There's Another Hole in My Head

This weekend was a largely anticipated weekend for me. Yes, I know it was Father’s Day, and I called my father and my grandfather to wish them both a happy day. I sent my Dad a framed photo of our entire family, which doesn’t come together too often: me and Dear, my brother and his fiancée, my dad and his wife, and both of my Grandparents. He loved it, and it now sits on his office desk. It was also the last weekend of World Wide Knit in Public for 2010. I was planning to attend the meet-up in Houston, but then our trip to Dallas came up.

If I couldn't attend WWKiP, I had to celebrate somehow. What better way than to pick up my birthday gift from Dear? That's right, my perfect boyfriend was going to give me the best early birthday gift ever on the face of the planet. No joke, top two birthday gifts ever (that bike when I was 8 is a close contender). We drove to Dallas Friday night, and Saturday morning took a pilgrimage to White Rock Weaving Center. We were there for about an hour, and when we left we came out with this:

Isn’t she beautiful? Her name is Lola. She’s a Louet Julia wheel, and I could not be more thrilled with her. The ladies at White Rock Weaving are impossibly friendly and helpful. Anna patiently answered all of my questions and let me spend some time with the wheel before we left (she had put my name on it earlier in the week so that no one else would buy it.) I also got a lovely tour of the shop and an explination of the different weaving looms and techniques that the class was working on. I'm not too interested in weaving at the moment, but I can tell it's only a matter of time until the yarn lures me into yet another variation.

I spent some of Saturday and a little time on Sunday doing this:

and then some. I’m expecting to have another bobbin filled tonight, and then let the plying commence. I have lots of other rovings in my stash to play with, and more coming this week (maybe today???). I plan on plying the singles I spun with my drop spindle as well.

I am absolutely thrilled with this wheel. It has the smoothest treadle and is easy to use. I am working diligently at keeping my singles consistent (it’s helping that the wool I’m using is breathtakingly simple for a beginner) and trying not to overtwist. I can’t wait to see more and more come out of this … I have some plans to dye my own rovings and them spin them up and see what I get! I’ve got merino and alpaca to practice with, as well as different kinds of sheepswool until I get the hang of things. I am all too aware that I needed another hobby like I needed a hole in my head … but at least I resisted the Cricket looms (for now).

And now, a gratuitous kitty-and-boyfriend shot. This photo is small evidence as to how spoiled my cat is, and how that is totally not our faults.