Have fibre will travel

Yesterday I received another amazing fibre delivery that I wasn't expecting, but oooh my goodness when it arrived I was totally gobsmacked. Talk about the softest most lush fibre I've ever felt. If you want to experience this incredible fibre for yourself check out Ixchelbunny.

Totally smooshy super angorino fibre
organic 17 micron Merino and Bunny blend - 'Fuzzy Boots'

South American Wool & Bunny
'Classified Materials'

1250 metres of 2ply Silk hand-spun
'Black Hole'

My second wheel was also delivered yesterday and of course I've already taken it for a test drive and it spins so smooth.

My awesome Ashford Traveler

Fuzzy Boots on the bobbin

I'm very happy with this wheel. Tomorrow I plan to take it out for my first location spin...gotta love portable spinning wheels.

Fibre club addiction and Niebling love

When I first started spinning about three months ago, I excitedly signed up for three fibre clubs. This means I'll automatically have three different wads of fibre sent to me in January, February and March this year. I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting it has been to receive the first installments of my fibre clubs for Jan.

The Ewe Give Me The Knits fibre club was the first to arrive. Its a lovely 100g braid of Merino and Milk in relaxing shades of green, blue and yellow that make me think of a shady pond in the forest. I'm looking forward to spinning it to see if the colours spin up to look as soothing as I think they will.

That week I also ordered some lovely hand painted merino braids from EGMTK and they arrived with my fibre club parcel.

The second installment to arrive was my Ixchelbunny fibre club; an incredibly soft angora bunny and silk blend in some of my favourite colours. I think this braid will make some of the softest yarn I've ever felt and I'm thinking I might even ply it with a strand of straight silk to make it even more special.

The final installment of my fibrey goodness to arrive was the Ixchelbunny Funky Bunny Batt Club. I opened this and almost fell over. Its the most beautiful fibre I've ever seen and I think its going to just sit in my stash till I can figure out how to do it the most justice.

I think if these three amazing fibre deliveries are anything to go by, the next two months are going to be pretty exciting. I cant wait...which is proven by the fact that on Friday I ordered more fibre and some silk yarn...somebody stop me...on second thoughts, nahhh that's ok...lol.

For Christmas last year I bought myself a copy of 'Knitted Lace Designs of Herbert Niebling' by Eva Maria Leszner. One of my Christmas presents was a lovely Japanese tea set from my partner and I decided it would need a doily to sit upon. So on Christmas day I started knitting my first Niebling doily from the book and today I finished it. It's not quite dry yet but it is all blocked out and looks lovely. I'm very happy with how this has turned out. After all, it is officially my fourth finished lace item and the pattern was very intricate. I have to add that I am also now completely addicted to knitting Niebling.

Pride of ownership

As anyone who has been following my adventures would probably know, I have been spinning for a little bit more than 12 weeks now. I have been spinning my yarns on an Ashford Traditional wheel that my very good friend loaned to me along with her bobbins, lazy kate, niddy noddy and learn to spin CD-Roms. Yes. She does indeed; rock.

Yesterday I had nothing on the bobbins and wanted a small spin, so I spun up 22g of pure mulberry silk that I had laying in the bottom of my fibre stash. I've never spun straight silk before and I honestly wondered if I'd do it justice as its such a beautiful fibre. But I needn't have worried; my 22g of silk fibre soon turned into 177 metres of super fine 2ply lace weight yarn...its gorgeous...even if I do say so myself ;o)

As green just isn't my colour I plan to give this little skein of turquoise heaven to my good friend tomorrow as a small thank you gift for loaning me her wheel for 12 weeks and getting me hooked on spinning.

I've been planning on getting my own wheel as soon as possible and I'm so excited to report that I have organised to purchase an Ashford Traveler from a lovely lady I know. It will be arriving some time next week and I look forward to its delivery immensely.

However, I also came across a second hand Ashford Traditional today for only $100...obviously that's just too good an opportunity to pass up so I bought it, and now I have my first wheel and a second one on the way...how awesome is that?

My Ashford Traditional
"Figgy"



Already spinning singles on her :oD

The wheel I bought was originally bought for an elderly lady; the mother of the man I bought it from, and he had a lovely little metal plaque put on it with her name engraved into it. I wont tell you her name for privacy reasons but as a tribute to this woman I've named the wheel 'Figgy'. Obviously I got Figgy home and cleaned her up, then immediately took her for a test drive....and she spins beautifully. She is an older wheel but she has been hardly used and you can still smell the natural scent of the timber that she is made from. She is solid and true, not a wobble in sight and her treadle doesn't make even the slightest squeak. But best of all, she is all mine.

Its all about the pot

A few days ago while I was out and about I stumbled across a copy of Loani Priors Wild Tea Cosies. Now, I've never knit tea cosies before, but I've stalked Loani's blog from time to time and been charmed by some of the delightfully whimsical designs that she produces. So of course, I bought the book; then rushed home to start building my very first tea cosy.

I received a gorgeous Japanese tea set for Christmas that included a lovely teapot but realised immediately that it wouldn't fit either the size or the design of the cosy I was knitting. So, on Monday morning, I had to rush out to buy myself a traditional type of tea pot. Ergo; the creation of the pot monster. It's Wednesday now and I have collected five more tea pots and last night I finished knitting the lovely 'Rosie Posy' tea cosy from the book.

The beast that started it all
Japanese Tea Set

Pretty Pink Pot

Japanese Influence Pot



Fantastic Earthenware Pot



Pot-full-o-shiny



Country Cottage Pot



Evil Posy Tea Cosy

Inspired by the mini bar, I mean baa

After building Eugene the sheep I was totally inspired to make a teensy little toy that looked like my cat Moo. The pattern is an original design, and admittedly he turned out a wee bit bigger than Eugene (which you can see in the pic) but all in all I'm calling this experience a success. I worked on it for a couple of days and ended up with a teensy cat toy that looks almost right and even like the real Moo, he falls over a lot. I'm calling him mini Moo.