A New Spinner Is Born

Hi everyone out there in Cyberland.  What a great day it is.

You know, it is always hard for me to write up a blog post. Especially since I have not blogged on a very regular basis in such a long time.  I need to work on remedying that. So my posts won't feel so clumsy when I type them up.  Maybe that will be a goal in the upcoming year.

But today I'm not going to talk about goals though. I've been having fun with my Christmas present from my hubby.  This year he gave me a spinning wheel. Yay!

I've been wanting one and just couldn't see myself investing that much money into a wheel when I knew nothing about spinning. So a while back I did invest in a spindle and some fiber and started spinning on my spindle.

Well, I was out doing some searches one day and found a very affordable beginner spinning wheel.  I forwarded the link to hubby, and what do you know, he gave it to me for Christmas.

It is absolutely gorgeous! It's the BlueBonnet BumbleeBee, from BlueBonnett Spinning Wheels.  A beginner wheel, perfect for a beginner like me.

So I've been practicing with the fiber I haven't spun on the spindle yet.  It will take me awhile to get a good feel for the wheel and what to do and how to get better at spinning but that's fine.  I know this will take me some time to do. But in the meantime I'm having fun with it.  The fiber is Ewephoric Fibers that I purchased way back in the spring when I went to the Carolina FiberFest.

Look at this picture I snapped last night.  it's the fiber spun up on my spindle and the same fiber spun on my new wheel. Not much as far as yardage goes. A thick and thin ratio.  But it will make a lovely accent for something wonderful.  I did purchase some worsted weight, dark blue Berroco Vintage to make hats and gloves or maybe a cowl and I want to use this as an accent to that blue. It'll be great.

Even though I haven't been spinning long, I can already tell that I'm going to love it.  I think it's safe to say, a new spinner is born!

A New First

I have a new first!  My very first handspun skein of yarn!

Can you believe it?!  It's not perfect but I love it. Very thin and then chunky in places!  Still, it's my first!

I'm already thinking of what projects I want to use for this

The roving was 1 oz of an 80% Merino 20% Tussah Silk.  It spun up nice and quick.  And I think I was starting to get the feel for the process there at the end. I spun using the drop spindle I purchased from LaTeaDa Designs a few years ago.

I'm really excited to use this now.  But first it's in the finishing process (wash and dry to set the spin {I'm learning so much!}).  Even though it's not ready for knitting yet, I can start contemplating what I want to use it with.  I only got roughly 45 yards.  For my first try, I was impressed I got that much.  So do I make a small critter like the Bluebird of Happiness, or use it as an accent on a hat or shawl? Decisions...