What have I been doing?

What have I been doing? Why spinning of course!

On what? Well..look for yourself!

It's my new spinning wheel! I'm in love. It's a used Ashford Traditional from a nice lady off of Ravelry. It came with 4 bobbins, oil, high speed maintenance kit, lazy kate, threading hook, flick carder and a pound of raw kid mohair..(I'll go into that in a later post and show you all the nice pics of my picking out V.M.)

Anyways, onto the spinning.

This is 102 yards of 2 ply Merino. I got a nice fingering weight here. I'm working on lace weight, but I figure I should get the hang of the wheel and see what tension and twist I can actually put on a string of yarn.


2 skiens of Colonial. Not the softest, but it sure is warm and colorful! The two skeins are 88 and 91 for a grand total of 179 yards! I filled two bobbins worth of singles to do this vs. trying to fill each bobbin halfway. I wasn't even making enough yarn for a hat. I love the colors, they remind me of Arizona. My husband isn't too fond of them, but good thing he's not wearing the hat! :D


Mmmm..I love this pic. Yarn! Who doesn't love pictures of Yarn!?


Merino singles. I'm thinking of trying to do singles for a shawl, but I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on that idea. Singles aren't as strong as plied but, I'm not going to wearing the shawl every day. It'll be more of a special occasion or "traveling" shawl. You know...for when I've made my millions and want to drink wine in Italy.

A woman can dream can't she!?


Kid mohair.


First..let me say, holy bunnies..is this the softest yarn. I have yet to really feel "organic" cashmere and I'm told this is one of the softest, but this is soooo soft and...smooshy!

Second..this is hairy. Holy cow is it hairy. I did a recent skein of mohair that didn't have so many locks poking out, but it's such a challenge to spin by itself. I found myself having to peddle the treadle so fast that it might take my finger off if I touched the wheel. Not good. But then, I'm still a beginner spinner.

Although, this yarn (my husband laughs every time he sees it) looks like I accidentally spun a bunny through my wheel, it's really soft. I'm thinking of making my daughter a toy out of it. A tiny bunny she can carry around with her. She's into the pocket animals.


Mmmm...yarn...


Here's some more Merino. I love the colors. Very rustic to me and it reminds me of living in the North Woods. Pine trees, plaid coats and Christmas by the fire place.


Here's what it looks like spun up. This is 60 yards of Navajo plied yarn. I love the Navajo plying. I'm going to do another skien and make a hat. Can't have too many hats. Specially here. I always seem to loose them to the kids. :)


There you have it folks! My spinning adventures..and you're the lucky people to see the first few skeins I've spun on my new wheel! Thank you too all those that helped me get it by buying my patterns! I'm enjoying it immensely!

Beading..

Ok, I know this is a knitting blog, but, you can forgive me this one time..can't you? I've been beading lately. I blame my mother. She got me into it. She took me here. I was in love! Beads, beads..BEADS! Holy cow the beads. I got beads for my knitting, and just a few for some necklaces.

Wanna see?

I thought you'd say that. :D

Bronze medallion. I love this one. It's probably one of my favs.


Not sure what those stones are. I think they're coral or a turquoise. I'm not sure. I have some red beads like it.


An attempt at wrapping stone beads. This happens to be Rose Quartz.

Bee necklace. Farmer's market inspired. I love the honey that's homemade.



This was actually an earring that was in a kit. I don't have pierced ears. So...I made it into a necklace. Added my own beads to it. I really like this one.



Drop necklace. Rose Quartz.


I originally had the drop pendant above on this necklace, but I didn't like it. So, I kept it plain. My first attempt in wire twisting. Actually, I was surprised by how easy it was to get it to stay. The wire itself would twist so the necklace wouldn't unwind.



Simple one. I liked it. Dropped half the necklace last night trying to put my ad on Ravelry. Oy. My carpeting is FULL of beads right now.



I love, love, LOVE this one. It's olive jade. I made it all green. I wanted it to be a little chunkier. I think when I go back, I might get some raw chunks and add them to the necklace. It's a bit plain right now, but I love that pendant. Such a beautiful color.

Of course we had to go back. When we turn the corner down the road to the bead monkey, my daughter (who's in love with beading) sees the store and yells, "There's the bead monkey! Stop the car!!" She's cute isn't she? Didn't matter that we were on a busy highway, she was ready to roll out of a moving car and run into the store. I was able to keep her in her seat as we pulled up into the parking lot.

She went through the store, picking each little bead. I'm impressed, most kids would be shoving beads into a bag. She took about a half hour and picked each bead she wanted and matching seed beads to go with it. Mentally picturing the necklace she wanted. Grandma bought her a special crystal bead so she could make herself a "princess" necklace.

She made this herself. Wow huh?


Ok, don't think I'm all about the beads right now. Here's a sneak peak of my next project.

Angel Wings Shawl Pattern

UPDATE: For those who aren't able to buy through Ravelry yet, I have this shawl available through my online store.

*For sale through my Online Store*

*For sale through my Ravelry Store.*

Buy the Pattern for $4 USD

This is a very simple knit shawl that increases stitches on one row and decreases in the next to create a "feather" effect. You can knit this to any size to suit your preference.

Enjoy the pictures!







*Click here to visit my Ravelry Store to purchase the Angel Wings Shawl*