I GOT IT!!!

Okay so that title is straight out of Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and I know that didn't escape a single one of you, but WOT-EVA BECAUSE I GOT MY WHEEEEEEEEEEEELLLL!!!

Seeeeeeee, my lovely boss decided to give us all a sweet-ass bonus, which just happened to be enough to buy me my dream-first-wheel... a Kromski Minstrel in a lovely walnut finish! Beautiful!

I have been dreaming and lusting after this wheel for months and months and months. Literally dreaming about it. I have never wanted something so badly (cue the Def Leppard). Wasting no time, that night I drove down to Middleboro, MA, about an hour south of Boston, to see the GORGEOUS Cheryl at Spin-A-Bit, to buy my wheel.

And ooohohohohoooo my lawdy is she beautiful... We made sweet, sweet love aaaalll niiiiight looooonnnggg...

The following are selections from the near-pornographic photoshoots I've done of my wheel and my first skeins of yarn. (You're a demure little kitten. NOW YOU'RE A TIGER!) There were so many photos, these are only the good ones. Sure, I could have narrowed it down even further, but ummmm, it was a big moment and it's my blog so I win!

First, I present to you... The Wheel (she is as yet unnamed)














Ahhhh...


Here we have the very first yarn I've ever spun- this was made from the combed merino top I got at the Gore Place Sheep and Wool Festival this Spring with my knittas



Plus some lovely brown Romney wool that I got at the MaS&W, of which I do not have a picture.

I spun 'em (having, mind you, no effing clue what I was doing) and then plied 'em, and this is what I got:

Still on its bobbin:



And here we have Ken, TBF, displaying and presenting the bobbin:




Letting The Yarn Commune With Nature














And finally, here are the two skeins I finished last night, which will eventually become light mittens, I think. Oh, they are so soft! This was spun from the hand-dyed bat I got from Cheryl when I bought my wheel.










Never had ONE lesson! Whaat?! Whaaaaat?!?:










I am such a happy Jenny right now! What's funny is that my boss, when he was but a wee long-haired, semi-mulleted bass player in the late 80's/early 90's, had a band called Spinning Jenny. IT'S LIKE IT WAS MEANT TO BE.

So now, I'm still knitting my roommate's socks (big man-feet+stockinette=NEVER ENDING SOCKS), but I have so many projects I want to get started on! At least I know I won't be spending money on yarn anytime soon. Maybe a few more sets of needles, though... And MORE ROVING!!!

Sooooo, me and my knittas got together recently to do something we've been dreaming of for months now... To Dye.

I began the very exciting day by sending them a clip of Keifer Sutherland in the movie Flatliners saying "Today is a good day to dye." Because of course he was talking about permanently adding pigmentation in various shades to skeins of natural yarn... Well, as were we, my friends... as were we.

So, first let's start off with the undyed yarn (Bare 100% Merino fingering weight sock yarn from Knitpicks):

Aaaaaaand, the pictures post-Kool Aid:

The darkest color is Tropical Punch, the lighter pink is a mix of Pink Lemonade and Cherry and the orange is, of course, Mandarina Tangerine.

Pretty kick ass, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, I'm knitting a pair of socks for my awesome new roommate Nathaniel Daniel. He picked the yarn which, at first, I was not a fan, but now that it's knitting up I'm really liking it! I've decided to really go off the reservation and try a TOE UP pattern! Crizazy, y'all. I'm loving knitting this way, btdubs.

Here's the picture so far:



Okay so not a very beefy entry, granted, but I've not been in a blogging mood lately, so I'm just happy I put anything in!

Wheel Update: Still don't have one! But I'm hoping in the next month I will get my wheel. Hoohhhh I can't wait...