New Obsessions

I have been having a lot of fun lately.  Well, when my headaches haven't been too bad I've been having fun.  Monday Karen and I went to Lawrence to the Yarn Barn.  What should have been a 2 1/2 hr drive took about 4 hrs because of the weather.  Torrential downpours (and I do mean torrential) and nickel size hail made us wonder if we were going to make it to Lawrence.  We were actually lucky, not very far away from us there was baseball sized hail!  We stopped at Ottawa for an early lunch so hopefully the weather would pass on by. When we left the restaurant it looked like it had stopped, but after a couple of blocks the rain started again, worse than before!  Could not see a thing, so we stopped along main street till it finally cleared up.  We were only 20 miles from Lawrence and we were determined we were going to get there.  Karen had Christmas shopping to do, buying yarn for all her Christmas projects.  She bought a lot of yarn!  And don't you feel jealous she is already that far ahead?  

Me, I  was determined I was going to come home with a spinning wheel.  Tried all of them out, from the cheaper ones to the ones I knew I couldn't afford.  Majacrafts are nice!  I was really hoping though that the one that looked like the best match for me on paper would live up to my hopes of it.  At first it had a squeak I really didn't like, but oiled it up and it was a dream.  And they had the color I wanted.  I got home at 8:30, 12 hours after I left the house, I really over did it that day.  The headache told me so, specially the next day.  After I rested I had to put it together, with help from techpriest to pound in the legs, while I held them in place.  Started about 9:30, finished at 10:30.  Take a look at this beauty!


A Kromski Minstel, walnut finish.  Isn't she pretty? 


Single on the left, first finished plied yarn on MY wheel on right.  



I have been thinking about a name for her.  The first two I came up with were Kaylee from Firefly(same show where Zoey got her name) and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Well, it has to be from some Sci-Fi/Fantasy show, doesn't it?  Those are the two I identified with the most from those shows.  But right now I am also obsessed with Doctor Who (though that one isn't very new) so was wondering about picking a name from there.  Rose, Martha, Donna?  Though I love the Donna character, the name just doesn't seem to fit.  What do you guys think?  Which one would you pick?  Or do you have another name I should consider?  Ann liked Willow, but she hasn't heard about the others.  

My other new obsession is lace.  I am knitting Convertible (rav link) and it is so much fun.  It is my first lace project but it hasn't been too bad so far.  I will cross my fingers though.  The repeats are over 13 stiches and 12 rows, with ever even row purled.  

Zoey, of course, had to help take pictures.  Her tail is in the picture up above, and there she is below glaring at the camera.  Some of the closeups I had to take without flash because it was so bright.






The pattern calls for button holes on either side and uses cufflinks (buttons sewed together) to hold it closed.  That's great, but I knew I would loose those first chance I got.  That was holding me back from starting it, but looking through all the ravelry projects on it I found one that solved the problem I thought.  She had crocheted buttons for it with the same yarn.  I thought it was brilliant.  Almost invisible and you can do it as you go along.  Yeah, not quite.  She sewed them on after she finished knitting it.  Well, that doesn't mean I can't do it, right?  I found a pattern for them online, struggled with making two (it was quite a pain in the pattotie) when I realized I had forgot the buttonholes on the other side! Aggh!  But, in the meantime, the ladies at knit night at Yarns had given me a brilliant suggestion.  A bobble.  Why wouldn't a bobble work as a button?  So simple, so brilliant!   I would have never have thought of it!  So started over again and having lots of fun.  

Hopefully I'll talk to you again soon!