handmade by stefanie

I've spent a lot of time spinning and knitting this week (at least it seems that way), yet I only have a few totally finished skeins to share here on my blog. How is that possible?! Well, the incorrect replacement part for my broken wheel has now been shipped to me twice. TWICE. I don't want to name names, because the company I ordered it from has been sufficiently apologetic both times, and I think they might even expedite shipment this time for my trouble. Alas, my Museum Grudge Match spinning project is still very much in limbo, but as I said before - at least I have a backup wheel! On the plus side, I was able to finish the Organic Polwarth from  Classy Squid Fiber Co. which I started after The Unfortunate Incident occurred. I plied both singles together last Friday afternoon and the resulting skein is SO soft! The resulting skein is approximately 215 yards of 2-ply sport weight. Over the weekend, I spun 8oz of superwash merino/nylon from Cloudlover  in the Quick...

After much debate, I decided to chain-ply the single I spun recently from the 50/50 merino & alpaca roving I dyed with easter egg dyes. The fiber is a new offering from Blue Sky Alpacas , and it was a dream to spin - light, lofty, and very little veggie matter or guard hairs to slow me down. Before I knew it, I had filled my bobbin with a single and had to decide what to do next! In the end, I decided on a springy 3-ply: I spun the single on my Louet Victoria (and unfortunately didn't make not of my ratios - oops!), and then I chain plied on my Ladybug with my Bulky plyer. The finished skein is 4.2 oz (118g) and has about 78 yards of chunky weight yarn; now I just have to find the perfect project for it!

My newest spinning wheel acquisition is from Louet ; last year, I borrowed the S95 Victoria to use during Spinzilla (I was the captain for #TeamLouet). This year, I decided to make it a permanent fixture to my craft room! What I love about this wheel is how easy it is to use. It doesn't require a huge effort to treadle, and it's designed to be virtually maintenance-free, as noted on the Louet website: The fly wheels of all our models are 50 cm (20") in diameter (except for the S45). They rotate on a maintenance free, lubricated for life ball bearing pack to ensure excellent spinning ability by allowing them to turn freely and quietly. The same maintenance free ball bearing is used at the footman connection. Absolutely no lubrication is necessary for the bearings to work correctly. It has Scotch tension, featuring a single belt, flyer drive with an adjustable bobbin brake to regulate the tension on the yarn as you spin. I find it fairly easy to spin finer yarns on ...

This week has been all about the spinning - at least, more so than usual. First, I finally got the bulky flyer for my Ladybug wheel that I've been wanting and was able to ply the 3 singles of Nerd Girl BFL together into one mega-skein! That was pretty exciting on its own, but the next big news item is the Louet Victoria spinning wheel (the one I borrowed last year for the Tour de Fleece and Spinzilla, in fact) which arrived on my doorstep on Wednesday. My craft room will be its forever home; it's official, I now own 2 awesome spinning wheels! With it came some lovely spinning fibers, too: Cheviot and Jacob , which I have been dying to try ever since reading the rave reviews over on the Knitting Sarah blog , and more pretty Northern Lights Wool Top in Icy Winter, which you may remember from my spinning experiment last month in which I compared various fiber samples spun from both rolags and straight from the top. I'm trying to save these fibers for either the T...

It seems like I'm not the only one suffering from Startitis this month! I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I suppose it's nice to be in good company. Over the weekend, I started a new spinning project which has been on my mental to-do list for a little while now: After first hearing about opposing-ply yarns on the We Are Yarn podcast, I've been wanting to try this technique to spin a sport-weight(ish) yarn to knit myself a pair of socks. A few months ago, I ordered 8 oz. of Superwash BFL from Nerd Girl Yarns in the #hashtag colorway , and I knew immediately that this was the fiber I should use for this project! Last night, I finished the third single, and tonight I hope to ply all 3 together...and I am already planning my next  spinning project, too! I also started a baby sweater from 60 Quick Baby Knits in some superwash yarn I'd custom dyed back when I worked at Lorna's Laces. It's not super-exciting to look at just yet, but ...

It may be counterintuitive, but there is something about summer that makes me want to spin more! My fiber stash is overflowing, and everywhere I look, I find amazing spinning inspiration. Some of my favorite bloggers have been enabling sharing their spinning projects; the latest examples would be this comparison of Top & Sliver on the Knitting Sarah blog and some absolutely gorgeous spindles and fibers on the Woolen Diversions blog . Not only that, but we're entering the final month of Spinning Spring Training over in the Louet Ravelry Group , the Tour de Fleece will be happening in July, and my fiber stash is overflowing with my latest acquisitions from YarnCon and TNNA . Conditions are just right for a Summer of Spinning! Spinning in progress: Merino top from  Abuelita Yarns . I've been spinning for about 4 years now, but I still feel like I have much to learn. I have subscriptions to both Spin-Off and Ply Magazine , and I find I am constantly referring back t...

