While I do want to keep using up stash as much as possible, the fiber diet is well and thoroughly over. Today a little box full of joy arrived in the mail. Inside it was this:
A luscious bundle of Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in Kenai, which will become a Flutter (Amy Herzog) eventually. Also in the box was this:
Fluffy, new-to-me Knit Picks Aloft in Silver which will shortly become a Cascade Kid Seta Cardigan (Marelie Hurter), a bit ironically. The Flutter is a random indulgence I have no need for but have been craving ever since I tried it on at one of the designer’s workshops, but the cardigan is another step in the quest to not freeze at work or swelter when I step out. The Aloft is pretty close to the color it appeared on my monitor, but the Gloss is much darker and greener. Luckily, the reason I chose to buy Kenai instead of the gorgeous purple or red I was also eyeing up is because I knew even if it didn’t match my monitor, it was probably still going to be a color I could pull off. Red and purple can be more dodgy with my coloring.
The other big, biiiig blow to the fiber budget is one I’ve been planning for a while, and which I feel a bit less guilty about because my parents’ Christmas gift to me helped make it happen.
A spinning wheel! It is a Kromski Fantasia and in a bizarre coincidence matches the floors in my house almost perfectly. I took it for a little test-drive in my LYS and it seems perfectly wonderful (and SO much faster than any of my spindles) but unfortunately it was just a little, awkward test drive because of this:
Much as I’ve tried to get creative and change my positioning/tensioning temporarily, it is just not practical for me to spin with only one functional thumb. Luckily I should be down to just a band-aid on the damaged thumb in a few more days, and I might be able to manage some drafting then. Spinning Tuesday will probably not happen this week though. Any advice for when I can finally play with my new darling? Especially those of you who started on a spindle and switched to wheels, what do you wish you’d known then?
Feel Good Knitting 
Posted by whatzitknitz on September 14, 2013 at 7:09 pm
I will be waiting to hear what other people that are more knowledgable say.
I am a spinning newbie – I’ve only been spinning for 6 weeks on a borrowed wheel. I am quite proud of my progress thus far. I have mastered the thick and thin beginner yarn ; ) and moved on to Navajo Plying a sock weight yarn.
I think the best advice I have heard so far is to attach some already spun store bought yarn to the wheel and play for several minutes ‘spinning’. you can adjust the whorl and the brake and stop and start with out worrying about drafting. just see what your wheel does. then move on to fiber.
the other good advice I have gotten was to not save fiber till when you are good enough. I spent a lot of time spinning fiber that came free with the wheel. while this was a good experiance it was kind of bleeck. it was colors I didn’t like and unlabeled fiber I had no idea of the content. then I won some nicely prepared rolags in a contest. they were so nice for the first time I felt like I knew what I was doing. I was able to do a long draw and my wheel was responding to me like I was really a spinner not a want-to-be. so you can spin fiber that you are not worried you will spoil but also allow yourself to spin something nice and experimant a lot.
Posted by feelgoodknitting on September 14, 2013 at 8:00 pm
The playing with store-bought is good advice. Everything on the wheel really does feel significantly different. And I definitely won’t hesitate to use the good stuff! It’s amazing how much better I got with the spindle once I started using the gorgeous blue merino-silk I’d been saving.
Posted by maureen15 on September 14, 2013 at 7:32 pm
I’m excited to hear of your spinning endeavors as this is the exact wheel I am hoping to receive for Christmas! Good luck with it!
Posted by feelgoodknitting on September 14, 2013 at 7:55 pm
Then I will have to post again once I’ve had a chance to play with it! Be sure to keep up with the comments in this thread too; I have some really smart readers who spin.
Posted by Leah on September 14, 2013 at 9:29 pm
Yeah!!! You’re going to love it!! Spin a little each day..and it will suddenly click and be very relaxing. Also, practice treadling slowly before you even put fiber in. (You can do that now!) Slow, even treadling will be your best friend. And..really try to understand the ratios and tension. On a spindle you do that intuitively. On a wheel, the whorl size and tension make a huge difference.
Mostly..have fun!!
Posted by feelgoodknitting on September 14, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Thanks, I will try all of that!
Posted by knitnrun4sanity on September 15, 2013 at 3:23 am
Ooo very nice wheel. Sorry about your thumb. Hoping that was nothing to do with spinning (or you may have fallen into a deep 100yr sleep;)). I am going to be watching intently to pick up as many tips as possible. Xx
Posted by feelgoodknitting on September 15, 2013 at 10:29 am
No sleeping beauties here! Just a nasty run-in with a kitchen blade. I am sooo impatient to start playing with the wheel, but all the tips are keeping me nicely distracted!
Posted by knitnrun4sanity on September 15, 2013 at 2:42 pm
OOo nasty. sorry to hear about that. Hope you heal very quickly.