Reading and wool

Recently picked up from Barnes & Nobel:


I totally have to knit this hoodie from Vogue.


The texture on the back of that makes it a must-have. I should be able to wear it in two winters from now, and I already have yarn that would probably work for it (Beaverslide Dry Goods Fisherman Weight in Prairie Aster).

Lately, I've been mostly spinning and reading.  Currently I've been working through works by Candace Bushnell -- her characters are so unlikable, yet I can't seem to put her books down.  I'm currently in the middle of Trading Up, which I love and hate all at once.

My trouble with actually finishing any project lately has been partially because when I'm at my parents, there is just no end to the distractions, and I can't seem to get any alone, personal time with which to complete my endeavors.

Another problem is that, since I've become pregnant with this baby, I just don't feel like knitting all that much.  All that I want to do is spin and read.  And with my current frustrations with my Hitchhiker, I often can't bring myself to work on anything wheel-spun, because it's just not that enjoyable. 

My friend down the road lent me one of her extra wheels -- a tiny, single-treadle with a bicycle wheel (I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow; it's so cute), so I have started to spin again this week, and of course my Golding spindles are always a joy to work with, although much slower than my Lendrum.  Ah, how I miss my lovely Lendrum, parked all by it's lonesome in my German living room.  ~sigh~

I have realized my main difficulty with the Hitchhiker -- it's not the inherent construction of the wheel (although it doesn't have the smoothest treadle action around, it is cute and portable, and does operate as it was intended).  The problem is with me.  I am left-handed.  I foolishly ordered a right-treadle wheel, not understanding the way the wheel was engineered to work.

When I draft backward with my left hand in a long draw, it pulls the orifice slightly to the left, which causes the rubber gear on the maidenhead to loose traction with the wheel, thus causing the twisting action to stop.  I'm going to talk to Paradise fibers about it and see if they can perhaps trade me for a left-treadle or even just a different wheel altogether (an Ashford Kiwi, perhaps?), but we'll have to see what happens.  As it stands, I cannot enjoyably use this wheel.

I have a few skeins of yarn that need to be wet finished before I can photograph them.  

All eight ounces of this was spun up on Saturday:

(Spunky Club "Eclipse" in Romney -- my favorite wool of all time.)

Today I'm at my in-laws, and, as they're entertaining the children for the day, I'm going to try to finish up the Moss batt that I started spindle spinning a while back. 

Hopefully I'll have some of handspun ready to be photographed in a day or two!