Early birthday present

Hmmm, what's in this bag that Felix is guarding?

Well, look at that!

Woohoo! A Louët Victoria spinning wheel!

Sorry the picture's not the greatest, I wanted to avoid showing everyone my messy living room! You can see that Felix is just dying to get his little paws on that yarn. My wonderful husband urged me to buy it. He's also the one who spotted the Ashford Traditional for sale in the classifieds at work. I hadn't been really looking for a wheel but I couldn't pass up the price for the Traditional ($50) so a spinner was born. It took me a while, about a year actually, to get into spinning. I knew it would take time, patience, and practice to spin. The first few times I tried was frustrating, as expected, but I have friends with patience and wheels of their own to show me how enjoyable it can be and what great yarn you can create. The new wheel is partially Nathania's fault. She brought the Victoria to one of our spin-ins and I was smitten. I went home and told my husband that I wanted a new wheel even though I hadn't even spun my first skein yet! There's nothing wrong with how my Traditional works, it's just big and cumbersome to take to the spin-ins. Plus it's a little rough because it's older and was not used for a long time. The Victoria is smooth as smooth can be. I tried it out last night (much to Felix's delight) and I don't know whether it's the wheel, the fiber I was using, or the few pointers that Sandi gave me at the shop but I found it much easier to spin. I'm a happy spinner!

The downside is that now I'm going to have to divide my craft time between sewing, knitting, AND spinning. I was going to work on my PWAP last night but how could I not try out the new wheel? With the exception of one recent Sunday, I've only spun at the few spin-ins I've been to, but that was enough to produce my first handspun yarn (spun on the Traditional):

There will be more of this (and better, I hope!) to come.

Felix approves of this purchase. This morning he was curled up on the foot pedals. He knows this machine produces string, his favorite thing in the world...next to food, catnip, and a lap.