Handspun!

Well, I finally did it! I finally used the drop spindle kit that Kris gave me for my birthday (yes, way back in September. I'm lame.). You want proof? Here is is! That was the 6 oz. "start with me" bundle of merino roving that Adrian sent with the kit. Some of it is a little less than neatly spun (ok, or spun at all), but some of it actually looks like yarn! Yay! I think I'm going to knit it up later today to see how it comes out. It ended up being about 13.25 yards when done. And if you were wondering what inspired me to finally start playing with the drop spindle, yes I had an ulterior motive (OK, two, actually). My darling SP bylt sent me some gorgeous roving, and I want to play with it, so that was part of it. The other reason is that I've been really wanting to try working on a wheel, and being me this means buying one. So when one of my fellow Knittyheads posted that she was selling her wheel, and that it was an Ashford Traditional, which was the very same wheel that bylt recommended, yeah, I bought it. And per UPS, it will be here today!!!! So, I decided I had better start getting a grasp on this whole drafting thing. It comes and goes - I'm nowhere near consistent yet, but I'm getting better. Hopefully by not too long, I'll be able to get it to work. And the other thing about said wheel - I joked to Kris that since he had no interest in learning to knit, maybe he should learn to spin. He actually said he might like to do that! When I told him yesterday that the wheel should be here today, he asked if I had enough fiber for both of us to play with. Hee! I already was planning to ask him to make me a niddy-noddy - maybe he'll actually be using it, too! Oh, and my oldest dearest friend on the planet finally started a knitting blog yesterday. Go say hi! ETA: SWATCH! Interestingly, the part on the top of the swatch where the yarn is all skinny and even was the part I did Wednesday night. The bottom part, slightly (Ha!) more thick-and-thin, is from last night. I think I got a little overconfident. Also, if anyone cares, I bought Lee Raven's Spin It to learn from, because the instructions that came with my kit just weren't quite clicking for me. It's a great book!