Deliveries! Fibre and Wax

It snowed here today. SNOWED! But I got a nice welcome in my mailbox. Two deliveries in one day AND another on its way tomorrow!

Yup, I wonder what this HUGE tub of wax is for...
Looks over at Julie... My niddy noddy is Aaron so it gets some too.

Now for the Fibreholics small sampler I bought the other day!

Another fine sample from MandaCrafts.co.uk. This one is as you can read: Space-dyed Falkland. I am not sure what "Space-Dyed" is but it is beautiful!

Extremely excited about this one! It has Bamboo and Merino. And you did see that right it is called Snail on a Mushroom! From the lovely www.thewhorlsend.co.uk.

Isn't this just uplifting as a colorway! Sweet peas is a great name for it! Superfine Merino 100s (70%) and Silk top (30%). If only the screen had touch you could feel how gorgeous this is going to be to work with. From the wonderful www.colourfuldesigns.co.uk

From Myheartexposed.co.uk, another repeat seller, comes this beautiful MHE Corriedale!

I am looking forward to this one... Superwash merino... Yes anyone who has read my blog knows I said never again! But maybe my spinning wheel will be just the answer for it! And her Gothick colorway is just too tempting. www.freyalyn.blogspot.com

Spinning Wheel!!

It came yesterday and the oil and niddy noddy I got in today! My brand new spinning wheel is an Ashford Traveller, with natural finish, double treadle, and double drive (which has an option to do scotch tension). It is pretty light now but I have wax coming in as well! As you can see in the pictures I have a radiator in the most awkward place in my room but my wheel is as far away from that as possible.

My oil, niddy noddy sampler, and the hand-spun skein
from a previous post!

So I put this thing together with a screw driver, allen wrench, measure tape, and a bit of improvisation on "candle wax." Some who have put their ashfords together will recall a small step where you hammer a metal rod into the slit on the wheel. I did not have a hammer and you don't want to know what my £10 screwdriver's shaft looks like now. But I got it in! When I had just finished tying the drive band on, our fire alarm went off in my building, for real. No fire just an idiot opening a door instead of a window in a place with all doors as fire doors (which contained the smoke in the hallway) and one of our clean staff pressed the black button. Sigh. It would have been just my luck! But it is safe as you can see and so am I at this moment. I have been spinning for the last two days, getting used to things and I just love it, soo much faster with plying and spinning in general! This would have helped when I spun alpaca the other day!

Ok now onto the spinning wheel!

That honey color on the center of the wheel is what its going to look like with wax, thats a bit of oil that spilt.

Organizer

I bought from K-mart (ok so my mom bought it for me :D), a child's over the door organizer. Why not a shoe organizer? Well, a kid's one has different sized pockets. Which is perfect for bigger things of fibre like my fibre club bundles. It can hang almost anywhere. This one will eventually go on the front of my wardrobe, but right now its in front of my window.

My curtains make it look like I live in a hotel... But you can see
the multiple sized pockets. It is much fuller now.

Amigurumi Accessories Kit!

Another classic from Planet June. A lovely little kit that includes loads of fun things! I got some extra eyes for my thread project!

WIP: Spinning Lessons -- Some Samples

This sample box was from The Fibreholics! I am working on spinning them up on my new Spindolyn. I will post photos when I get some more of them done up. I have finished the blue fibre and and started the one from LaalBear (Second one from the left on the top).

Here is all that was in the bag!

That is 46% Alpaca, 42% Falkland, 11% Tencel, 1%Angelina
From: www.MandaCrafts.co.uk

100% Corriedale from My Heart Exposed Yarn & Spinning Fibre

100% Corriedale from LaalBear

100% Superwash, treated merino from Freyalyn's Hand-dyed Fibres

Merino/Nylon from The Thyacine

AND a 5.5mm Circular needle!!

Here is the lovely package it came in:

My Portable Workspace

We all have them, those portable workplaces when we travel for long periods of time.

This is my notebook where you can see my designs for the
filet crochet for my mom's scarf.

This is my Wal-Mart Craft bag! AND I LOVE IT! You cannot imagine the amount of things I have shoved (of course I mean neatly shoved) into this puppy. It overflows with pockets and fun things!

My New Spindolyn!!

I have finally received my new spindolyn!! Music in the background is Glee Cast-- Smile. It spins for 28 seconds!



