A Golden Gift

Lookie Lookie what my sister gave me for my birthday. It just arrived, and I am sooooooooooo excited.



Ooooh - A Golding!!!!!!!



The excitment builds - which Golding is it. There is not a bad one.....



Aromatherepy? In a spindle? Lavender? So relaxing. What a great idea!

Let me describe my spindle. It has the distinctive Golding brass ring. You see it and know it's a Golding. It's quality in a spindle. Solid feel but lightweight. It has a little pot at the top to hold a bit of cotton with an essential oil. So you can receive healing aroma while spinning. It comes with a 1/2 fl oz. of Mood Mender - a mix of Clary Sage, Lemon and Lavender. Ahhhhhhh. I need that. After having a headache for a day and a half - non-stop - it's such a soothing scent.



The cherry wood is luxurious. The detail in the top whorl is a fan shape. It spins a lovely circle when the spindle is in use. The Walnut shaft (7 3/4") has smooth grooves about half way down to give the spindle a nice grip, but then is smooth and solid in the upper half to hold the spun yarn.




The whole spindle is .95oz - light.

And I almost forgot - this was not her only gift to me!!! She made a lovely trade on Ravelry for this beautiful lace yarn.



I can't wait to make someting soft and warm with it. As well as spin someting extra special on my Golding.



I Lurve it!!!! Thank you so much Doreen

I've been so lax in blogging and even worse in reading blogs. Between work, vacation, start of school - I'm so out of touch. Sorry my friends for not keeping up on your knitting adventures - I've got a lot of reading on Google Reader to catch up on soon.

My knitting has also slowed down - I'm working on Christmas gifts - lace scarves. I have several in progess - and started the final ones. If I get them all done by Christmas I will be so pleased.

I'm using a diagonal lace pattern that is easy but I like the look. The first one is in SWTC TOFUtsies - and I love the color and yarn.



I expecially love the mix of yellows, browns, oranges, and even a pale green. Beautiful. I should have picked up another ball for socks! This was a beach purchase at my Myrtle Beach shop away from home - Knit -n- Purl run by Phyllis and Terry. Once you meet them, you will love them they are so sweet. I'm looking forward to seeing them in December when we are there for Christmas, and maybe a bit of Christmas yarn shopping :)

And I loved the pattern so much - I started another one for my friend Connie who loves the color Red. It's hard for me to find Red yarn. I found some Red Alpaca, and am making a scarf in that too. But I think this one will work best for Connie. I'm using Baruffa Cashwool. Very soft, and tons of yardage for not a lot of money. And as I picked this up at Pacific Wool and Fiber when it was closing - it was even less expensive at 50% off! I want to make it nice and long, lacy, but light.



I started Hey Teach - but thanks to the Olympics had THREE holes in the stockinette portion. I frogged it back to before the wholes and haven't done much on it b/c I hate frogging and am a bit miffed. But I saw Doreen's and am getting over it - I think I'll start back on it soon.

Schools back in session. And I'm definately "Meh." about it. The weekly Monday onslaught of paperwork has something to do with it. So far - so good. I can't believe I have a 4th and 2nd grader!



I'll have to blog about our vacation - it was fabulous. We had a lot of time to relax as well as spend time with some of my college friends who were vacationing the same time as us. We enjoyed vacating at the same time and location with them so much, we are hoping for a larger group of friends next year. It was fun to get the families together, and to have our next generation develop friendships at the same time. I have a ton of pictures on our family blog.

I'm typing this while watching the DNC. I've been so impressed each night. I hope we get it right in Novemember as a nation. The stakes are so high. So - if you haven't registered. Do it NOW!

Joleen

Janeen gave me a well deserved tongue lashing for not getting Joleen done by the end of her birthday. Her lovely house gifted by her Aunt and Uncle arrived on time, but Joleen was not available to move in. I had to stay up on Saturday to finish her.

First of all - Joleen is my little made up pattern. Given that - I am very proud of how she turned out. I'm most proud of using sock making techniques to put short rows and decreases in her feet to turn at the heel! I need to write the pattern down before I forget - my next doll will be a lot better because I learned a lot. Her hair is crochet chains, looped and secured in her scalp. Better than my first doll for Janeen - Flo's hair turned out. Overall all I think she's cute. I'm not impressed with my stitch work on her face, but I have never been good at needlepoint.



Joleen is hanging out at her new home with another gift Janeen received - a Nientendo Dog. Her arms are a bit straight - that's another feature I will change next time. But her head is stable, much better than the knitted doll - Flo.

I finished Jo so late I didn't have time to make her any clothes - so she is wearing a little swatch for now :) I have to make her something tomorrow before I head to Seattle so she isn't cold during the week.



I have sort of resisted making toys, they aren't my favorite thing to knit for some reasons. But seeing how proud Janeen is in showing her friends her first doll and this one when it is in progress makes me feel so good. I have to make Jason a bear and Jada a doll now!