It's Here!

I promised Sue that I'd put up a glimpse of the new wheel as soon as I could. Sue, this post is for you!!



Look who rode all the way up from Maryland to meet me at the York County show... and buckled up for safety, of course! My friend Barbara, who graciously picked up the spinning wheel on the way home from a dog show in Maryland and drove it back to New England, says she didn't hear a peep out of it the whole time.

Here's what the spinning wheel looks like when it's not riding shotgun in a minivan:



I know less than bupkus about spinning, to tell you truthfully -- I couldn't tell a lazy kate from a niddy noddy to save my life. I'm looking forward to figuring all that out, though.

And in Other Knitting News...

Wow -- it is so unlike me to actually go into a class properly prepared, and with my pre-work done ahead of time! Lucy Neatby's class isn't until the 13th of June, but I had some time to myself a couple of days ago and whipped off all 5 swatches. The one for the buttonhole class was particularly fun, since I could easily see where things were going by the time I'd made it to the turn row of right-side purl stitches. That class will definitely teach me something I can use many, many times -- and I really do like a neat finish.

I've also been sneaking in a little time on my second Trekking sock while watching The Daily Show. I do love how pretty this yarn looks in the ball, but I'm afraid the socks that come out of it won't be much of a matched pair at all. The first one has some stripes of intense color. The second sock's stripes are more muted and "tweeded" with the main color of the yarn. They've both come from the same ball. Go figure, eh? I don't mind wearing slightly mismatched hand-knit socks, but these two have only a slight family resemblance.

Boyohboy, I do love dog events, but I've been showing every weekend for the past four or five gazillion, and I'm looking forward to taking a little break this summer. Seamus and I are in a rally trial in RI for two days this weekend (Monday is just for meeee, meeeee, meeee!). Next weekend Dinah and I have a show, then a weekend off, and then another show. That last show in mid-June will be our last for a while -- I can't see the fun in showing a black, long-haired dog in hot summer weather -- and I'm really looking forward to having some more knitting time. Who knows? I might even figure out the spinning wheel this summer.