Just wonderful! Has many base designs and 2 options for the spindle. All handcrafted! http://knittinganyway.com

Spinning on the Spindolyn

I just bought one these! I will take pictures when it arrives!!

New Tools

I hoard updates and I have been too busy to add these new tools:

Yeah, boring cable needles... BUT when I add my library page
you'll see why these are fun!

Yup, pins for blocking, the ones I used for a scarf
 *shakes head* disappointing. But John Lewis to the rescue!

Coming up in the week!

So I have been doing a lot of things lately, being behind in my updating (as you may have noticed if you are subscribed by RSS feed).  My PhD will kick off on Monday where I will measure (well remeasure) my bone collection #1. Why you don't know I study bones? It is called Human Osteoarchaeology. Some people may have "problems" with me studying human remains. Please note: We treat all human remains ethically and follow all procedures to make sure they are treated with respect. At no time do we forget these were human beings (and sometimes animals they had around them). Trust me even when we want to forget we can not forget.

Phew, that said, let's get on with the fun things! So this week there are projects starting (besides the ones already begun) and hopefully a few ending. I am working on two christmas gifts that must remain secret until they have been given to the person but I will hint at them, but no pictures.

Something I MUST mention: Planet June's Accessories by June Gilbank. You will see one of her new accessories on my In-progress list very soon. You can see three of her designs on my list already (the Alpaca and the TWO Cacti projects). I have a ferret pattern too.... And well the detail stuffing tool works, here stitch markers are my favorites and she just came out with an IDIOTs GUIDE TO AMIGURUMI. Phew. One amazing person and so nice!

So what are my fingers itching to put up on Ravelry as a work in progress?? A new scarf using the Belle Epoque Yarn:

Next up will be ANOTHER scarf using the new alpaca yarn I got:

I love the two colors together!

Next are two window draft protectors (or extruders as they are called in the UK) using my Scappa yarn!

After of course I finish the baby kitty pumpkin ;-)

If that wasn't enough my two christmas gifts: The Alpaca in-progress and the Mystery Mom gift in my progress bars on the side of my blog. You can see the Alpaca beginnings but only update I can give now is that I am about 40% done.

Think that is all? We shall see. I have to get a 4.5mm hook and I need to get pellets for my window draft stoppers.

Where has my spinning gone? Not gone yet!! In all this I hope to get all my teal roving done and start on other things. 

And dyeing?? Well I have that alpaca to dye... what color... what color?!?! I am so torn because I LOVE this yarn:

So am I completely insane? Why yes, I am a proud member of that group. But, why so many projects? Let's just say 11 hour plane ride and 5 hour car ride home coming up in November. I am starting a few crochet projects because I am ADHD (again not proven by medicine) and I need multiple projects to keep me well entertained. This trip I leave 4am UK time and arrive same day 1pm USA time. That my dear friends is a 29 hour day! I need to stay away for most of the trip to fight the jet lag. I have been napping in the afternoon to correlate when I get on the plane and when we are fed on the plane... I do travel way too much. I am going home for a mental break from seclusion and being in a non-animal zone. I LOVE animals and being without them really pulls down my mood after a while. When I went home last many bad things (as well as good) happened but I hope this trip will bring me happiness and a renewal of my student visa! 

Hope the weekend allows you to find something fun to do and joyous moments!!

Lastly, a new toy has come to my stash:

Oh yes! A pom pom maker!!

Knitting kit?!

So I got a package in and I thought it was Roving I was waiting on... I collected my mail (including my new Let's Knit magazine!) and I thought nothing of it. That was until I looked at the label and it says Artesano Knitting Kit. My mind raced trying to think, I know I visited the website but I do not recall making a purchase. I opened it up and instantly my memory came back to me. It was the kit I got for subscribing to Let's Knit!

So pretty with the DPNs and 2 skeins on that lovely yarn. PLUS two patterns!
And the yarn is Alpaca (my favorite).

Ball Winder

Royal Wool Winder -- Made in Japan.... All I can say is see for yourself the results!

Before, making a total mess! I had 5 of these.

After only 2 of them, but look at the difference!
I squeak with joy with this one!

New tools

These are two new tools I have. One I bought, one I got for free with my Let's Knit magazine.

For making Fuzzy Amis.

Double Pointed Needles.