Wheel and First Handspun!

I suppose it is time to talk about my wheel when it came in. I left work early to go pick it up. When I got to the yarn shop Lucy told me she didn't have time to give me a lesson but I bought some merino/silk blend ( don't have a picture right now) and a niddy noddy for when I wanted to make a hank before I left.

When I got home I ripped open the box and got to work on putting my baby together! I just wasn't expecting it to take 3 hours!!!!

So it took me 3 hours to put together, meaning I didn't have much time to do actual spinning on it because I was tired, cranky, my back hurt and it was almost bed time! But I tried for a little while and lets just say I wasn't a natural. I couldn't get it to turn the right way and the fiber kept breaking =( very frustrating.

But I eventually got the hang of it and produced a nice bobbin of purple corriedale singles =)

Obviously they are thick and uneven but it was my first time! And I have definately seen worse. I eventually got bored with spinning the purple because I knew it was messed up so I wanted to try something else. I grabbed the wool blend I bought from MaineWoodsYarns in the birch tree color way and it spun up gorgeous! I LOVED the colors but I messed half the roving up when I started so I couldn't get two bobbins to ply. So what did I do? I plyed it with the purple and it is beautiful.

Yes I know, I need to start taking pictures during daylight hours, they are terrible! But the yarn is soooooo pretty! I wish I had more =(

84 yards of bulky weight yarn wool blend and corriedale. I am in love with the colors and I am going to try to find that colorway again and order more, it is just love I tell you! I hope I have enough to make a hate with in, I don't think I would even take it off =)

Dying to Dye

My wheel arrived! Well it arrived last week, but I have been playing with it ever since! I am certainly not a natural by any means. Everytime I tried to spin the wheel one way it kept going the other way, I mean it would unspin what I spun and the fiber would break. Muy frustrating! Eventually I got the hang of it and have been spinning lovely (yet kind of thick) singles that are incredibly over spun....but I digress. Practice makes perfect thats for sure! I dont have any pics right now, but I will post them next time.

In the meantime I have gotten this strong compulsion......to dye. As in dye roving so I can spin yarn in the colors I want and create my own colorways! Wouldn't that be sooooooo coool? There are so many people online that dye their own roving and it comes out so pretty, alot even sell them on Etsy.com and have little businesses. I probably won't go that far because lets face it, I can't stand still long enough to start a business.

So I went and bought a pound of wool blend roving (very cheap stuff, good for a beginner) and a dye kit that comes with 8 dye colors, gloves, mixing cups, bottles, a face mask, eye dropper, and a booklet on how to get started. All I need now is the vinegar and we are good to go!

The dye kit came from Hello Yarn and the roving came from Spunky Eclectic, both very good online stores for spinning stuff. So now I am going to try my hand at dyeing....I will be sure to post pics of my first colorway! I am thinking comic book inspired.....yes that is a good idea.

P.S 25 Weeks til Disney!

Valentines Day

I have been so caught up in all my spinning and roving talk that I completely forgot to talk about Valentines day! It was such an awesome night! I got me and Rob a hotel room near our house so we wouldn't have to deal with parents or kids bothering us...not to mention we could snuggle and watch TV without the noise! So I checked into the hotel a little early to get ready for our night. He didn't tell me where we were going, just that I should dress comfortably.

So he calls me and asks which room I was in and comes up. He walks in wearing sweats and a long johns shirt. Not that it wasn't adorable (i love it when he looks comfy! means I will be comfy when we snuggle ^_~) but I was a little confused. I thought we were getting ready for a romantic evening. But before I could say anything he started pulling things out of his overnight bag. He cooked me an entire meal from scratch!

He had plates and silver ware, he brought fancy distilled water in glass bottles, homemade angel hair pasta with yummy sauce he made from scratch, a salad with candied pecans, peaches and spinach, bread with garlic oil, and ice cream for dessert! It was the most incredible this I have ever seen! To think how long it took him to do all this and the effort he put into it just so we could have a nice dinner in and I would have an awesome Valentines day =).

I was thrilled with the whole thing, I couldn't have asked for more! But he also gave me chocolates, the new hulk movie and Supernatural season 3.....what can I say, the boy knows me. I just love him so much and it was such a great night that I had to share! Thanks for making it so special for me baby! Love you!

The Waiting Continues

It has been 5 days since I ordered my spinning wheel....5 days. I feel like I have nothing to do until it gets here but surf the internet for spinning tips, new roving and pictures of fiber people have spun. This is really getting out of control and to top it all off, today is Presidents Day! Meaning there is no mail today meaning it will probably take an extra day to get here! Oh calm my nerves because I am going crazy! ::Sigh:: What is a girl to do with all this fiber and nothing (but a slow drop spindle) to spin it with ::sniffle:: ......I know! Shop for more.

