Happy 2009!

Happy New Year! May it be filled with health and happiness for everyone!

New year, I'll show my new wheels..
I love it. It's a Lendrum DT Complete ( DT = double treadle = able to use both feet to make the wheel spin, Complete = it came with everything I'll need, except for extra bobbins, but I won't need those for a while).
This was my first yarn spun on the wheel, just some random wool ordered from Smoky Mountain Fibers on Etsy. It was spun using my wheel as a single treadle (only using the right foot). Why you ask?
Not so good. Here's the problem:
That should have looked like this:
Yeah, a nice little screw was missing. So, Friday, the day after Christmas, Mom called the place it was ordered from and a replacement was sent, and received on Monday, so the wheel now works as intended. Did I mention that I love it? It's so much fun. I've been busy.
I spun up more of the random wool that came in 4 different natural colors and plied it with the original white, ending up with about 120 yds with 118 yds of the multi-colored singles left over.
Then I moved onto some BFL from Sereknity in the colorway "Violas".
I ended up with about 110 yds once it was plied up. I have to admit that this roving was really difficult to work with. I had a hard time drafting it while spinning, even after I had pre-drafted it. Oh well. It's still very nice.

And then, I started spinning some superwash BFL from theytoldmesew also on Etsy, colorway "Brave Woodsman". And I actually have the full progression in photos, the roving:

The singles:
The plied yarn, 183 yds of a sportish weight yarn (I won't do the WPI until after I've washed the yarn and let it bloom).

This is my favorite so far, although, this might replace it...
That's the two bobbins of single of "Rockin Around" from dkKnits on Etsy in superwash merino. Seriously so cool looking. Can't wait to see it how it plies up.
In case you wanted a closer look. I didn't want this roving to end, it was so smooth and soft and spun so well. Can't wait until I have money again so I can order some more... which brings me to my other new wheels...

Yeah, no picture, sorry about that, but Monday night I drove a brand new 2008 Saturn Astra in Black Sapphire off of the lot. The Taurus era came to an end after it wouldn't start most of last week and then cost a whole heck of a lot to fix on Saturday. I love my new car. It's awesome. I will try to get some photos soon, I meant to take some, but didn't and then I had to drive to work yesterday in the snow so it now is not looking as shiny and pretty as it did, so I can't photograph like that.

Anyway, I started a new knitting project yesterday, the Druid Mittens from the Fall '08 Vogue Knitting.
Very cool and pretty. Need to switch to the 2 circs method, by last night I had to stop knitting due to the tingling sensation in my pinky and ring finger of my left hand - I only get this when I have to knit too tight with metal DPN's - the cabled goodness is causing me to grip the needles kinda tightly. So tomorrow I'll make the switch and knit on.

So I will leave you with a video taken of my first attempts at spinning on the wheel, Christmas morning.

Note the video game sounds in the background - Tommy and I spent Christmas day in each other's company, spinning and gaming. A big huge THANK YOU to my wonderful family and friends who consented to get me the wheel for Christmas - love you all.

P.S - Just had to share, at my WW weigh in this week I am officially down 9.8 lbs since Dec 1! Can't tell you how proud I am of myself. Will admit that I didn't count points at all today though.

A Fibery Friday

Wow- I haven't done 2 posts in the same week in a while. Look out - I'm getting wild and crazy. But I have stuff to show off, so here goes. As I said in my last post - I was a bit tired of working with the Alpine Targhee, so I started a different spinning project - yeah, I'm that fickle. Remember that nice "Fallen Leaves" merino I showed a few weeks ago? I started that. I thought it was appropriate (even if it is a little bit close to being team colors for a certain hated football team). Haven't gotten much done, the gift knitting comes first - but here it is:
I like it. I think it'll end up being a very nice 3-ply worsted weight yarn. We'll see how many yards I get, but it should become something pretty and fabulous for next fall.

