Mach 1 spinning, describing the wheel not the speed at which I spin

I received my wheel this past Wednesday. I was up spinning till almost 1:00am Wednesday and then about an hour or so on Thurs and Fri and have about a half a bobbin full of dark grey/blue Corriedale. I realized last night after about an hour that I was gripping the wool so tightly with my left hand that my thumb was numb. I'll pay more attention next time and try to avoid doing nerve damage in the pursuit of handspun yarn. It still feels a little funny today. The first tries were just a mess and I fully expected that. I bought the book by Maggie Casey called Start Spinning and read about the drafting techniques which seemed to make it just click for me and it helped tremendously. I took the bobbin with me to Knitch last night and was told I was doing very well for my first attempts. Yay! I'll take some pix to post tonight. The wheel is very easy to treadle and can keep spinning on its own for quite a while which means it takes very little effort to keep it going.

I'll bring the wheel with me on Sunday to Knitch for people to try out if they would like to. I do have an additional wheel for sale if anyone is interested in buying one. I'm selling it for the retail price ($495) and adding an extra bobbin at no charge, as well as waiving the shipping costs. I'm hoping someone else will love the wheel as much as I do and they can get it right away without the wait or shipping costs if they want one. (Shipping is $60 and the bobbins are $30, so that's a savings of $90 up front) Extra bobbins and the strap and travel wheels can be ordered from our own Famous Steve, our Georgia Rep for the Mach 1.

I missed the Atlanta Spinning Guild meeting today since it seems to always fall on my Saturday to work. I guess I'll have to wait until the calendar catches up with that Saturday before I will be able to attend (or if I'm out on vacation, or taking a mental health day).

How?

What do you say to a close friend who has lost her dear husband far too soon? I feel so helpless to her and awkward about how to console her. I guess it comes down to she's my friend, she's in pain and my heart just aches for her knowing what she is going through. I only met Irwin one time at SAFF last year and he was quiet, with a quick wit and very charming. I know just by how Claudia spoke of him to us and related stories about things he did for her that he was a very special man.
If nothing else Claudia, know that you have my love and support whenever you need it.

I've been tagged for a MEME (pronounced meem, as I've been saying mimi too)

The Rules: Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Your answer, of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
1998? Working at the same place, but 5 managers ago. Knitting was on hiatus as I was really into making glass beads (torch and glass rods) and seed bead work and also doing cross stitch.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
1. Go to the bank
2. Grocery shopping
3. Make sure the new matress pad is good for naps
4. Got to Pet's Mart for kitty litter
5. Laundry

3. Snacks I enjoy: sunflower seeds, real gummi bears (not the cheap knockoff ones), chocolate or chocolate coated anything, homemade cookies

4. Places I’ve lived:
Born in Duluth, Minnesota
George Air Force Base (near L.A.) California
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Hahn Air Force Base, Germany
Austin, Texas
College Station, Texas (Texas A&M college)
San Antonio, Texas
Jonesboro, Georgia
and now, Atlanta, Georgia

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Quit my job. Build a home here. Build a craft school (kinda like Spruill or Callenwold, but better!) Build a home in Austin for the winters. Build a home in the Blue Ridge mountains for the summers. Take care of family and friends. Buy my own train cars for traveling with plenty of room for friends. I'll pay someone else to worry about the logistics of how.

The rules say I have to tag 5 people now. Just about everyone that I know who has a blog has already been tagged except for Rob. If you're feeling left out because I didn't tag you, feel free to swipe the meme and post answers on your blog, then let me know in the comments.

Mystic Meadows Shawl

I started the new KAL Mystic Meadows Shawl this past Tuesday and finished clue one today. I was knitting on it at my knit group last night and didn't notice until today when I stretched it out to photo it that I have an odd row in the middle. It's not too noticeable, so it's now just a design feature. I was really tempted to frog it and fix it, but it's about 50 rows back and I can live with it. Can you believe I said that!?! I'm trying not to be such a perfectionist and stress myself out about the pattern and take all the fun out of it. (This is to convince myself more than anything else)



I do love the yarn! It's a new Saucy color in violets and soft greys by Numma Numma that has been named in my honor! It's called Bare Gossip (bare for bear in Knits4bears). Isn't that COOL! Allen gave me two skeins of it to make this shawl and I am really loving the color. I had told her a couple of weeks ago that I wanted something with purple in it to make this shawl and she said she was working on a new Saucy color that she thought I would like. I like, I Like!!

The next clue of the pattern will be out on Monday I think. I'm liking the pattern so far, except I didn't know there were going to be.. duhn, duhn, DUHHHNNNN... BOBBLES!!! They're little ones and not too many, at least so far. I'm not a big fan of bobbles (sweater zits in my opinion) but a few won't kill me.

The big news is the spinning wheel decision has been finalized. I just couldn't resist such a beautifully designed and crafted wheel. I'm getting a Spinolution Mach 1. Click on this link to see a Youtube video of the wheel in action. I'm so ready to learn how to spin! I've been putting it off for long enough. Now I'm so excited and can't wait to get started.



My soon to be new baby!

As the spinning wheel turns

The urge to buy a spinning wheel has reached a new, and louder pitch. Melissa brought her wheel to Knitch on Friday for Steve to try out. He is looking to buy a wheel too. I think we are probably egging each other on to a purchase just a little too. There is going to be a (SQUEEEEE) in the near future, I have a feeling. After watching Steve spin for a couple of hours, I went home Friday night and dreamt of spinning all night long. I think when you dream about something through an entire night, it may mean you are a little obsessed and there is just no fighting the urge anymore. There are just too many choices out there. It's hard to choose when there are so many great wheels available. The front runner for me is still the Kromski Sonata for all it's versatility. Steve directed me to look at the SpinOlution Mach1 , which is a beautiful wheel and appeals to the 'architecture' side of me. I'd love to be able to try one first to see what it's like. The one big downside for me is I really want to be able to use a WooleeWinder and it's not available for that wheel. My best intention, at the moment, is to save my money and hopefully find a wheel at SAFF and hopefully at a great price!


The Muir Shawl is coming along. I'm on the 7th repeat and it's going much faster now that I'm use to the pattern.



This is really going to be light as a feather when it's done.