New toy

Ha ha, at last I've managed to upload pictures to my blog. I've been having one heck of a time; first getting them from camera to PC (software kept hanging), then getting them from PC to Blogger the right way up. THEN tried to delete the one that was on it's side and the whole lot disappeared!!!!

But now I can show you the picture of my new baby. This is my new Haldane Orkney which I purchased on ebay last week. (Time off work you see, it just goes straight to my head and I do silly things!). Mind you when I saw that the seller lives about a mile and a half from where I live I thought it must be fate!

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks to Ali for your help and advice and sending pictures of your wheel (also an Orkney) so I could compare and contrast. The odd bits (like the leather supports for the flyer unit) look as though they are part of the original so that's okay.

I got two large bags of roving with the wheel as well as a niddy noddy and the Ashford Book of Spinning so I've been having a bit of a play around with it this week and it's rather nice to use. (okay Ro I will bring it down so you can have a play with it, just not this weekend, get on with your gardening!!!).

My other activity this week has been knitting my slippers. This has been just great because they were sooo quick to knit that they were almost finished before I'd started. This is the kind of project I like.

I used the Fibertrends pattern that I bought at Get Knitted last week and I used the Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit that I bought to knit them. I used the yarn double on 6.5mm needles and each slipper took less than two balls for the smallest adult size.

I felted them on a 60 degree cycle on the washing machine along with a pair of jeans and sundry other bits and bobs. They're still a bit large for me and I don't think they'll felt down any more, they're certainly very sturdy. I may try another one with the left over yarn but knitted singly to see if it shrinks any more. They're certainly wearable though (or will be when I've put the buttons on) and I think they're quite cute. I like the colour particularly. Nice yarn to work with, very soft.

Finally best wishes to Als who lives in New Zealand. I'm thinking of you chick!!

just seen this on another blog Rachel's Fibres and Yarns and thought folk may be interested.