steady progress

I mean to post a big woo-hoo post here when the wheel came last Monday but Blogger was being unbelievably wonky -- so I was lucky to get it up at the other blog.

So anywho, the official word is, it's here and I think I've finally figured out how to use it! I'm working through the thank-you yarn from heaviest to lightest -- I'm not quite brave enough to attempt fingering for a few more days, though I did spin a wee bit of silk to fingering weight the other day. I'm just really concerned about the quality of the yarn I'm sending out, so I'd rather feel more in-control, which (luckily) I am a little more every day. :)



That's the first or the thank-you yarn spun and plied on the wheel. It's soft! It's squooshy! And I'm pretty darn happy with it.

This has been such a great learning experience on so many levels....I'm going to miss my little stack of index cards when it's all said and done. :)

Thanks for the wheel, you guys!! I really, really like it.

It's coming!

And I have a bona fide tracking number to prove it. It's on a truck, left Redmond WA in the middle of the night, and is scheduled to arrive at my door on Monday, October 23.

Woo!

I'm trying to be patient

And really, I don't want to whine too much. I'm getting a wheel about a year sooner than I would have, thanks to the generousity of many, so I don't want to complain. But MAN! Could they take any longer?***

Just had to get that out.

I have two piles of index cards ever before me, and I'm happy to report that as of today, the pile of cards for those whose yarn I've finished is now bigger than the pile for those still in progress. That feels good!!

A loud and enthusiastic THANK YOU to those who have chimed in to say, "don't worry about spinning my yarn til you get the wheel!" It warms my heart and makes me a little less irritated about the wait. I'm still churning out the yarn, but not nearly as stressed about it. I would really, really hate to find out a month from now that Fricke has gone under and didn't tell their dealers, I won't be getting the wheel I ordered, and I have to handspin several pounds of yarn the month before Christmas. So while I won't be finishing by the end of October like I'd hoped, the end will be in sight.

***Holy cow, I have edited the rant, because I just talked to a real live person at Fricke, and it looks like the wheel will ship later this week! She was very kind and offered to e-mail the UPS tracking number to me as soon as it's on its way. Squee!!

it is what it is

So, I've resigned myself to the fact that my wheel may never come. And I just might have to spindle-spin all of this yarn. Not the end of the world, but after spindling over 2o00 yards in the past 3 weeks (and then plying it all) I'm reeeeally looking forward to not having to stop to wind on any more. Ahhhh, sweet speed. But I forge ahead.

I'd been putting off starting the larger batches of fiber because I was afraid that the wheel would come and I'd be stuck finishing them on the spindle for the sake of consistency. But now that I'm just pretending the wheel isn't coming at all (really, it probably will, I'm just being pessimistic and irritated at the slooooow pace and lack of communication in my wheel purchase process) I've started in on the more labor intensive ones. I think I have one more 50g batch to spin, then from here on in, there's a lot of 100-200g batches, many of them sock yarn. So while progress is steady, it may not be swift.

I'm not doing too terribly though! 6 people have received their yarn, and two more will go out Tuesday morning. Ten more await their yarn. I'll continue to add photos to the thank-you yarn album as I spin and dye.