First spin!

On the left: My first try at spinning last Saturday
On the right: What I made yesterday

Do you see a difference? I still don't like it but I think I'm at least getting better.

On spinning and free patterns

I know I still haven't posted about the spinning class. I was hoping I would have good pics of some great yarn I made, but nope, almost a week after the class, I still suck! But the good news is that I don't suck as bad as I did last Saturday!

I realized that spinning is like anything else: some people are talented and "get it" right away. Apparently I'm not one of those people.

I may sound bitter but I'm not. It will take practice and I'm ok with that, though I'm usually a quick learner so not getting it right away is quite frustrating.

That being said, I *did* take pictures of my first yarn and the last one I made (which is already a lot better. I'm making progress). Unfortunately, my batteries died and we the "charged batteries" box in our house is empty. So pics will have to wait. The good news is that I have found a project for my first yarn: A stuffed sheep! My yarn actually looks a bit like the Ozark.

Oh and I don't want anyone to think I didn't enjoy the spinning class. I did! It was lots of fun and the instructor is super nice!

Now let's talk about free patterns. I'm sure most of you know that Magknits is gone. Many of the free patterns are available on Ravelry though. I also found out on Ravelry that some of the free patterns that used to be offered free on the Knitting Daily site are gone. That includes Kate Gilbert's super cute Peapod Baby set. I panicked at first because I looked into my pdf patterns and I didn't see it. BUT I printed it a long time ago so at least I have a copy. I love that pattern. Anyways, I'm not going to get into the reason for the disappearance of the free patterns (I only know it has something to do with contracts - I don't blame the designers at all). There's a long thread about it on the Ravelry forums.

But the whole thing really made me realize that I can't count on the free patterns I like to be there forever. So I'm going through my Ravelry queue (all 140 items) and I'm trying to save all the free patterns that I may want to knit someday. I suggest you all do the same, you never know. I would hate it if there was a pattern I really wanted to knit and found out it's not available at all anymore!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

So we had the first big snowstorm of the season today. It was wonderful. I know, not everyone thought so, but since I don't drive, it didn't affect me as much. I thought the snow was beautiful. I just hope it won't all melt before Christmas!

I'm not going to talk about WIPs this week. My boyfriend bought Guitar Hero for the Wii last week, and let's just say I feel like I sold my soul to the videogame. Christmas knitting? What Christmas knitting? Look, I'm playing My Name is Jonas!

Despite the lack of knitting, I have some fibery goodness to show you. I got a package from my Secret Pal and it was better than anything I could have expected!



My very own spindle!!! It's beautiful and I've always wanted to learn how to spin! Oh but wait, there's more.



You can't spin without fiber! The spindle was actually part of a kit and it comes from Maine Woods Yarn & Fiber and I love the colours.

Now I just need to figure out how this all works. Hopefully I'll have more time to learn after Christmas. THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!

In other news, as I mentionned in my previous post, I turned 30 today. I gotta say that today was pretty uneventful. My real birthday celebrations happened on the weekend. On Friday, I had a party with friends (including one that I hadn't seen in over a year!) and on Saturday, I had one with family. I had a great time. My mom made me a scrapbook (it was her first one) and it's probably my favourite gift... that and my new iPod. I love it I love it I love it. And my boyfriend got me a set of speakers for it so it will be great when we have people over. I also got a few gift certificate including these:



Sorry the pic is so blurry. They are Effiloché gift certificates! I'll be able to buy some yarn! Woohoo!

Finally, another great gift was a picture that my friend took when he went to Chile this Fall and that he got framed. I love it and it made me want to make something for him. Like a hat. His birthday is on December 27 and my new goal is to finish my boyfriend's scarf and then make a hat for this friend. I need pattern ideas now!