I bought this 4 oz 100% merino today because it was on sale for only $8! I mean who can beat that? Nobody! I hope it isn't a little felted or something....that would stink, but beggers can't be choosers I suppose. I really need to stop shopping even if I see a deal, I might not even be any good at this and I am buy all kinds of stuff for it! I could always sell it all to someone else if I find I dont like it and recover some of my losses, I am praying it wont come down to that.....I really want to be good at it =(. I also bought a book called Start Spinning: Everything You Need to Know to Make Great Yarn by: Maggie Casey. I think it is going to teach me alot once I get started.

Anyways, I have decided that when my beloved wheel comes in I am going to try to take a half day at work or something. As soon as it is there I just want to head right over and put it together and start spinning. I will just tell my manager they are closed on the weekends and I need to go during the week to get it lol. They wont care as long as I get all my crap done....though I have been slacking since I bought the thing. I am always surfing the web! I need to get cracking on my work if I wanna get out early! ICKKKKKKK.....wont need to worry about that til it comes at least lol

P.S 26 weeks til I am in DISNEY!

Spending Spree! Someone Stop Me!

I have been going on an absolute spending spree and I can't stop myself! I vowed at the end of January that I would do no more unnessasary spending and put everything into my saving, but I am weak....sooooo weak!

It started with all that roving I mentioned yesturday that I bought on impulse, then of course the $300 spinning wheel ( that I am tearing my hair out while waiting for) and now I went and bought more roving!
Isn't it purdy? It is a wool blend in colorway Birch Trees by : Maine Woods Yarns. I bought it on Etsy about an hour ago. I can't resist I feel like once I get the spinning wheel I won't be able to stop and that just brings the fear of running out of roving to spin! I seriously think I need to lock up all my credit cards and cancel my paypal account, this is getting out of control!

Not only did I buy this roving, but I signed up for the Spunky Fiber Club on the Spunky Eclectic website. It is $18 a month and they send you a brand new and unique colorway every month....doesn't that sound awesome? Yeah it did to me to, so I had to get it! That wheel had better get here soon....lest I keep buying all this fiber for it. Watch me be the slowest spinner in the world, wouldn't that be ironic?

Spinning Wheel Purchase...Guilt or Pleasure?

I have done it! I have finally done it! After much thought and painful opinions from most everyone I know I have finally gone and purchased my first spinning wheel!! The Ashford Kiwi.....

Is this not the cutest spinning wheel you have ever seen? Ok the Lady Bug is a bit cuter but this one has my heart at the moment. I don't know what possessed me to make such a huge jump from my drop spindle to a wheel. I have been spinning since the beginning of the summer and only on occassion. It is so time consuming to spin on a spindle and as much as I love it, I can't do it very often.

I came across the Spunky Eclectic website the other day and I was looking at all the beautiful hand dyed roving that was there and on an impulse I bought 8oz of it. 4oz in Navaho colorway 100% merino wool and 4oz in solid purple, 100 % corriedale wool.

After this little impulse buy I realized I had never spun with corriedale before so I started to research the fiber to see if it was easy to spin with. I found this website called Hello Yarn and I was immediately excited about the fact that the site was a little cheaper and you get more roving! So I bought 8oz of solid pink corriedale for only $13!

Well I bought all this beautiful roving on impulse.....but now I have a problem. There is no way in hell I would be able to spin all this on a drop spindle!! There just isn't enough time in the world to do it! I mean I have been doing it off and on for a while and I am not even done with the 4oz of merino I bought from Spunky Eclectic when I first started! What is a girl gonna do with all this roving with no practical means to spin it? She buys herself a spinning wheel that is ten times faster and more fun of course! I asked alot of people what they think about spending $300 on a spinning wheel and of course they were all against it. No one understand the joy of wool fiber.

I took yesturday off from work just to have a day to relax. I went to the gym with Robert Gerard and then out to lunch (love him!). Then I went to Cambridge to the only spinning shop in the Boston area, Minds Eye Yarns. This store is run by a woman named Lucy who taught me how to spin on a drop spindle last summer. When I went in, my intention was just to ask a few questions about wheels, but the first thing I said was I wanted to buy an Ashford Kiwi and she said "Ok I will order one for you!" and low and behold....I now own my spinning wheel. She is even going to help me put it together and give me a lesson on how to use it when it comes in. She is very helpful and sweet, I can't wait to get started! I left there with an armful of lime green and yellow merino roving and a smile!

