Work Socks, Spindles, Turbo Spindle

These are the spindles I have been practising with today in my beginner's spinning lesson I am giving myself with the help of Abby Franquemont's video 'Respect the Spindle'. She is a terrific teacher & I highly recommend this video to anyone interested in learning how to spin. 

The spindle on the left is the 'Turbo Spinner' which I purchased at the Woodstock Fleece Festival in Oct. 2009 in Woodstock, ON. The two on the right were made by my husband for me. The middle one is a top whorl & the one on the right is a bottom whorl. As you can see I haven't used that one yet. It has taken three sessions to get a good understanding and to make some progress that I am happy with. It is a great deal of fun.

Here is one only of my last pair of socks. Briggs & Little 'Durasport', a mix of wool & nylon. Short row heel & toe.  Still have one more to do, but alas I have cast on for a pair for my husband in Kroy Sock Yarn. It feels so nice to work with & I love my socks I made with it in the past. My other green & white will have to wait a little.

On the Needles

This is the newest sock project being done in Mary Maxim Gemtones brand sock yarn.
Wool & nylon.
2.25mm dpns with my newest accessory - the knitting  belt which I ordered from http://www.journeyman-leather.co.uk/ in Yorkshire, England. It works very nicely & the leather is really lovely.

With these socks I used a provisional cast on (that's new to me) and did a short row toe for the second time. For some reason I kept making the same mistake many times over.

I refused to give up & eventually I got it right. I am probably at the point with this method where I could do it now without the instructions. I am going to cast on another sock and see if I can get it right the first time 'round.

Both Green Socks Finished

These are interesting - shows me I have to practice the short row heel. I'm not completely satisfied with them, but now I can go back to working on the shawl.

The colours I wasn't happy with until my husband made a comment on the contrast between the two colours; one being so bright & the other so very dark. He liked the socks.

That was one of the key factors when I chose these two yarns. I was originally going to make striped from toe to the cuff, then changed my mind & decided to dial it back a little. Last night, when I was tired, I was completely dissatisfied with the colour, but now I don't find it quite so bad.

Think I will wear them to work tomorrow. On Your Toes sock yarn. wool & nylon. 2.50mm Addi circs along with my new spring steel short dpns.

Also pictured is my new knitting sheath. It was purchased from 'Agres on Etsy' along with some spring steel dpns in 9", 12" & 16" for knitting a couple of gansey sweaters. Right now it still feels clumsy when I use the knitting sheath, except every so often I get the motions right. It is supposed to take the stress from my wrist & use the strength in my upper arm muscles.