’m going to weave them in; I think I’m going to tie them to each other. Since the bag will be lined, no one will ever see them. Okay, so I’m not quite half done – I’ve marked the project at 45% complete. I think the knitting will be 90%, the crochet bits 5%, and the lining another 5%. I have no idea what the crochet instructions mean just yet, but I know someone who can help me figure it out (Hi, Sarah!) and I’m eager to learn! There are so many great crochet patterns out there that I’d love to try, mostly amigurumi, but some freeform stuff as well. Aren’t those spiffy?