Although I love my wheel, it has its limitations. I have a hard time spinning a fine single on it – I can’t get the high-speed whorl to do its thing well.* I spun my two-ply sport weight ridiculously slowly to get enough twist to be thin, so it took a LONG time. In addition, my wheel is a traditional, so it’s not the easiest thing to transport to spinning meetings or out and about.

I bought this little spindle to address both of those issues. Well, it doesn’t really address being able to spin a fine yarn quickly, but at least I can spin a fine yarn. I’m hoping to get a three-ply sock yarn going. It will only take me a few years to get a pair of socks, I’m sure.

What’s cool about the Turkish spindle is that the middle rod slips out, and then the crossbars slide out leaving you with a nice neat little ball.

This particular beauty is made from Big Leaf Maple by Ed Jenkins of Jenkins Woodworking. He writes the weight of each spindle on the bottom! If I were to buy this one over again, I’d probably go for a slightly heavier spindle.

I’m very happy with this little spindle. I bought it back in June, and have taken to spindling for a few minutes here and there while I’m waiting for things to happen. Now that the weather is finally cooling down, I might even take my fiber outside.

I’m ashamed to say that my wheel has been neglected for the last month or two. It’s time to sit back down to that for a while! But, its nice to know that now I have a portable way to spin, too. How about you? Do you spindle at all?

* Anyone out there have advice on getting an Ashford Traditional to spin well on the high speed whorl?

Well, it was a few weeks ago, but I’m still enthused about the Carolina Fiber Fest at the state fairgrounds in Raleigh. I’m already looking forward to next year. I took the kids over on Friday, and we had a great time. I armed each of them with a camera, and they took some really neat photos.

I just finished going through J’s photos, and realized that he’s quite taken with spinning wheels. It’s too bad he wasn’t there on Sunday when I went back to demo with the Twisted Threads guild – I saw even more wheels then. I took my camera, too, but I was too shy to take it out of the bag. The boys had no fear; in fact, I had to tell them to stop taking pictures a few times! The minstrel wheel showed up over and over in J’s photos. I don’t know whether he was taken with it, or whether it was simply the most popular wheel there. This wheel, however, is one of my favorites of the day. We came upon it out in the heritage village part of the fairgrounds. The blacksmith wasn’t in yet, but we found a really neat woodworker, and this was in his shop.

We attended a cotton demo on Friday given by one of the owners of Dew Dance Farm in Sanford, NC. After seeing how cotton was processed, we wandered off, and then came back when the crowd had died down. Both boys got to card cotton and make a puni. In typical fashion, they were terribly enthusiastic about it all. I think they’re ready to grow cotton. What interested me is that she grows white, brown, and green cotton! She said that as you wash colored cotton, the color deepens instead of fading.

There were many wonderful vendors, and I had to keep reminding myself that I was only after one thing: a sweaters-worth of BFL combed top. I found what I was looking for at the Misty Mountain Farm booth. I bought a pound and a quarter on Friday, then got nervous and bought another half pound on Sunday. I’ve never spun a whole sweater’s worth of yarn before. I figure it’s better to have extra than to run out! Isn’t it pretty? It’s so, so soft.

Hi all! Much crafting has been going on; it’s only the blogging bit that’s been going slow. So, this is going to be a quick fly-by of what I’ve been up to. First, a giant’s belt for Mr. Titanic in the local homeschool production of Jack and the Beanstalk. I sewed metallic ribbon in a trefoil on each side, then sewed two layers of felt together for the belt. In order to accommodate different sized kids (or, more likely, one growing one), I sewed a small piece of felt across the front on the inside for a velcro closure. I put two bands of the velcro ‘hook’ side facing out and vertical on the fastening bit, and two horizontal pieces of the velcro ‘loop’ side on the back of the belt. The velcro pieces come together like a tic-tac-toe board, making it easy to adjust for different sized waists.

I finally finished my pair of River Valley socks. I had extreme second sock syndrome with these socks, for the simple reason that I’d gotten most of the way through the gusset on the second pair and figured out that I’d been using two different sizes of needles during the gusset portion. Yes, it takes talent. So, they were stuffed into a knitting bag and sat on the top of my bookshelf for far too long. Once I took them back down I had the gusset ripped out and everything back on the needles in no time. This is a nice, easy knit and a lovely first lace project for sock lovers.