Yesterday, I received my long-awaited football bonus. I placed an order for a spot in a spindle and fiber club way back when, after I had gotten my 2-a-day paycheck, as my present to myself. It was originally supposed to arrive mid-October, but the woman who makes the spindles and fiber and what not was a few weeks late delivering her son, and things got a little delayed. Anyway, let me just say that it was worth the wait.
That right there is what came in the package. 5 oz of merino in the colorway "Sunday kind of love" which is, seriously, my colors. Love it. And that spindle,
is a 1.39 oz rosewood and jade spindle. So gorgeous. And it spins really really well. How do I know? Because also included in the box was a ball of pin drafted hand-painted cormo. Luscious is all I can say about the cormo, it's so freaking soft and squishy. I had to spin it up. Couldn't help myself.
Very pretty, I'll probably Navajo ply it tonight. We'll see if I get enough yardage to do a little coffee cup cozy.

So that's what I did last night, instead of finished my Wicked socks. I've got a couple inches of stockinette and the toe to do, so that will get done tonight too. Wow, I may even be able to blog over the weekend if I have a finished object to show. Seriously crazy.
Keep your fingers crossed for my volleyball team that plays today in the state semis and tomorrow evening in the finals if they win, and for the football team who is playing tomorrow night (the team we're playing has 8 players committed to D1 schools, and it's been said that they could probably win the State championship in any of the divisions, including Division 1 - so I'm thinking that tomorrow night will be my last football game - just saying.)

Noro is my anti-depressant

Sorry for the delay in the presentation of the fibery goodness. This week has not been the best. My car started making a horrible noise late last week and I took it in to get fixed on Tuesday. It's now fixed, but my bank account is broken. Anyone know where you get to get that fixed? I'm already working, any other suggestions?

So, anyway, Tuesday I needed a bit of a pick-me-up after I got the quote on my car. And since my bank account was broken and I couldn't order the pretty yarn that was in the Loopy Ewe's Sneak up (first time in weeks I've wanted to order stuff and I can't - because that's how my life works) what did I turn to? Noro of course. I started some Noro socks using the 2 socks at one time on one big long circular needle (a circular needle has the two knitting needle points attached to one flexible cord, thereby allowing you to knit in a circle). As of right now, they look like this:

I'm doing a knit3, purl 1 rib. Nothing fancy. And they kinda look like some Hokie socks at the moment. But this is the ball of yarn that will eventually become the rest of the sock:So it won't stay Hokie-ish for too much longer. Sorry Krista. But onto the haul from Saturday. Clockwise from top right, 2 oz of gray angora from Sheephaven Hutchworks, 2500 yds of hand-dyed alpaca lace-weight yarn from Briar Rose, 100% baby Suri alpaca from Stargazer Farm (that's only one of three hanks I got) and 4 oz of a 50/50 blend of alpaca/llama roving from Midwest Fiber Company. And here's the spindle I got:It's from the Rouge Lucette, it's .9 oz and made from curly koa wood, which is only found in Hawaii. And it's currently holding some Corriedale roving from Squoosh on Etsy. Which I'm loving.Not bad fro my first ever fiber festival. And so, we move on to the knitting. This is where I'm at on the previously unblogged sock.It's just a plain stockinette sock, therefore it will be known as the Plain Vanilla sock. Out of some very not vanilla Stone Barn Fibers "Adrianna" from the Loopy Ewe. It's very pretty yarn and works up really well. I've also started some Christmas knitting (I know, hard to believe I'm attempting to get an early start for a change) but since recipients or those close to recipients may or may not read the blog, they will go unblogged to maintain the surprise that should be Christmas presents.

Okay, for a reward for my knitting muggle readers who made it this far into the post (the term "muggle" comes from Harry Potter, all non-magical folks are referred to as muggles, therefore, it's been adopted to be used as a term for those who do not belong to a particular sub-culture) some sports related updates. My baseball team is playing in the regionals today down in Lorain, against a team that no one has ever heard of, Maple something. They played a game Tuesday against Beachwood that didn't count for anything and managed a come back from 9-1 to a 13-11 win. The win, if they count it, gave them a new school record for most wins in a season. Yay them.

The LAX team played Rocky River in their first play-off game on Tuesday and they won. Which means that we play the hated US team today. I will be attending that game. Track ran at Navarre yesterday for the regionals or whatever level they're at. And that's it.