Welcome to the flock Reginald

Reginald is the newest member of the spinning wheel family.  I was at spin-in on Saturday and noticed him in Mary's space at Anoka Fiber Works.  He was a little dusty and needed his screws tightened, and I thought he was amazing!  On Tuesday, armed with tools and a dust cloth I set to work on him.  Mary had some oil and in no time he was in his element.  I brought the pound of Jacob/silk noil roving with me added a long leader to the bobbin and now have a nice single in the works.  Reginald is an Ashford Country Spinner.  Knitsinclass (Kate) is his former owner.  Joanne was helpful today in helping me track down the instructions.  Naturally we started looking at the internet together, which led us from the Ashford website to Ravelry, and then we looked at patterns, and so on and so forth.

The Ashford Country Spinner Double Treadle was made between 1999-2012 according to the website.  I did not notice a date stamp on Reginald, but I did find a date stamp on Louie (8088) making his birthday in 1988.

Reginald in all his glory.  The fiber is Jacob/silk noil Deb Peterson carded at Ewespun Woolen Mill the day of our field trip to her farm recently.

Now I know Louie's age!  On the bobbin is more of the Dark Side of the Moon.  I will have a sweater's worth when I am finished.  

I finished Dreaming of Provence by Tori.  It is a lovely pattern and the Madeline Tosh Unicorn Tails were the perfect choice of yarn for this project.  It is the perfect hat to wear on a cool spring day.

From bottom to top: poppies, lavender, sunflowers and almond flowers.

I recently had a class at Anoka Fiber Works using the Harrisville rug hooking kits.  Everything was included, but I encouraged the students to bring bits and bobs of their handspun yarn to use in addition to the yarn in the kit.  Deb Peterson carries the kits in her Anoka Fiber Works space.

Mine is on the left and Dawn's on the right.  Adding our own bits and bobs of handspun yarn made each picture unique.

Last but surely not least is Monkey Jacobus.  I finished him during the latest monkey class.  It is a challenging project to knit, but the result is so darned cute and always brings makes me smile.  He got into the leftover blue yarn and is making himself some pants.  Annita Wildshut's toy patterns are delightfully charming.  One of my students started the Vera Bear and it is adorable.  She said that after knitting the monkey the bear  is very easy.  

Monkey pants in the making!

Spin a little knit a lot

My hands have been busy working on class and shop samples and on some wheel and spindle spinning.  I was on the last section of Wavelength when I noticed some funky looking stitches, which prompted me to frog and then re-knit...and frog and then re-knit...I am now back to the correct number of stitches in the sections (naturally the extra stitches occurred in just a couple of sections).  Taking a break for a bit to regroup and do some other work.

On the needles:  Wavelength, P Chullo, Beaded Beret, Kaffe Fassett KAL bolster, and Greta for the shop.  Tangled, Pigment, Goblin Hat #2, and Puffin Mantle for personal projects. I must not forget the Icelandic cardigan that needs to have the front bands and collar re-worked.  It would be nice to wear it this winter.

On the wheel/s and spindle/s:  Louie and I are spinning up some lovely white cormo/navy blue silk noil blend called Dark Side of the Moon from Hidden Valley Farm in Wisconsin.

Cormo and silk noils

The single is thin and plied together it looks like a DK weight

The new siding on the house is coming along nicely.  Yesterday Tom came by to paint portions of the the soffit and fascia from the garage side of the house.  The Cameo looks nice and clean for the trim and the Montana Suede matches the existing brick.  Now I have to decide what new color to paint the front door when all the work is finished.

WIP Wednesday...The knitting demons have left the house and I am yet again on the last section of Wavelength.  Good grief!  It is a great project to knit, but I finally put small markers at the decreases and large markers at the increases so I can feel where I am in the knitting.  I do not always look down at my knitting--especially garter stitching.

The projects from Blue Sky came yesterday and when I finish the scarf I can start on the small projects for BS.  It is a good opportunity to try out their new yarn before the release.