You can see the first sock in its native habitat in this old post from July 2007. Yarn and pattern details, as always, are at the end of today’s post.

Next up is a funny little project I made for my mom to give to my cousin Lu. Apparently Mom had made Lu one of these pot handle holders for a gift years and years ago. It finally wore out, and she asked Mom for another one. I was up in Ohio for a visit, so I was there when Mom sat down to go through her hundreds of Workbasket magazines looking for the pattern. Oh, lordy. We started in the mid 1960′s, I gave up and went to bed sometime during the mid to late 1970′s, and she found it in the wee hours of the morning in the 1980′s. She couldn’t quite fathom how the pattern worked, so we dug out some old yarn and I started it for her. Long story short, I took it home and finished it for her, too. Behold the Ear of Corn pot handle cover! I made it in acrylic, but I think wool would work better.

I’m still two pairs of socks, a dishcloth, and a pair of mittens shy of being caught up, but I’m feeling a bit better. Stay tuned for socky goodness!

Details for the River Valley Socks:

Started:	June 2007
Finished:	26 Aug 2009
Pattern:	River Valley socks by Anni Design. Ravelry link to pattern.
Yarn:	Cabin Cove Mercantile Merino-Nylon Yarn in ‘Ink Blot’.
Needles:	US 1 / 2.25 mm
Notes:	Ravelry link to project.

Details for the Ear of Corn pot handle cover:

Started:	15 September 2009
Finished:	7 Oct 2009
Pattern:	Ear of Corn Pot Holder from Workbasket magazine, Vol. 50, No. 10, September 1985.
Yarn:	Ancient mom-stash: Jack Frost Wintuk Knitting (worsted weight yarn in yellow) and some acrylic yarn without a ball-band in yellow-orange. The husk is from my stash: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids & Heathers in green (I don’t know the color name.)
Needles:	US 4 / 3.5 mm for knitting. Unknown hook size for crochet – I probably grabbed the 3.5 mm hook.
Notes:	The swirly, curly thing at the top of the husk is a hanging loop. The husk is crocheted. If you’d like to see the project on Ravelry, click here.

This is the first time I’ve knitted the exact same pattern that my dear mother has knit, and had the results to compare side-by-side. Now that I see them, it makes me question… just how big a hole should a YO leave? My blankie has big, lacy holes between each ‘v’ of the ripple pattern. My mother’s blankie, by contrast, has very tight ‘v’s with an almost imperceptible set of YO holes. These blankets were knit from the same brand and weight of yarn. Her blanket (the green) is a bit stretched from six years of my son’s love.

I don’t know if she really tightens her tension in the next row, or if I don’t tighten enough. I already know that I knit much more loosely than the lady in question. My hands would cramp if I knit like she manages to do!

So, dear readers, how do your YOs go? Lacy, or not-so-much? Thanks for any advice.

Well, the blankie is done. I’m not sure about the baby… I haven’t heard from the mommy in question for a few days. Eep!

I stopped a little short on this one, as it was quite wide. I felt that making it the length called for was going to be quite unwieldy in the long run. My decision had absolutlely nothing to do with the fact that the pattern was boring me senseless, and that I get to make a quilt for said baby once this blanket is done.

Blankie stats:

Started:	28 May 2006
Finished:	30 Jun 2006
Pattern:	Reversible Baby Blanket, from the Jan 1981 issue of Workbasket magazine.
Yarn:	Caron Simply Soft, 100% acrylic, color 9909 – soft blue. This yarn is very shiny, and hard to photograph true-to-color.
Needles:	Size 8 circular

Mid-morning sky, as seen from my backyard. I can confirm that the mosquitos are out at 10 in the morning. What’s that all about?

Today’s forcast: hot and sunny with beautiful wispy clouds. Come on over, and we’ll have a barbeque!

Here’s the obligatory it’s-all-about-me post.

What do you need to know? I’m thirty-something, I’m a secular homeschooling mom of twins, and I’m interested in all sorts of crafts. Lately, I’ve been doing more knitting than anything else.

The important thing to confess right now is that I’m a fantastic project starter. Finding the pattern, buying the supplies, starting right away with that “project high”… and then wishing I could start something else.

I’m hoping that by publishing my progress out here in the ether, I’ll have a little more incentive to actually finish something.

Hey, it’s worth a try, right?