I did this..................

on this:

and I liked it so much I'm going to do some more!

A few weeks ago I joined this group and asked if anyone had a wheel for sale. A lovely lady called Ann replied to my plea - and how! It turned out that she was coming to stay for a few days in a place about 25 miles away from me so she brought the wheel over and gave me a two-hour spinning lesson. She also gave me a large bundle of fleece to practise with so there really is no stopping me now. Thank you so much, Ann, you're fantastic!
The first skein has been knitted up in a feather and fan pattern and will hopefully become a neck-warmer when I have spun some more. I can't wait to try out other fibres but for the moment I'm limiting myself to ordinary wool until I can spin a lot more evenly.
I went to the Knitting & Stitching Show at the N. E. C. on Sunday with my mum and amongst other things, I bought some alpaca fibre - it is so deliciously soft that I have to keep reaching into the bag to stroke it - but it won't be spun until I am convinced I can do it justice.
My mum, who I had hoped would be a restraining influence on me (huh, fat chance!) bought a couple of tapestry kits and some cotton/wool/acrylic blend yarn (which is probably a completed cardi by now, the speed she knits) and I got some Handmaiden lace silk in Periwinkle and some hand-dyed merino 4-ply in gorgeous shades of blues and purples for the amazing price of £10 for 500g - unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the stall I got it from. I would post piccies but Bethany has got the camera for a school trip to Tate Britain. The silk is probably destined to become a shawl or stole and the merino will probably be a jumper of some sort, I'm thinking some kind of modular knitting to show off the colours to best effect.

On an entirely different note - gallstones. Anyone had them, or the op to remove them? Your thoughts would be most welcome.


P.S. Apologies for all the links today, my links finger has gone into overdrive.