Spinning Sunday

Phew! This last week has flown by. Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope your holiday was as amazing as mine.

Spinning is a new hobby for me, and so I don't have a lot of equipment. For the first three months I was using a friend's spindle as I didn't have one of my own. My husband has more than remedied this situation with his Christmas gifts to me. I present them for your viewing pleasure (click to embiggen):

Hardware
First, there was a Royal Ball Winder. Now I can make those adorable center-pull balls from my skeins of handspun.

Next was the handmade swift. Made out of birdseye maple, this spins like a dream and has several holes to adjust the distance between the pegs. This may have been a self-serving gift, though, as Hubs HATES to hold skeins while I make balls out of them. I tried the two in conjunction today and they both worked perfectly! I love them.

My friend Rob bought me a present I've wanted for a while - I digital scale. Now I can weigh my fiber, yarn, and spindles and now how much I'm getting! It measures in both ounces and grams and has a plastic tray to keep things where they should be.

Finally in the hardware department were not one, not two, but SEVEN handmade spindles. Four are birdseye maple with hardwood shafts; three are mahogany with oak shafts. The smaller spindles are 2.75" in diameter, the larger are 3.5" in diameter. They are different thicknesses for different weights (they range from 5/8 of an ounce to 1 & 3/8 of an ounce). All top whorl, they are fantastic! I spun and plyed on them and they work GREAT.

Software
Oooh, and it is SOFT! Two four ounce bundles of natural shetland wool. One is a black/white stripe, the other a cream/caramel stripe. The fiber comes from Windswept Farms in Michigan. The owner included some sample fibers from his other sheep, too. I will definitely be ordering from them again! I think the big fiber balls look a little like Ewoks, don't you? I did give in to the urge and spin one of the samples up. I navajo plyed it (my first time!) and wound it with my ball winder. Shetland + light spindle + ball winder = adorable skein of fibery goodness!

At the Christmas party at my second job, my boss got me a basket filled with four skeins of Caron's Eco Soft yarn. This yarn is 80% acrylic, 20% recycled plastic bottles. Included in the yarn were a set of needles and a crochet hook. It was perfect. Thanks Lori!

Not pictured are my Knit Picks Options nickel-plated interchangeable needles. I didn't photograph them because they are already in use. I cannot express how wonderful these needles are. They are the right amount of pointy-ness and have incredibly forgetful cables (they have no memory and so don't get stuck in a particular shape). THANKS BEAR!

What did you get for Christmas?