I wish it wasn't going to take a week, I have never been very patient if you havent noticed but I supposed I can deal. I mean my roving is going to take awhile to get here so I will just play with my drop spindle until then. Robert Gerard agreed to laquer it for me and I am sure I will put some cute designs on it. Maybe I will have my friend Linny draw me a cartoon image of myself to put on the treadle or something haha, I love her cartoons!

When it comes in I will be sure to post pictures, if I am not too busy playing with it.....i feel a new obsession coming on. But I also feel guilt about spending so much money....I mean people are making me feel guilty anyway. They say it is frivilous in this economy to make such silly purchases. So I am feeling a little bad about buying it.......I am sure I will feel better when it gets here though =)

Disney Here I Come!!

Thats right! We are going to disney this year!! Robert and I, since the summer after senior year in highschool, have gone to Disney every year except for last year. We decided, since when we went in 2007 it was really hard with his new adopted brother and sister, that we would take a year off and we went to Vegas instead (which was a blast and a half!)
But this year we are heading back in hopes that it will be easier and more fun! I have to admit that I am a little apprehensive about going with them again just because of all the drama before. But Rob was in a wheelchair the whole time because off a broken ankle so that put even more stress on the trip so I am sure this time things will go alot smoother. I miss Disney so much and I really am looking forward to the atmosphere again.

There are some changes this year as well. We aren't staying in our usual pad (Old Key West) this year, we are actually staying at the Boardwalk Resort. I have never stayed there before, but Rob told me that you can walk from the resort to MGM and Epcot, my two favorite parks! I loved that because I think it is romantic walking around disney and if we dont have to wait for a bus then that is a plus! Unless of course it a million degrees out and humid, then I might opt for the bus. We will probably be doing our walking to and from the parks at night which is even more romantic!

His mother put us on a waiting list for the Yaht and Beach Club resort which is really fancy and has a fantastic pool designed to look like you are lounging on a beach. And you can walk to the parks from there too! Or talk a boat......did I say romantic or what? Of course that means we will have to leave his family in order to get the romance so I am hoping for at least one night with him alone. I love walking around hand in hand, going to the stores and eating in the restaurants alone. Makes me feel like we live together since we are going back to the same place together to sleep at night, I am hoping for the same bed but I won't hold my breath haha.

So in August away we will go to my favorite place in the world and I think we will have a good time, after all who doesn't have a good time in DISNEY??!!?!?!

P.S. The count down begins......27 Weeks from today I will be in Disney!

Twilight

I finished "reading" Twilight a few weeks ago because everyone told me I should and how it was the best book ever. I dont really have time to read a novel so I bought it on tape so I could listen to it while I was at working typing away. The verdict: I loved it! It was very romantic and dangerous and.......I WANT AN EDWARD!!

Why can't a guy love a girl so much that he has to stop himself from killing her in real life? I mean kind of physical reaction to someone is just so sexy! Who wouldn't want an Edward in there life?

Well recently I have been told that I in fact do have an Edward. A girl Rob met compared him to Edward in the movie and I must admit I was a little pissed about that just because that basically means she was attracted to him because lets face it......every woman on the planet is attracted to the idea of Edward. I don't know how much I think he looks like him.....I mean he does have a very nice widows peak and rather pointy canines. You be the judge.......

Edward or no Edward?

New name?

So I was thinking of changing the name of this blog. I mean I use to just knit so I named it Dragongrl's Knits. Then I started spinning so I named it Dragongrl's Knitting and Spinning. But now I am sewing, I want to get into cross-stitching and painting so it occurred to me to maybe just changed the name to Dragongrl's obsessions.......or Dragongrl's Hobbies......or something like that. It seems kind of silly to keep it the name it is when that is only a portion of what I do. I need to stop jumping from one thing to the other......it is getting comfusing and my house is quickly filling with junk much to my mothers dismay! Can't wait to move out!

Anyways.....Just a thought.....

The Suprise

Well I finished Christina's birthday present and I finally have pictures of it (thanks to her) and it didn't come out to bad for my first attempt at something by myself. Here is the finished product!

It matches her knitting tote perfectly! I was relieved I have enough material left over to make it and I am pretty proud of it. Though if I ever make another one in the future I am going to put a piece of ribbon on the top and bottom for better support and I am going to sew in the lines for the pockets before I sew on the back of it so they dont show. Those are the only things urked me when I was done, but she loved it anyways!! Can't wait to find other things to make!! A knick knack zipper bag perhaps? Too bad I dont have anymore of that pretty fabric =(