By Tanya

This is a site to catelog, track and share all the various projects I create. It is intended to share and log successes and failures of my various craft projects. Soon you will see Handmade Cards, Knitting projects, Scrapbook pages, and Quilting projects, to name a few.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fibre friends are wonderful people!

I had the opportunity to spend a weekend with my maritime fibre friends at a Adair cabins in Kingston, NB a few weeks back. What an amazing time we had! How could it not be fun when you are surrounded by like minded people who enjoy knitting, spinning, dying and eating!

When I arrived we found an amazing fibre shop set up right in the Cabin.

DSCN3216.JPG

DSCN3228.JPG

It was Janet of the Bobbin Tree who brought all the wonderful goodness. I think it's save to say she left with quite a bit less than she arrived with :)

DSCN3221.JPG

Zuma was living it up with all the girls and he was lucky to get out without being dyed. In my cabin Jeff and Catherine were dying every piece of white fibre they could get their hands on, and when that ran out they even over-dyed again!

I didn't dye much but I did experiment with our new drum carder. I purchased some BFL and mohair locks from Janet and off I went. It spun up beautifully.

DSCN3231.JPG

DSCN3234.JPG

Thanks to Steph for all the arrangements and all the rest of the gang.

Can't wait until next year. Actually we don't have to... see you all at the Maritime Spinners Retreat in October!

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Introducing Bugsy

Crazy as I am, I purchased a second wheel just before the postal strike from a posting I saw on Ravelry. I had been thinking that I needed a travel wheel and then I saw the Merlin Tree Roadbug!

He was for sale from Vancouver and it was a deal at $200 so I once again put my request in for it right from the comfort of my bed. For those who know me I have a problem with ordering things at night and I've yet to find a support group, only enablers. This was a big leap of faith for me as I had never tried or seen a Roadbug or Hitchhiker wheel before.

It took a very long time for the wheel to arrive as it got held ransom by the Canada Post strike, but it did arrive safe and almost sound last Thursday, the day before the long weekend.

It was a perfect scene when I got home early from work, still not knowing my wheel had arrived, and doubting I would have the luck of it being here for the weekend. When I walked in the door, there was a box (smaller than expected) on the floor and a bottle of wine opened to breath in a decanter with a pot of flowers in behind. My first thought was "Wow! Troy bought me flowers and opened a bottle of wine to celebrate the wheel arriving!".

Bugsy

Of course he had bought the flowers and opened the wine without knowing the wheel would then arrive, but you can understand my deciphering of the situation. Nonetheless, it was a perfect scene and I quickly poured a glass a wine and set to opening the box. The wheel was perfect except the orifice hook broke in shipping (which I've since glued and all is well). All and all not bad considering it had been held against my will in a post office depot for so long. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening out on the front porch getting to know my new cute but durable little wheel.



It was even smaller than I expected and much cuter. I've named it Bugsy. He spins like a little work horse and I just love him. If wheels can have personality, he is a little spitfire disguised as a cutie pie. I spun and plied over 10 ounces of fibre between Thursday to Sunday on him and I am so happy I made that rash decision of ordering him. Someday I plan to give him a makeover to match his personality but it's going to take a while to get to that point.

Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Introducing Rosie

It has been a long time since I've blogged and I miss it. Lots of new and exciting things have been happening but I think I'll just start with the present and move forward.

I've acquired two new wheels over the past few months but since they each deserve their own post I'll start with one for now.

The first is a Majacraft Rose that I bought from a lady in California and she came with a woolee winder and a ton of fibre. Well actually about 6lbs, but to a spinner that's a ton.

DSCN3156.JPG
The fluffy Pom didn't come with the wheel even though he could have fit in the box. That is our newest dog Zuma.

In addition to the fibre, there were two lazy kates, a book and 3 bobbins for the woolee winder.

DSCN3164.JPG

Rosie is beautiful and spins like a dream. I never thought I'd care to have a woolee winder, but now that I have one, they are worth the price.

She folds down and has a handle for carrying. However she is a bit on the heavy side and the beautiful wood is easy to dent so I also would like to have a second wheel for traveling with.

DSCN3169.JPG

Since I've got this wheel I've been spinning more than ever before. My previous Ashford Traveler was sold to a friend and is getting more use too than I was giving her, so we are all happy.

More pics of the arrival and set up the wheel can be found here