She's a beauty!

I took Monday off specifically to go to Detta's Spindle in Maple Plain, MN to buy a new spinning wheel. After 3 hours of driving, I got to pet her lovely wheels. Had it narrowed down to just the Kromski Sonata and Lendrum upright. That's it. All I wanted to try.

Detta was such a lovely lady and let me test out the Minstrel, Sonata, Lendrum and a Majacraft Rose. The decision was so hard, weighing pros and cons of each wheel.

So what did I end up taking home with me?

The new addition to our family - the Sonata!



It was a harder decision to make than I thought it would be. Wasn't even interested in the Minstrel, but it was love at first sight. Shiny, deep and rich walnut finish. Beautiful craftsmanship. Treadles were smoother than buttah.

Why did I end up with the Sonata instead? Purely for portablity. It came with a spiffy backpack and folded nicely. The fiber guild in Fargo spins together and I'd like to be able to join them sometime. Hauling around the Minstrel would've been difficult.

But I'm already saving up to bring my Sonata a sister. =)

I suck at this blogging business

As pointed out by Sarah, I'm not very good with this blog stuff, so I am going to make an effort to post more regularly. This will be good practice since I'm much more of a listener than a talker.

So what's been going on in my life? Lots of knitting. Not a whole lot finished, but many WIPs!

This is the Gathered Scarf done in Malabrigo sock, Velvet Grapes colorway.


Cashmere Cowl in Plucky Knitter 2py lace, William James colorway. There's about 400 yds in the hank, so I'm knitting this doubled.

Squid Socks in MamaBlue Simple Merino, Ink colorway

And still chugging away on the Central Park Hoodie v2.o. This time it's going much more smoothly and I'm very happy with the results. Yarn is Cascade 220 Tweed in Pine. I'm actually about 80% done on the project. Back and 2 fronts are blocked already, and am almost done with the 2nd sleeve. Whew! Hoping to be done with this by the end of the month. That seems like a reasonable goal.



I've been feeling a little winter blues lately, just wanting to get out of Dodge and get some sunshine. Maybe a trip to South Beach? Even with the blues, I still like the snow, especially today's. It's rare that we get nice, fluffy, snowman snow in Fargo. Usually the wind gets to it before anybody really gets to enjoy it.

This is the view from my shop.


That giant snowflake isn't real ;).