A winding tale

I got a WooLee Winder for my wheel! I can make smoother yarn faster, and not watch the bobbin or stop to change hooks. This is the greatest thing since the bait casting fishing reel . . . wait, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? Applying it to a spinning wheel flyer was brilliant, go Robert Lee for doing it & Son Nathan at theWooLeeWinder.com for making it available to us happy customer types.

I have some 80%Polwarth 20%silk roving hand dyed in “summer garden” colorway from Francine at Rovings to start on now that I can use the wheel a little better. Isn’t this pretty?

Oh the cleverness of me! I made this with a Wal-Mart basket ($15.00), some twine, and a few knitting needles. This is a tensioned lazy kate, which works very nicely:

I’ve paused in my learning to spin obsession to start yet a new one: I’m collecting stuff to start dyeing my own fiber. So far I have a 1st class collection of Sabraset/Lanaset colors, a few additions to my library including Color in Spinning by Deb Menz, and Hands on Dyeing by Betsy Blumenthal and Kathryn Kreider, and a few supplies. Soon I hope to actually get my hands into the colors. This is going to be fun!

Here’s my latest FO:

This is the Headline News Cabled Newsboy Cap from Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation. The yarn is Patons SWS (Soy Wool Stripes) in the denim colorway which has a nice hand (thanks to the soy) and self-stripes with a long color repeat. It was a quick and fun knit, Zack was satisfyingly delighted with it, and it fits him! I like it so much I think I’ll knit me one too.

I think I’ll go get busy now. I have a lot of toys to play with!

I must have been VERY good this year.

Here’s what Santa baby put under the tree –it’s a Kromski Sonata! I would so much rather have sat down to play than fix a Christmas dinner, but that had to wait until today.

Here’s my very first skein —

Made today. Okay, it’s a big mess, inconsistent and overspun, but it’s my mess, and I’m very proud of it!

Arthur the endlessly curious bottomless pit poodle eyes my new obsession goofilly —

and has so far found discretion the better part of valour, i.e. has not yet eaten it, and therefore lives unbruised.

Girls in their momknit hats:

and a good day was had by all. Even Arthur.

I’m off hopefully to enjoy happily revolving dream bobbins full of dream-perfect luscious hand-painted exotic fiber yarns.

And to all a good night.