Test Knit

I did an adorable test knit vest.  I think I want to make one in reverse color scheme so both twins can have one.

Spinning Videos

Here are some videos of how my 1970's Ashford Traditional is spinning.  I got her all rehabbed.  She has had some nice coats of beeswax from a neighbor's hive so her wood looks nice and hydrated again.  I got the Ashford maintenance kit so she has all the proper accouterments instead of some of the stop gap measures I was using when I started her rehab on vacation.  She spins so much smoother now.  I think my nieces must be natural spinners because they were getting passable yarn on her from the start.

In this video I realize my statements regarding the nuts was somewhat unclear.  Let me clarify.  The back nut came with the wheel when I purchased it.  It would not have been the nut that came with the wheel from Ashford.  Somewhere in her life this got changed from Ashford to my aquisition.  It should be a lock nut like the one in front.  The early 70's wheel crank set up has a lock nut in front and back of the crank.  I only put one on because if you "unlock" a lock nut it becomes like a regular nut and loses the locking property you need.  If you just use regular nuts for this set up then the crank ends up either screwing them on tighter (when plying) or unscrewing the nut and it falls off (when spinning).  And also sorry for the pile of garbage.  It was just the recycling we were organizing to take out but it does sort of make my house look vaguely hoarder like.

This is a close up video straight on of the hub so that the wobble can be seen.

Here is the video of me actually spinning on the wheel.  My husband seemed to think that having me in the video a lot was good.  I hope there are enough close ups of the wheel itself to demonstrate that she functions very well indeed despite her wobble.

Acrylic Appreciation Yarn Ball

A fun new yarn ball arrived.  I love this swap!

1970s Ashford Traditional

My new traddy got an old traddy big brother.  Too bad I am having an awful time figuring out how the bolts on the conrod work.

Beach Yarn Ball

I did a magic yarn ball swap on Ravelry.  You wind up treasures in yarn and then as you unwrap it goodies fall out.  It's such a fun concept...which can have less than fun execution sometimes.

Spinning with pre-k

As you can see by my last post I am now a spinning expert....  Not quite, but I do love spinning and I definitely love sharing that joy with others.  My son's pre-k teacher was over the moon when I filled out a questionnaire and said I knit and spin.  She immediately tapped me for a demonstration in class and part 1 of 2 finally happened.

Thanks to lots of nice people on Ravelry my little stash of scratchy wool for the kids to feel blossomed into a myriad of fibers.  It was adorable to watch them rub things on their cheeks or stick their noses in the bags and sniff.  I think there must be a budding spinner in the mix because he loved that lanolin smell and would not pass the bag.  He just kept inhaling.  They loved unraveling a silk cocoon and couldn't believe that it kept on going and didn't even look like we'd made a dent in it.
 

I also brought along my niddy noddy and swift and skein winder so they hand more hands on activities.


In our next class they get to assemble cd drop spindles, thigh spin with alpaca and spin a little more on the spinning wheel with me.  Then we'll braid all their fibers together so they can make a bracelet.

Their teacher is great and she has some skeins I spun that they are going to do natural dyeing with.   All the parents are collecting onion skins for them.

It was so much fun.  I think I may have enjoyed it more than the kids.  I was so surprised when an hour had flown by and we didn't have any melt downs.  The kids stayed pretty focused the whole time.  It's the wonder of wool.

The newest addition to my home

I have been wanting a spinning wheel for years--literally over a decade. I first wanted one when I learned to weave and then like a gateway drug I learned to spin. But then I was a poor college student and couldn't afford a wheel. Fast forward years and I learn to knit and that leads me back to my spinning love. But now I'm paying off being a poor college student and have 4 children. So I saved bits and bobs of cash here hoping one day I'd find something great. And this morning thanks to a nice man on Craigslist a 2010 Ashford Traditional walked through my door for a very affordable price. It also came with a TON of wonderful wool to spin. My boys think I bought them a pirate wheel to drive so I'm going to have to lock it away from their grubby little fingers. But I probably will try and teach them to spin. I need to oil it and adjust the drive band that you can see hanging off, but I wanted to take pictures as soon as it arrived. I'm in love!

He had already spun a little and left it for me since there's more of this color to spin.

Here's the great fiber, some batts and top and a niddy noddy.