wiwo wednesday vol. 10

I'm finally back with a new wiwo wednesday post! You wouldn't believe how much I've missed taking pictures of my projects for this blog series. Photographing knitting projects is just as much fun as knitting, isn't it?
My life is a little bit chaotic right now, because my bathroom is being renovated. Basically, that means lots of strangers in my apartment, a lot of noise and an awful lot of dirt. So Lina and I 'fled' to my parents' house. Unfortunately, that means I don't have all of my knitting and photo taking supplies, but I'm doing my best to stay organized in this whole mess.

The first project I'd like to share is the Elfreide scarf by Brooklyn Tweed. I started it in Canada and didn't have a lot of focused knitting time since. Because looking at charts and counting rows is not easily combinable with sitting in class (I'm taking a language class to get back into studying mode before the next exam phase hits.) or watching tv.

Next up is the ravello sweater that I started during the 4-hour train ride to Wollfest Hamburg(which, btw, I'm planning to write a blog post about). I've completed the body but had to put off knitting the sleeves for a couple of days because I had to buy DPNs first. Which I finally did today so I'll get started on the sleeves tonight.

Next up is my stripe obsession cowl. Good news is that I finished knitting it the night before I left for Seattle. Bad news is that I only just started sewing the ends together. My motivation to finally finish this wip was the awesome autumn weather we've had last week. Unfortunately, we've had a sudden rise in temperatures and it feels like summer again. Thus my motivation to knit winter accessories is back towards zero... Oh well, let's hope for more appropriate temperatures soon - fall is my absolute favorite season and I can't wait to finally wear boots and hand knits again.

Next up is a pair of socks. These will be a Christmas present (I'm starting early this year - yay me!) so I'm not sharing who they'll be for yet. Also you might think 'wait what? these socks don't look like scrap socks, what's going on?!'. Well I found this sock yarn on sale at Wollfest Hamburg and my sock yarn stash has decreased quite a lot. Also, I need to produce more scraps so my scrap socks don't end up looking all the same, right? At least that was my excuse for buying new sock yarn.

Last but not least, a peek at my new spinning wheel. I'm planning to write a blog post about why I bought a new wheel and how I chose the wheel.
So many blog post ideas,
so little time.
Anyway, I'm spinning this fiber that I bought in Idaho. I have yet to figure out how to calculate what yarn size I'm making, otherwise I'd tell you what it's gonna be. But I can reveal that it's gonna be a 2-ply yarn.

So what are you working on? I'd love to hear & see your wips :)

spinning // first attempts

Remember how I told you I bought a spinning wheel in December? Well, I was busy in December with the holidays and finishing my 52 Knits project but today I finally got a chance to start spinning. I'm sooo excited about the endless possibilities spinning has to offer. Just think about a soft cardigan made out of homespun (and handdyed?) yarn...

My mom got me a combed mountain sheep top (it's white... for now. Expect some dying experiments in the near future!) that's super soft and fluffy yet is a rather long fiber - perfect for beginners! :)

My mom showed me some basics but I'm mainly referring to youtube and the book "start spinning" by Maggie Casey (thanks for the recommendation, Julie) to learn. It's been fun so far although my yarn is far from usable - but at least I passed the phase where the yarn breaks every 20 seconds. I'm still working on my tension and the thickness of the yarn. But hey, I have like 800 more grams of fiber to practice :)

ps: I got the green rug from ikea today. My spinning wheel always moved on the hardwood floor so I bought a bath mat to stop it from moving. It's wonderful soft and fluffy and although it's pretty cold in my bedroom I've been spinning with bare feet for the last two hours. Plus it's great for taking pictures of   white fibers!