Is This Real Life?

I have a friend who often says things like, "What is my life?" or "Am I a real person?" and I think both of those sentiments can be applied to my life at this moment.

As many of you know by now, this last trip found me traveling to visit our Joan and her family for a while.  Joan and I have known each other through our blogs for several years and I was very happy to be able to meet her in person and spend some quality time with her (and, by the way, I was present for the birthday package extravaganza and it was amazing.)

Several times during my trip I found myself thinking the above.  Is this my life?  How did I get to a point in which I drive around the country meeting cyber-friends for days jam packed with excitement?  I mean, come on!  Niagara Falls?

Heck yes.  We also went to the zoo, which, I must say, is always a favorite for me.  I almost always have to go to a zoo when I travel to a new city.  Not that this information shocks you with me being the animal nerd you all know me to be.  Ooh, and the pier.  That was really peaceful and wonderful.  I think it was Lake Ontario.  (Joan?  Yes?  Ontario?)

What really had me questioning the reality of my life was the fact that when I arrived, there was a spinning wheel waiting for me!  Because I've been all over the country these past few weeks, Joan and I decided to have my wheel delivered to her house because it seemed to be the most practical place to send it at the time.

We put it together the day I arrived and spun and spun and spun all weekend long.  It was glorious.  And now that I'm back in Pittsburgh, I can prove to you that there is indeed a new spinning wheel in that bare corner I showed you in the last post.

See?  A beautiful, beautiful walnut Kromski Minstrel.  I couldn't be happier!  The wheel and I seem to get along incredibly well and I haven't run into any major issues with breaking it in so far.  I did break the brake band it came with, but with Joan close by it was a quick fix and I was able to get back to spinning immediately.

 
I think I spun over 10 ounces of fiber while I was there, and she sent me home with much, much more.  Rambouillet, corriedale, merino, silk, pygora, yak, targhee, alpaca, BFL... I really don't think there's anything I don't have in my stash now.  Wanna see my first wheel-spun yarn?

Not too shabby, eh?  It's about 4.5oz of Corriedale, 208 yards.  I'm not going to show you my fourth skein.  It's worse than the first.  (How did that happen?!  You can see it on the bobbin in the second picture.)

Of course, Joan couldn't send me home without some of her own Cupcake batts.  I got to spin some of her batts while I was there and I have to tell you, they're incredible.  I want to spin her batts for the rest of my life.  I'm going to start spinning up these beautiful brown ones next.

But trust me, the pictures don't do them justice.

And again, I'm left thinking, "Is this real?"

Many, many, many thanks to Joan for making my new wheel possible and for being so hospitable during my visit!  And don't worry about the wheel taking over my life.  I've already established a rule that I can't spin until I've met my practicing goals for the day (and right now, as I'm still knitting on deadlines, my knitting goals have to be met too.  Oh!  Check out Hannah Fettig's big announcement!  You'll see a few of those secret projects I've been talking about lately.)

And now it's about time I use this practice room for its intended purpose.  Until next time, happy knitting!