A New Obsession and a Mitten Update

Wow it has been two weeks since I posted. I cannot believe it has been that long. I have so much to share, so I will break it down into multiple posts this week. I don't want to write a novel/post that includes everything. That would be boring. :)

I have a new obsession. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I purchased a spinning wheel right before Christmas. YIPPEE! Unfortunately, it was damaged in shipping and it needed to have a part replaced. So that whole process took forever. It took a few weeks for the wheel to arrive, and then another couple of weeks for the replacement part to arrive. I have had it for a few weeks, but I haven't had the time to practice/learn at all. My wonderful hubby put her together for me, and I must say I am in love. I purchased a Majacraft Rose, and she is absolutely beautiful. She was well worth the wait. It has been really rainy and overcast so my pictures are not very good, but I just couldn't wait to share her.

The wood grain is absolutely amazing on the foot pedals. So unique. The craftsmanship is utterly breathtaking, and I am so happy that I decided to go with Majacraft. I did a lot of research before I decided to purchase, and I couldn't find any negative reviews of their wheels.

Now, let me be honest. I had no idea how to spin when I ordered this wheel which I know is totally insane. But I just fell in love with her, and I had tried to spin using a spindle which is as close to hell as I hope to ever get. I knew if I was going to spin I needed a wheel. So I figured I would just jump in feet first. Man am I glad I did!!

I went to the Spin In at Knitwitz over the weekend, and I took my Rose with me. The description of the event said that beginners were welcome, and I emailed the owner, Kathe, of the store to make sure a complete novice would be welcome. She was very sweet and encouraging, so off I went to the shop. It is about 90 miles from my house, but it was not a bad drive at all. I was so excited about the opportunity to learn to spin. Honestly, I was a little nervous. But all that went away when I arrived at the shop. Everyone was super friendly, and a wonderful woman named Jennifer sat with me immediately and gave me a mini lesson. She explained the process very well, and by the end of the afternoon I was spinning. Thanks Jennifer!!! You are awesome.

Here is a shot of my first bobbin of yarn. I used the scrap bag fibers I purchased from Funky Carolina.

I used about 1/4 of the scrap bag so far. I am going to spin the rest and then try plying it together. I had so much fun learning on Saturday, and the fibers were just so wonderful!

I bought some lovely roving at the shop, but I will share those another day. Like I said, I have so much to share that I could write a novel. :)

Last but not least....a Mitten Kit Update.

I have knit about half of one mitten, and I am not happy with my stranding. I have started to use two handed stranding, and I like the evenness of the stitches it produces much better. So I am going to frog the mitten and start over. I am a perfectionist. So, no photos of progress yet, but I am off this week so I should have some progress photos soon.

Wollmeise!

For the longest time I have heard/read such hype about how wonderful Wollmeise is, and I have been trying to pick up a skein since last September. I have never been able to get my grubby little hands on some, but I didn't get swept up into the Wollmeise Fever....until last week that is. I am a Loopy Groupie over at the Loopy Ewe (my favorite shop ever), and I knew that Sheri was planning a sneak up exclusively for Wollmeise. Well, I thought I might have a shot at this one. The Ravelry boards were bombarded with fellow knitters lusting after this yarn, and I guess I got carried away. I stalked the site for almost 2 days, but hey my stalking paid off three fold.

The colors are so vibrant in person it is mind boggling. The green skein is Lowenzahn (Daffodil).

This skein is Regenbogen (Rainbow). My husband actually made a big fuss about this one. That is a first for him, usually he doesn't get excited about yarn. He loves this one. Too bad babe, this one is all mine.

Last but not least is Red Hot Chili. I know that I tend to buy a lot of reds & oranges, but I just couldn't resist. It is so pretty in person. Absolutely the most amazing blending of these colors.

I now understand why knitters are so passionate about Wollmeise. It is absolutely glorious in person. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it.

Now, off to work on my mittens. :)

What was the name of that colourway?

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged. I am such a slacker lately. I have been caught up in daily business, work, knitting (of course), and I caught the yucky flu that has been going around. I caught it bigtime! I was out of work a couple of days last week, and I still don't feel 100%.

I actually started my Fiddlehead Mitten kit, and I must tell you that this yarn is so yummy to knit with. I haven't progressed too far as of today, but I am planning to work on them this weekend. I really want to finish up a couple of things before I devote too much time to them. I have a bad habit of starting lots of things, and then not finishing them. :) I think I can wrap up three projects this weekend, and then I can focus on the mittens.

Now, on the to focus of this post. I have been going a little nuts acquiring sock yarn over the past two weeks or so. Most of it was scored on Ravelry through swaps, but I did order two custom skeins from Sam of sKNITches. Here is one of the custom skeins.

Wait a minute....what does that label say?!?

Yep, that is correct...my very own colourway! I asked Sam to create a skein using the colors of my blog and Minerva herself. I am so happy with the way the colors came together, and I cannot wait to knit it up. It is so soft and squishy!

The second colourway is called Fresh, and it is made up of my favorite summer colors. Here it is....

Sam was an absolute delight to work with, and her translation from idea to actual product is amazing. I will be buying a lot of yarn from her in the future....sKNITches is now in my "top five" sock yarns.

If you want to take a look at my other new sock yarns click here. I had so much fun swapping with other knitters on Ravelry, and it was a really neat way to meet some great people. Every experience was a positive one. Plus, it was a great way to adjust my stash a bit. I bought a lot of sock yarn when I started knitting last year, and I have since discovered my knitting preferences.

Wow...that's a big hat

It has taken all the will power I have not to start on the Fiddlehead Mittens this week. I immediately wanted to cast on, but once I got set up I realized that I currently had 3 projects in need of finishing. Now, I do not mean that I only have 3 UFOs....no way! I have been consistently working on these three projects, and I am very excited about finishing them. So I decided to finish two of them and then reward myself with the mittens.

I finished one of them this week, my Inga Hat. This is a seriously large hat. It fits my head snuggly, but it is so tall! This was my first stranded project, and I made a few mistakes. First, I should not have used cotton to knit this hat. You are knitters, and I am sure you know why this was a bad idea. Second, I kept knitting so tight, and now I need to block the poor thing to death. But overall I am very happy with the results. I absolutely LOVE the braid on the bottom. It was my favorite part of this hat. It still needs to be blocked, but here is my trusty model giving it a test run.




I am going to knit this hat again for sure, but I am going to use Adrian's modifications so that it is a bit smaller. I like how she adapted the pattern. :) I have some yarn in my stash that will suit it well.

I am off to finish off one more project so that I can move closer to working on my mittens. Let's see if I can hold out.