My New Addiction

My first yarn is done, and I couldn't be more proud.

It's not too bad... it varies from chunky to sportweight (or thereabouts), and it's about 85 yards. I think. My measuring method consisted of opening my swift to one yard in circumference, and winding the yarn onto it, counting the number of rotations.

I tried photographing the yarn in about a thousand types of light, but nothing seems to do the color justice. The skein contains just about every color you can imagine... it's awesome. The fiber (colonial top) is from the Cloverhill booth at Sheep and Wool. If I can't find more online, I'll be hoarding it next year for sure. Next up is the merino top from the same place, and I'm going to try to get a more uniform weight. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm Doing It!

I'm spinning! I'm a spinner!

And it is awesome. I lurve it. I briefly considered using up all my vacation time to sit there and spin for several days nonstop, but my achy fingers didn't think it was such a hot idea.

The first bobbin full was pretty tough to spin up. I had divided the wool in two, watched the How To video from Kromski, and went to town. But I every time I tried to treadle slowly (as to not over-spin the yarn), the wheel would get stuck at the very top or bottom. It was uber frustrating. But after a bit of reading I learned the drive band might be too tight. Mine was as loose as I could get it, so I switched to the other (slightly larger) band that came with the wheel. The second bobbin sent soooo smoooooth...

I heart spinning. Now I just have to think of a good name for my wheel... maybe I should go spin some more and think about it.

Here It Is!

Okay. The plywood table top is not going work either, but I don't want to be a tease... so here it is (a bit incomplete). This is the view when you walk in the room:

I love that cabinet! The upper cabinet is the perfect size for my stash (although it doesn't leave much room for growth).

The lower cabinet is full of UFOs, leftover yarn, and more UFOs. Moving clockwise brings us to the wheel. Yay!

Also note the spankin' new switch plate and the not-brass doorknob. Close-up of the wheel:

For now I'm still just practicing treadling- no yarn yet. Moving on, there is the basket (full of knitting magazines), sheep picture, and my not-quite-finished sewing table.

Scott and I are going to try to find some sort of "wood guy" this weekend to make a better top for my table. The plywood is too rough, and I don't have the right tools to make it work. Someone who knows what he or she is doing will be able to make a nice routed edge... maybe even a hinged top... hmmm... Well, either way it will look better eventually.

Above the table is the sheep drawing I got at Sheep and Wool (I think I forgot to mention it in the other post). It's an ink print, and it was just $20 (sans frame).

And continuing around to the right of the sewing table is the window (next to the rocking chair), which brings us full circle. I really like these curtains; they have a great sheen:

So there it is! I have to go to bed now, but feel free to drool without me. :)

Not Quite There Yet...

I’m not quite done with the knitty room yet. I tend to forget that these things always take twice as long as I think they will. But the only thing left to do is fix the sewing table. The old barn wood that it came with is smelly and needs to go. So I bought a piece of plywood, and plan on painting it. Hopefully that can be finished up over the next couple days, but really I don’t know exactly how long it will take to sand, seal, paint and varnish it. Pictures will be coming soon, I promise!

It's Long (and Long Overdue!)

So much to blog... and I don't know where to start! Let's see... Maryland Sheep and Wool was pretty awesome. Scott and I got there when it opened, and the place was packed. We headed in and started looking right away for spinning wheels- if I left with just one thing, I wanted it to be a wheel. It didn't take long before we found a vendor with one I liked: Susan's Fiber Shop. Susan was super busy, but still took the time to help me try it out. It was the first time I'd spun on a wheel (if you can call what I did "spinning"), and it was a lot harder than it looks- but also super intriguing. Needless to say, I am the proud new owner of a Kromski Prelude with a walnut finish.

There aren't any pictures of it assembled yet because, well, it isn't assembled. Not that letting it sit in the box isn't killing me slowly, but I knew if I put it together nothing else would ever get done, and my knitting room needs to be finished! So no spinning for me until the knitty room is done.

With the wheel being sort of a big-ticket item, my budget didn't allow for a ton of other stuff at Sheep and Wool. But I did get a basket for the knitty room from Inger's Basketry:


Some wool from Cloverleaf Farms to spin up:


And some yarn from Brooks Farm (it's Duet, but I have no idea what colorway it is):

Scott and I stopped by the Western Maryland Ravelers' rest area a couple of times to say hello:

I heart the Western Maryland Ravelers, you guys are awesome!

We also saw sheep, alpacas, and goats. Scott found out that goats are only $150, so I suspect that I might find one in the yard someday (when we get a yard). Scott had a lamb burger, and loved it. I didn't venture anywhere near The Fold's booth- I still have some Socks That Rock from Stitches East, so I didn't feel it would be worth fighting the crowd. And lastly, the Ravelry Meetup was nutty. There was a pretty intense crowd, but I managed to get my little Ravatar sticker and button. Unfortunately, I learned a few days ago that the stickers are not waterproof (all the ink came right off in the rain) so it is no more. All said and done, it was a great time and I can't wait to go again next year.

Not being able to play with the spinning wheel proved to be great motivation to get the knitting room done. In fact, I got the paint a few hours after Sheep and Wool! Right now I am in the middle of painting, and hopefully tomorrow I can put the room back together. Painting is such a major pain in the ass... especially when everything needs to be painted- trim, doors, the ceiling... all of it. Ugh. But it's almost done, and totally worth it. And you can't see any pictures until it's done- it's more fun to reveal it all at once! But here is the "before" picture:




Maybe there will be an "after" tomorrow...

Lastly, the Clapotis. I don't have much done, as I've been a bit busy with the knitty room, but here it is.



It's tiny, I know. Sadly, it will likely stay tiny for a while due to the new wheel. But it's going well so far, and I think I really like it in the cotton. Well, I'm off to paint some more!

Just One More Day...

Maryland Sheep and Wool is this Saturday. It was supposed to rain, but the chances have gone from 60% to 35% overnight- mostly I am pleased, but a small part of me is sad that I won't be wearing the kick-ass rain boots I bought for the occasion. Now the weather should be cloudy and 75! Nice!

I hope to buy a spinning wheel there (in addition to other stuff...), if I find one I love. And I also hope to maybe find Qiviut... I get the willies just thinking about it. It's so effing expensive- it's more on the "fun idea but probably not" list. I'll also be keeping an eye out for things that will make a nice addition to the Knitty Room (baskets, pictures, etc.). And yarn, duh.

Speaking of the Knitty Room, Scott and I went to an antique store last weekend, and I gots me some furniture! The first thing we spotted was one of those old school Singer sewing machine tables (with the black cast iron legs/pedal), sans sewing machine. It's definitely been well loved, and needs a new top (the current top is just a couple of slabs of old barn wood) which is easy and cheap to fix. Yeah, just forget what I said before about not needing a sewing table... it turns out I need a bookcase even less. The other thing we found was a hutch/cabinet thing. It's a good sized piece of furniture, and should hold pretty much all my stash. It was super cheap, which leads me to believe it's not really very old. But it is solid wood, and built well- that's all I need! They will get picked up on Sunday, and there will be photos when the table is fixed up.

I did start the Clapotis, and I decided that the cotton will work out. There's only a few inches done, and I can't seem to locate the camera, so pictures will have to wait!