...and she spun a yarn

Well, she hasn't spun a yarn yet, but she is now ready!

Yes; herself has gone and bought a spinning wheel. (this is not the best picture of her, but she will be portraited soon when she finds her best aesthetic habitat at E's house -- there is not much room in the St. Miles abode)

(Someone might appear to be becoming addicted to Gumtree, but there are deals that just cannot be passed up! I mean, she has found a £1500 bed for £150; she has sold both her bike and her futon on there; AND she found a place to live when she first moved to Norwich. It is a Good Thing.)

The above is an Ashford spinning wheel and chair, obtained for 'Such A Deal' -- £80 (which = $160ish)! E has assured me that I am not insane or being ridiculously frivolous, but he may just be being polite. He is such the gentleman sometimes. This seems to be the time to point out that I can buy both items new from a US website for a total of something approaching $650, or I could have 'Buy It Now!'-ed on Ebay-UK for £241 on Sunday... so I think I got a pretty dingdangdarn good deal!

Now, I just have to learn to spin and buy some wool. I am quite pleased and proud to be following (sort of) in the footsteps of Janie Strain but really wish I had paid more sensible attention through the whole process instead of flitting about Keachi Heritage Days in my Laura Ingalls outfit trying to steal fudge out of pans on tables and ending up with a mouthful of lye soap instead... (blegh! my mouth scrintches up at the memory). So, all I really remember from Mamaw's instruction is her letting me card the wool. And that doesn't get you too far along the woolen chain :)

Next, I want some sheep... has that been mentioned before?

*******

My other accomplishment lately (although this is actually last week's feat) is that the tea cosy is finally finished!

[Mrs. Lily should avert her eyes at this point, so that it won't ruin the surprise. But then, she did pick out which one she wanted...]

This is my very first tea cosy (after buying a knitting book all about... wait for it... Tea Cosies!). It took several starts and rippings out, but the technique is now in my repertoire. The original pattern had pompoms on the top, but as I did not approve at all, I found a similarly pleated pattern online that another picky knitter had made something called a Bachelor Button for the top and decided to alter it.

Vexingly, I was unable to locate the Bachelor Button pattern since the borrower had not returned it to the library (and it is very overdue) and none of the bookshops in Norwich have it for me to sneak in and photograph the pattern with my phone... (oops, did I write that out loud?). Sooooo, i did manage to find another crochet book which had a fun flower pattern (for silly people to crochet and wear on their hats like big dorks), which seemed like it just might work instead of the pompoms.

And so it did! This (the flower) was my re-training in crochet as well, since I am not very good; so this got ripped out a lot, too, and there was a slight bit o' temper.

It took me a while to remember to go and get the pearl buttons, too, also delaying the finished product...

But it is so cute, I am going to make more (Steffi is first in the queue, because she asked so nicely) and they shall go much more quickly, I believe.