A spindle flower

Today I received a spindle (top left, small spindle) that I purchased on ebay, and yesterday I came home to a Kingwood maxi that I ordered from the Bosworths which I absolutely adore! I have been adding to my spindle collection pretty steadily for the last two months, and I think I'm done for awhile (unless something wonderful grabs me). This shows the largest portion of my collection, although I do have a couple tucked away with fiber on them in my purse and tote bag, and the larger spindles can't fit in the crock I have the rest in.

Have you found any wonderful spindles? What are the favorites in your collection? What are you spinning on them right now? I really can't pick my favorites, it depends on what I'm spinning at any given time. I really enjoy the beauty of the natural woods that show up a good amount of grain, but the hand carved, and hand painted ones are beautiful too.

My spindle family 

Finished the shawl

The shawl is finally done! I am a little bit disappointed that I ran out of yarn before it became the size that would allow me to tie the ends behind my back, but I still love it, it's warm and soft. (I'm wearing it now) This came from a pattern that was posted on Yahoo groups "Sheep Thrills" this fall, prior to the Rheinbeck, NY festival, and it's a wonderful easy pattern. Tomorrow I might take a day off from knitting to let my thumb joint rest. I have no idea what will be next, I might work on some scarves for resale.

Shawl completed! 

Thanksgiving-spun yarn :) 

Home again

It was a long and rainy drive both to and from Moline, but I figured out how to situate my wheel so I could get a bunch of spinning done in the car while hubby drove. More spinning was done at my in-law's house and at our hotel, and also was able to get a lot of knitting done. My shawl is now being knit with the final ball of yarn, the last 2 oz or so. We visited a LYS in Milan, IL called "The Caprock", and I found a couple of nice books on lace knitting. We had a fantastic holiday weekend, visited with lots of family, but I'm glad to be home.

Mystery shawl from handspun shetland 

The traveling show

We're leaving tonight with a basket full of fiber and a knitting bag full of stuff to work on on the way. It's 14 hours drive to Nanny and Poppa's house, and by golly, I'd better get lots done along the way! I took a picture of my shawl which is made of handspun shetland that has emerged from a fleece I bought at Rheinbeck from one of the booths that had a lot of beautiful fleeces, and yes, I did buy more than one. (I don't know what happened, they dropped into my bag! lol) The fleece was black tipped with grey along the shaft and white towards where it was sheared, but as you can see, after a quick trip through the carder it became grey. It's actually varigated at times, and has a very pleasant sheen to it. I have to spin a bunch today as I'm out of yarn for the trip and need to get more into the knitting bag before we leave. I wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving and safe travels if you're going out of town to visit.

First installment of a blog novice

Wow, what a wonderful day I had yesterday...met with some new friends for an afternoon of spinning and chatting and fun. We spun for nearly 3 hours, and I was so energized that I came home and spun some more. I spun and plied and skeined off 8 oz of a wool/alpaca blend called seabreeze (even though it's orange and grey and brown-go figure). I'm panicked about going to Moline for Thanksgiving...don't have everything together and packed yet and leaving Tuesday. I fly to Denver and back today, so nothing will get done this day. I'm taking my Traveler wheel and ball winder so I can spin while I'm gone, I have so much to work on and need to get the yarn done for a project for a toddler in Conn. that dear hubby got me. I plan on trying to add to my blog at least weekly, and will take some pictures (as soon as I relocate my digital camera) of some of my work...I'm such a newbie knitter but I keep trying.

Thank you Amie for the recommendation on the book "knitting without tears" as I ordered it last night. Thank you Caroline for the tea and cookies, and for inviting Amie and I to your lovely home. Now I'm off to work. :)