See what I bought

Oh my, I don't know what gets into me sometimes. I so enjoy spinning that I decided to get a spinning wheel. Of course, they are all too expensive for a cheap knitter like me. So I shopped around and discovered that you can actually find them on the German ebay site and they are much cheaper than here in the US.



This is what I got:



This beauty is only about 20 or 30 years old, so it does not qualify as an antique. I got it for 30.50 euros. Of course, shipping it here costs another 30 euros, and I'm not going to pay for that. Instead, I'm having it sent to my in-laws in Spain, since I will be spending Christmas with them anyway.



Ohh, I can hardly wait until then, but I'm very excited and happy about my purchase.

Beads!

I asked my sister if I may knit something for her kids. She's a very considerate person and requested scarves, probably because she knows those are the easiest things to knit. Since I wanted something a little more challenging, I decided to use beads. After reading on several different techniques, I chose this method. I liked it because the beads stay on the front of the work. Of course, later my husband asked why the beads could only be seen on one side of the scarf. When I explained that that had been my purpose from the very beginning, he pointed out that with scarves it really does not matter if the beads can be seen from both sides. I appreceiate his usually very constructive input, but this time I'm leaving things the way they are. I'll post pictures soon.



I followed the instructions on this pattern from Knitty to get the beads threaded.




I am tired of scarves, but I like the feeling of almost instant gratification you can get from them. I'm making a purple kiddie scarf with beads on both ends for my niece, and I will make a blue one for my nephew. I wonder if beads will be all right for a 3 1/2 year old boy. My husband believes beads are for girls. Just in case, instead of beaded edges, I'll write his name with beads. I think he will like that, he's just beginning to read.

Spinning

I got this message from Stacie:

"I saw that you made a spindle! Yay! What do you think? Do you like spinning? Think you will want a spinning wheel soon?"


Do I like spinning? Take a look:






Thank you for your inspiration. I like it so much that I made another spindle and I'm now spinning the Kool-Aid wool from last week. And of course, I've been spinning the soy silk too. I see now that soy silk is not for beginners, it is not as springy as wool, the fibers do not stay spun and the rovings cling to other fabrics very easily.




As for a spinning wheel, I confess I've been thinking about one, but I am clueless. I wouldn't know what to buy, whether a new one, an old one, how big... would I even know how to use it? They are expensive, too. You cannot just buy one and then sell it on ebay if you don't like it.



With so much spinning, my ribbed blue thing is being neglected a little bit:


But that's OK with me. I don't want to get bored with one project to the point I will not want to wear it later (it's happening to me just now with my chronic green tank, I got tired of its green color and I'm staying away from it for a while).

A productive weekend

I've been working hard, and I have pictures to prove it. This was my first Kool-Aid experiment, using part of the rovings I got with my farewell gift certificate:









I inverted the lid while microwaving, that helped push the fiber in the middle so it stayed totally immersed in the dye. Still, you can tell from the last picture that the color isn't even, maybe it needed more stirring. I used tropical punch flavor and got this lovely salmon color. There's excellent color charts
here. And of course, you can click here to get even more information.



I'm also working on the blue ribbed top, I've started the armhole decreases on the back:

Overwhelmed

That's how I feel after so much information from orientation and now training. But I'm happy about the change, it's far more interesting than what I was doing before. Also, I can walk to and from work, or take a bus, which I think is wonderful after so many months of driving to another city to work.


I need to get back to my  ribbed top, but spinning has proven to be truly addictive. Also, don't forget my eight dollar whim. Here's a little swatch with different stitches: seed, double seed, K1P1 (which comes out twisted) and garter K1P1:





I've decided to use the garter K1P1 and the seed stitches, but I still need to think about the design.

Farewell goodies:

Here's the card I got from my co-workers. Isn't it cute?



I particularly like the Yo-Yo-Ba-a-a... sheep. I've been recently knitting in my husband's office while he's working until late, and we both listen to Bach's cello sonatas, interpreted by, you guessed, Yo-Yo Ma.



Let me show you what I got with my gift certificate:





This is self-patterning yarn for socks. The sample at the store was very pretty, I hope I can get similar results. This is very thin yarn, so I also got 2.5 mm dp needles for it.




And I spent the rest of my gift certificate on wool roving:




I'm enjoying my soy silk spinning a lot, but when I'm done I'll dye this wool and then spin it. I did not know spinning could be so addictive. Here's my soy silk so far:




I thought about getting a better spindle with my gift certificate, but this dowel+CD spindle is good enough for me.


Finally, this is me wearing the top I made for my mother in-law.




It's a little wide for me, but I believe it will fit her.




I'm sure going to miss the people at my previous job, but I'm very excited about the new one.

Last day of work!

Boy, this was a busy week. I still had to finish the monthly report and try to unofficially teach someone else how to do things before the powers above actually announce who will take my position. Very awkward. But I did what I could and now I'm happy to leave and very excited about my new job.



In the meantime, I read here that soy silk can be Kool-Aid dyed. This means I'll join the dye along. I never join knitalongs, usually because I don't wish to buy the yarns or the patterns (though most of them are gorgeous and totally worth the money spent on them). Being that this dye-along is on the cheap side, it really appeals to me.



The problem, of course, is finding soy silk. There's a lot of it on ebay but it's all been dyed already... except for rovings. So I got myself some rovings and followed Stacie's
example. I made myself a spindle (you can find links to the instructions on her page) and I've been relieving the stress while spinning the soy silk. It's fun, but it's not easy. A lot of the stuff ends up stuck to my clothes, the bedspread, the rug... Maybe I should have started with wool, but I wanted to try something new.



I'm really going to miss the people here, you wouldn't believe how nice they are. My farewell gift is actually a gift certificate for a LYS near me. I'm very excited. I'll be there tomorrow morning using it up.