First, I'm super-excited about finishing what I've lovingly dubbed the never-ending spinning project . Last month, for Spinning Spring Training, I began spinning a pound of lovely Dorper fiber from Louet. Turns out, a pound is an awful lot of fiber (duh!) and I didn't finish spinning my singles til the beginning of this month....and then the plying began! At long last, I have my finished skeins. They are chain plied to match some dorper I'd spun last fall for Spinzilla, and the total yardage is 484 yards. I know, right - a month an a half to make just shy of 500 yards of yarn? That is pretty insane, but chain plying give you 1/3 of your total yardage spun in singles, so if I want to feel better about myself, I really spun 1,452 yards of yarn in that time. In other news, I picked up several samples of spinning fibers at TNNA, and I thought it would be fun to split each sample in half to spin up in two different ways: first, directly from the roving without any prep...

This weekend was my favorite fiber show of the year: YarnCon ! I went with my friend Lauren (it also happened to be her birthday) and enjoyed checking out the many varied vendors. There were several returning favorites such as Fleur de Fiber , Cloudlover, Yarn Hollow , and Yarn Geek Fiber, plus some new faces, too. YarnCon is always a well-curated affair, and besides having a fantastic range of vendors, they also have lots of interesting classes and other events happening, too. Cloudlover BFL Roving I think this is the first time Cooperative Press has had a booth at the show, and I also discovered a brand-new magazine called Chicago Knits - I bought the first issue and will be sure to share my thoughts with you once I'm done reading it! Somehow I managed not to take any photos while shopping the marketplace - oops! I was apparently focused on the task at hand: increasing my fiber stash as much as possible. I came home with two pounds of fiber from two of the three vendo...

I'm pretty excited to share my new projects this week! I feel like I'm always fighting off startitis, but so far this year I've been pretty good about finishing projects before I start new ones. Over the weekend, I finished Tyler's never-ending scarf of doom (which I'll be sharing this Friday!) and made some serious progress on my #HKKAL top , too: Once Tyler's scarf was blocking, I felt pretty good about starting not ONE but TWO new projects! First, I wanted something simple I could work on while riding the bus, so I finally cast on for a Berlin Cowl of my own since the original sample is a display piece for Baah yarn. I actually went to one of my knitting groups on Sunday afternoon, so I thought it would be fun to start a new project. I'd purchased two skeins of Terra from WEBS at the beginning of the year so that I could knit the Vorderrhein Hat from Vintage Modern Knits, and now seemed like as good of a time as any to start it! Last but not le...

With the Tour de Fleece just around the corner and Spinzilla returning this fall, spring is a great time to get back into spinning shape! I'm not sure if you caught this video on YouTube just yet (plus: see if you can spot me!), but Spinzilla promises to be bigger and better than ever...you won't want to miss out! I'm excited to be the captain for #TeamLouet  once more, and I'm hoping to see some familiar faces on #TeamLouet later this year. What better way to level up our spinning skills (and welcome spinners of all skills to join our ranks, too) than a fun series of challenges to get spinning this spring. I hope you'll join me for a little spring training, sponsored by Louet and The Woolery! We'll be taking to our spindles and wheels on April 1, 2014 - see you then!   Yes, for now we are joining forces in the name of spinning, although at some point you will have to declare your loyalty to #TeamLouet or #TeamWoolery. For now, let's enjoy a litt...

Ah, the first WIP Wednesday of March - and I have a new project to share! I finally started my Holla Knits KAL (HKKAL) project...which is actually a crocheted top, but it still counts! I'm making the Cute Girl Squares Tank by Allyson Dykhuizen with the 3 skeins of Valley Yarns Charlemont I bought from  WEBS in January. It involves making a LOT of granny squares, which luckily I am both good at and happy to do! My goal is to make four a day for the next ten days - so far I have hit the mark each day! My next project is something I've been working on rather quietly since the end of January: 12 ounces of dyed Targee Top from Abstract Fiber (also purchased at WEBS , as a matter of fact!). Since I have been working on a lot of time-sensitive knit and crochet projects, I haven't had much time to devote to spinning so far this year; then, near the end of February, I was having issues with my right shoulder which prevented me from spinning altogether. It was kind of a bumme...