It’s A Turkish Wheel!

Good morning! I should call this ‘tales from the rabbit hole’, me thinks 🙂

We acquired this beautiful Turkish ‘Nomad’ Spinning Wheel this past weekend. She’s beautiful and very very old. The couple who sold her to us bought her on the Turkey/Russia border, years ago, on a trip. I haven’t mastered spinning with her – she’s a little bit moody and operates on a bobbin led, no brake system. Apparently spinning on these is similar to charka spinning. Of course, I’ve never charka spun, either!

I scrubbed her down with methyl hydrate (standard warning – these rags will spontaneously combust if left in a pile and not dried flat and disposed of properly) and a bit of steel wool. I tried the toothbrush (my favorite method) but her dirt went a little deeper. The steel wool is fine and doesn’t mar the wood…

She cleaned up really nicely…and with a few shims to tighten up some joints (I used stretchy plumbers tape – not sticky – to wrap the maidens so they weren’t loose) and plan to use some wire to stabilize some of the more serious cracks. I feel like the cracks are stable as is but who knows how heat/humidity and use will affect things. I feel like the wire wraps will be a good way to repair her without taking away from her history. I would HATE to have to replace a part completely.

Another view of the dirt – precleaning –

My baby after her bath…and a little tung oil massage…

I Can’t Believe I’m Out Of Free Flickr!

Yes, only for this month… November will be here before we know it!

I’m working on the cutest ‘bunny rabbit’ sweater – from some fleece artist ‘peter rabbit’ which I had in three pinks. Not enough of it for a one colour sweater but I think my striping helps the colours work together. I’ll post a picture as soon as I’m able….probably November first 🙂

We had my daughter and my grandson visiting recently and boy oh boy, is that boy ever growing!! 🙂 She’s doing a fantastic job with him….

Have a great day!

Basset Baby!!!!

Awesome day, my friends 🙂 We found a beautiful baby basset hound!!

She is 9 1/2 weeks old and her name is Rosa 🙂 She’s such a sweet puppy and we’re so glad to have found her. We drove for a long time yesterday to get her but it was well worth the trip! She did cry for most of the ride (I think the driving scared her) but has been excellent and fitting in quite nicely since we got home.

She’s pretty small still…

and she’s definitely interested in spinning (or at least smelling sheep)…

She and the boy are almost inseparable (he’s already sad about going to school on monday!)…

She loves to cuddle…

and certainly has Dora’s attention…

Of course…we all like to cuddle 🙂

If anyone is interested in finding a beautiful, quality, registered basset in Ontario, check out the ‘Autumn Blaze Bassets’ site – they have a website and I highly recommend them!

Knitting Like Crazy For Christmas…

Yes, it’s almost here.  Or so it feels like, anyways!  I have so many things I want to finish up and a few things finished, so far…

These are my ‘Inspired By Colour’ mittens using Marks and Kattens ‘Trend’ (party colourway) and Patons ‘Kroy Sock’ 4 ply (black). They knit up to a medium woman’s size with a snug, cozy fit and a longish cuff to keep your wrists toasty all winter.

I’ve made sweaters for two of my girls…the first is ‘Amused’ by Jordana Paige (from knitty, winter 2008). I knit this with Patons ‘Classic Wool’ (where did you go merino?) in Jade Heather.

The second is ‘Egret’ by Norah Gaughan, available as a free pattern from Berocco.com. I knit this one also in the Classic Wool, in Cognac Heather.

The buttons were just perfect!

Off to knit a pair or two of slippers…the list is far from done! Happy knitting and have a great day 🙂

Inspired!

I’ve been working on a new pattern – for stranded mittens – for my daughter for Christmas. The pattern was inspired by a really beautiful yarn. It has everything stranded mittens need (in my opinion of course!) – great colour, fingering weight, a bit of ‘grab’, superwash and wool. For what more could I ask?

I’ve paired it with Paton’s ‘kroy’ sock 4 ply in black – to give it a chance to do it’s colourful thing. Oh yes – the yarn – it’s Marks and Kattens ‘Fame Trend’ in the colourway ‘party’. I found it at the Knit and Quilt in Barrie a week or two ago. Beautiful! I will definitely be back for more!

I’ve finished the pattern and have knitted the first mitten. I’ve posted the pdf pattern, if you’d like to use it –

The pattern;
InspiredByColourMittenPattern

My mitten (unblocked)…

Please let me know how it works out for you!
Have a great day 🙂

A Hat Fit For A Princess

I’ve finished the hat to match my ‘Snowflake Princess’ sweater coat!  I have also written out the PATTERN in case anyone else is interested in making it.

Here it is…

So cute 🙂 It’s about 7″ tall and 17″ unstretched, around.

I’m going to make mittens next!

Happy Halloween :)

My son’s costume this year was very cool…and scaaaaary, of course! 🙂

 

In other news…

My blanket is coming along nicely, knitted mostly from the stash.  It’s about 50 x 50 inches so far!  I’m using a simple, short row spiral pattern that I found free on the net – I’ll post pictures and a link to the pattern as soon as I’m done.  It’s another one for the Christmas pile. 

A good thing too…it’s a transition time for us – my husband, bless him, had a feeling things at work were not going so well and he was absolutely right — the boss is now just about bankrupt AND without any work at all.  Thankfully my husband is good at this kind of thing and isn’t skipping a beat – he’s got a new job beginning monday.  The nice part is we get to spend TWO whole days together this weekend, lol.  The not so nice is we were ripped off for a few hundred dollars when the guy up and changed the way my husband was paid last week WITHOUT even talking to him (I’m pretty sure it’s illegal) and changed him from salary to hourly – meaning we’re a little short but we’ll be fine with a bit of juggling.  S’ok, he owes my husband quite a large amount of holiday pay (almost two years worth – thankfully we have every pay stub) so that should help us once it is paid – here’s hoping that’s reasonably soon.  We sort of think it’s going to take the labour board to help get him to do that.

It all makes me want to knit us up a whole Christmas – which I quite possibly could, lol.  I’ve got quite a lot in the stash and I feel it’s a great time to cut back where I can and use the things we’ve stored up over time.  Our kids are old enough and have enough that they already know that I want to focus less on presents and they are fine with it – my one daughter is in total support and old enough to understand my opinion that ‘stuff’ makes us weak – that ‘stuff’ is not the important part – that ‘stuff’ is mostly just a waste of money and the time spent making the money.