spin, span, spun

I'm not abandoning my knitting. I'm really not.

I am, however, having a torrid affair with a man named Ashford.



He's lovely, isn't he?

The big hunk of fleece is what I'm currently spinning. But here's a little photo journal of my progress so far.

This was the end of my first day of spinning:



Pretty good, but we were given some really nice tops to spin, so that helped.

This is the same white wool, and some grey wool too, plied and washed:


The grey was a lot coarser. And a lot harder to spin. It shows.

After my second class, when the instructor checked over my wheel and pronounced it fit to spin, I found some roving in a box with all my bobbins and other spinning accessories. The wheel and the roving used to belong to my husband's grandmother. The roving must have been at least 5, maybe 10 years old, but it spun up quite nicely (despite my questionable skill). I dyed it with blue and green Kool-Aid, and I'm planning on knitting a scarf for my husband's granddad out of it.

It's not quite as bright as the picture shows:



Class #2 homework- beautiful, but very sticky, grey coopworth. Spun, plied and washed (actually a little over-spun, over-plied, and still wet):



Today was the day we got to spin alpaca. It was baby blue, and looked just like cotton candy. She didn't give us much:



The colour is not quite true. And that is a quarter beside it, for reference. It's a really tiny ball.

Lastly, this is my homework for today (class #3 of 4). This is what I've spun off the big white puffball in the first picture:



I think I'm improving. I think I'm in love.

FFO!

I'll leave the extra 'F' up to your imagination.

This is it. This is all my holiday knitting, with the exception of a hat for my husband (which has been a nightmare involving the brioche stitch and earflaps- don't ask).

First, a bag for my dad. This was the first present I knit, in June, I think. I still haven't felted it yet.



These are a pair of knucks for my brother. They were fun to knit. I have plans to make several more pairs- um, eventually.



These are mittens for my brother-in-law. His hands are not, to my knowledge, two different sizes. I have no excuse for why the mittens are. I'm fully prepared to rip one back and make it smaller if I need to, but I'm sort of hoping he won't notice.



A wine cozy for my father-in-law. He likes wine. Maybe this was a bit of a cop-out. My husband got him a $60 flag from his university, so that should make up for it.



The only person not getting a knitted gift from me is my mom. I was going to make some felted mobius bowls, but I didn't get my book back in time. Instead, she is getting a record by Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. Yes, an actual vinyl record. Very retro.

My kids are not getting knitted gifts because they grow too damn fast and like to paint and play in mud puddles. They are getting toys. I don't think they'll be too disappointed.