Spinning Wheel!!!

I'm now the proud owner of an Ashford Traveller, with double treadle and double drive. It's currently sitting disassembled and partially stained on my kitchen table. It's a bit of a labour of love, and yes, I've been thinking that maybe I should have paid the extra $100 and gotten it shipped to me already laquered, but this way it's the colour I want it to be, and I'm better aquainted with all the pieces. I conditioned the wood, and then applied a lovely red oak stain. the last step will be the poly and the sanding and the poly again.

Oy.

New Project-itis

I've been working on a whole lot of other things instead of the alpaca mittens I started a while ago. Complicated Fair Isle knitting just isn't as relaxing in the evening after a draining day of work as it could be. For fun, I made the Yarn Harlot's "Unoriginal Hat," which was a nice fast knit and used up some of my stash. Yes, I didn't buy more yarn for it! I also started the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole from "Scarf Style" this week, and while the instructions were unclear enough in spots that I had to frog one section 3 times before I understood what I was doing, it's actually going really well. I'm using more of my handspun, so yay! for not buying more wool! And I've taught myself a cool new technique, so that's excellent.

On the way home form work on Thursday I was bad though, and I bought more fleece to spin. Only two hanks of alpaca merino! That's not overly bad.

Knitting Keeps me Sane!

Well, as sane as I ever am. I always need something to do with my hands, whether it's spinning, knitting, or something else. I can't even just sit and watch TV--I need to be doing something productive. I don't know if it's a compulsion, but I guess I feel like it's a waste of time if I'm sitting down in front of a show and I'm not actually DOING anything. TV isn't enough of a draw most times. When I was a kid, I would read and watch TV at the same time! I remember my dad getting angry with me for wasting electricity because he thought I wasn't paying attention to the TV so it didn't need to be on, but then I told him exactly what was going on in the show I was watching while reading, and he left me alone.

My friend Coyote says that if she's awake and there's not a beer in her hand, someone better be paying her, and I guess that's kind of like how I feel about working with my hands. If I'm awake and I'm not creating, I better be earning some money to keep a roof over my head. Or having sex. I just catn' have sex and knit at the same time either.

I'm Blogging thanks to Ravelry

One of the cool things about Ravelry is being able to link Blogger posts to it, and one's Flickr account. I guess I may as well take advantage of it!

I'm currently working on the Tiffany mittens from Knitty. I recently finished a sixth shawl, and my first Branching Out, also from Knitty.

I'm currently lacking any pictures, but perhaps I'll take some this weekend.