Joy!

My Ashford Joy came today! I'm very happy though we are just getting acquainted. I have to get used to her before Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat at the end of January. I think that's enough time. So far so good!





I bought her from Woodland Woolworks and she arrived very quickly w/goodies. I chose the video Spinning Basics & Beyond but I was delighted to find a spinner's control card enclosed. This was very high on my wish list and now I have one!
Thanks to my wonderful library system, I got to give these 2 books a trial run.
Knit 2 Together has some wonderful patterns. (I figure if there are at least three things I'd knit in a book, it's a great book.) I even read all the knitterly anecdotes. There's a wide range of skill levels and it's also presented to undaunt the new knitter.
I just picked Spin to Knit up tonight. I breezed through but what I have seen so far, I like very much. It looks like a straight forward get-yourself-started-spinning book.







I have been working on the alpaca hat and it does seem to be working out. I just started the decreases. If I keep at it in between spinning sessions, it could be done next week. What I like about it so much is the incredible softness of this baby alpaca. It feels like angora to me. I can also see the difference in my spinning skill. I spun the sand and the chestnut last spring sometime...maybe in May and the gray was spun this fall. There is a huge difference in the quality of the yarn which goes to show you...Practice really does work better than anything.