New beginnings...

I think that is a pretty good title for when one takes on a new thing in life. A thing that you never in your wildest dreams could've imagined you might be doing. The funny thing is that I don't need another *thing* to be doing in my life. My painting and knitting and life in general keep me pretty busy as it is. As a lot of people told me after they *retired* from my last place of employment "I don't know how I had time to work!" It is true. Anyway, crazy as it sounds this new thing called to me. It got my attention through Don though. Because a few months ago as I sat next to him on the sofa in our usual evening routine of laptops, TV or music and knitting he said "I bet you are gonna want to do this soon." Or something like that. What can I say? He was right. That said, I am now the proud owner of a spinning wheel and I love it. I sometimes think I am a pioneer woman sitting there making something that anyone can go out and buy. There is something wonderful about doing that though. So let me introduce you to Lola Jr: 

Lola Jr. is a Lendrum DTC Spinning Wheel and she is lovely.

Lola Jr arrived last Thursday and to be honest I was a little intimidated but after a bit of frustration in getting her to move consistently in the right direction I conquered my fear. Here is my first bobbin of yarn (crap, by the way but you have to start somewhere):

First bobbin of yarn. Alpaca from two different animals (White is Camile and Tan is Abby)

I should stop here to say how lucky I am to have generous friends on Etsy one of whom sent me nearly 6 pounds of alpaca from some of her older animals to practice with. Camile is one of them and the other is from Outlaw which turned out much better since I am getting the hang of it now:

This is bobbin #2 with Outlaw's fleece on it. It is very soft and silky.

The things I love about spinning so far is that it is a green activity. No electricity is required and the animals grow more fleece. It is also incredibly relaxing.  I can't wait to get some yarn that is good enough to knit with. Meanwhile I'm having fun learning. Besides, who could resist a face like this?

Gigi, who lives at Riverstone Alpacas 

I would also like to thank all of my new friends over at the Facebook groups Fiber Artists and Wool Artists and Spinners and a special thanks to Joy at Riverstone Alpacas and Kate at her Woolwinding blog for her encouragement and humor and Annie at Knitsofacto for leading me to Kate.  If you are in anyway interested in fiber arts or knitting check these lovely people out! As they say...Spin on!

Addictions (Updated)

I would be remiss if I ignored my recent re-entry into the knitting world. It all started at Christmas when Santa brought me a set of circular knitting looms. I went a little crazy making hats. It is surprisingly easy and fast. I can make a hat on one of those in a little over an hour and the come out really nice. Needless to say our grandkids got a lot of hats recently. But then I decided I needed to branch out a bit. I have known how to knit since I was a kid but had some big gaps in my knitting history. Plus, I was never very confident about what I made and had a hard time figuring out certain aspects. Enter the internet. And YouTube. And most of all Staci Perry and her brilliant website VeryPink with her great knitting tutorials. I now feel like I can knit anything. Trouble is it's addictive. Very addictive. So addictive that its nearly all I want to do. I even dream about knitting. But the good thing is that I am actually making things that are turning out! Amazing. I just finished a sweater for Don which actually fits him. And it isn't even ugly!

    

So, just in time for a new project (not that I don't already have lots of yarn in my stash) my order of Malabrigo Rios (Zarzamora color way) arrived today.  Take a look: 

I bought one hank of this luscious stuff at a local yarn shop JUST BECAUSE. I took it home and gazed at it not knowing what I wanted to do with it but thought maybe some socks. I knitted up a swatch and fell in love. I tried to resist but it was useless. I had to make myself a sweater out of this that contains all of my favorite colors. So I went online to see if I could find it cheaper and I ended up ordering more. I can't wait to start on it. Trouble is I need to wind it into 'cakes' first. I hope Don's arms aren't too tired tonight because I do not yet own a swift or a ball winder. *hint hint*

The other thing about knitting that I am thrilled about is that it is very relaxing and almost like therapy. Which I may need if I can't stop knitting.