Spinning yarn

I love handspun yarn. When I saw pictures of it online I wanted to do it. I first learned to spin on a drop spindle. I tried to learn on my own but what made the process really click was going to spin night at my local yarn shop and seeing other people spinning. There is something fantastic about hanging out and just learning from watching. I just got a spinning wheel because I found the spindle a little slow to work with. But I am not that fast with the wheel yet, hopefully with a little more practice I will be a pro :) I also have to learn to ply.... soon. I am still not that great but it is a lot of fun. Here is a picture of some yarn I have spun on the spindle

This is my first yarn on the wheel

This is what I am working on with the wheel right now, the same stuff as the spindle

Great yarn

I have a hard time not buying great yarn when I see it. I got some great Three Irish Girls yarn at the Wolseley Wool retreat. I am not sure what I am going to make with it. I do want to make socks but it is so nice I may want to make a shawl or wrap so I can just look at it all the time. What do you think?

Next I have some Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest that I want to make into Kai-Mei socks

And I have some Manos del Uruguay that I want to make into a Posie Moebius

Now to get stuff done so that I can start on these, then I can buy more yarn right?

Getting stuff done

For some reason I have a really hard time just getting projects done. I really enjoy a new project and casting on the new project. Then I get distracted with all the other great yarn and projects and end up casting on another. But I do enjoy getting WIPs done, and now that it is cold I like being able to wear my knit hats and mittens. So I got a couple things done from last time I posted and I have started a couple new things. My squishy scarf for my husband is done....

And the little sister dress that I was working on got buttons....

I made myself an hat

(Alright I have to say that I still need two legs but I promise to get that done soon ) Someone saw the hat that I just made myself and decided that I was going to knit their child a hat. It would be a quick knit and if she gives me yarn I will knit the kid a hat. BUT I am not happy about it. I am not great at saying no to people when they ask me to do things, and there are some people out there that do not take hints. I have enough knitting to keep me busy for a while and I like to pick projects that I will enjoy. What would you tell someone that tells you that that they are buying you yarn to knit their child a hat?

What I am working on

One of my big problems as a knitter is that I want to knit everything at once. I love to knit for other people and my children. With Christmas coming I would also like to knit for teachers. But it seems that there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. I am hoping that one day my list of things to do will be in line with the reality of how fast I can knit. What I really need to do is enjoy what I am doing now and stop looking to the future. So here it is, what I have on the needles... This is the beginning of a Noro entralac scarf

Socks for my daughter

A Scrunchable Scarf for my husband out of Cascade 220 heathers

A Noro Wavy scarf that needs to be blocked

A Knitty Fish hat that needs finishing

A Little Sister Dress that needs buttons

A Cabled baby sweater that I am not enjoying because the yarn is not making me happy

A Tummy Warmer that will most likely be too small for the baby I am knitting it for when I am done

Alright, that is what I am working on. There may be a few more things but I think that if I finish these projects I will be happy. I will keep you up to date.

One more try at this blog thing

I am going to give blogging one more try. I really like to talk about knitting and nice yarn. I am trying to spin, but I think that it may take more practice. A recent weekend knitting has given me inspiration to try new projects and yarns.

I hope you enjoy.