Vintage Velvet is at a pause. I finished the knitting of the 4th ball, and now I think it’s too short. so I’m undecided if I want to hunt down a 5th ball (finding the 3rd & 4th balls was enough of a challenge) or leave it as is and hope it stretches out a bit.

what kind of sock is this? where’s the toe? or the ribbing? nope, not a sock.

I’ve been swatching some Koigu and finally cast on a pair of socks (it’s been too long). Nagini (a Socktopia/Momma Monkey pattern) is now in progress using stashed yarn. They’re my current bus project. I did a provisional cast-on because I couldn’t decide what color to make the toe.

I also cast on a pair of fair isle mittens for myself Saturday evening. That one is using half-stashed yarn. (I bought the main color earlier on Saturday after a spinning meet-up)

In spinning news, I’ve started the second bobbin of the pewter. I have 6 oz of it and have decided to try a 3-ply. Only problem is, I only have three bobbins - I think I’m going to have to order some more.

oh, and I pulled out the beads and wire and made this:

granted, the Louet’s have a large enough orifice that you really don’t need a hook, but I wanted one. and it’s nice for adding an anchor when letting it ply up on itself to see how the yarn will look

a close-up of the beads

DSCF5675, originally uploaded by criosa.

to introduce my wheel.

According to the ebay listing, it is a Louet S50. Very similar to the S51, but an older style. It also has a matching skein-winder attachment that I didn’t take pics of.

The wheel made it here from the Netherlands in a week or less. (Left there on the 12th, arrived at the post office yesterday, where it was held hostage until I liberated it today with my signature.)

I did a little test-spin today after putting it back together, but didn’t do much since I don’t have any oil. We’ll get some tomorrow and then get down to some serious spinning.

Things I miss from the newer model (which we used in the class):

• 3-speed bobbins. These bobbins only have 2 speeds, which are at opposite ends. I like the speeds being at the same end - easier to adjust if needed.
• drive-band holder. On the newer wheels, the spot where you insert the flyer peg has a bit of a lip that holds the drive-band in place when not in use. Mine doesn’t, so it tends to fall off a bit when I’m swapping things out.
• easy-release brake band. The brake band is essentially the same, but this one is anchored on (whereas the new model has openings and you can pop it out easily when changing the flyer). The screw thing is also VERY tight, making it difficult to easily adjust the tension.
• the new high-speed flyer. This is the old standard flyer with the cuphooks. I haven’t filled the bobbin enough to know how I really feel about it yet.

The complete wheel pr0n photo set .

you may remember this post, in which I threated to purchase a spinning wheel. alas, the stars were misaligned and it did not get ordered.

but, after a successful bit of plying in this week’s class, I have indeed purchased a wheel:
behold. it will be is mine - it’s being shipped on Monday.

now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some reading to do…

yup, I’m making yarn. I’m taking a spinning class at The Fiber Studio with Virginia Parent. Our first class was last Tuesday - this is what I made that night:

I then went back on Friday to practice and created this:

I forget what fiber we used that night. I think it was a Corriedale cross.

in between spinning classes, I’ve been working on the sunflower tam, which looks like this now:

last night was our second class, and it went a bit better:

Coopworth

Corriedale

both of these fibers felt a bit ‘grippier’ than what we used last week, so I felt a bit better about letting it get thin.

we played with the hand-cards with the Corriedale, which is ok. I like the rolags you get, but not so much the act of carding. I tried spinning directly from the jumble of fleece (picked out a bit first) a little towards the end, and it went ok.

I’m tempted to see what I can do with the alpaca locks I bought ages ago (was going to be a SP gift, until I reread her info and saw she was allergic/sensitive to it. bah!), or maybe I’ll spin up the fiber I bought at Shepherd’s Harvest last year. I’m planning to head back down to practice some more before our next class - there’s a spinning group meeting at The Fiber Studio this Sunday (it’s the first Sunday of the month at 2pm, if anyone else would like to spin. are you busy Deb?)