Here are pictures of my DFWFF booth. Better late than never?

I live for this festival; it's my favorite thing I do all year! Next year we're moving to a bigger convention center which will hopefully mean room for even more yarn, fiber, spinning wheels and fun stuff.

Here is the full set of pictures on Flickr.

There are two additions to the Gritty Knits yarn line-up since I last blogged. Timebomb and Mighty are both sock-ish yarns but very different from each other.

Timebomb is 75% superwash merino wool and 25% nylon. Classic sock yarn blend, $19, 460 yards per 100 gram ball, very soft and smooth. All current colorways are limited edition and will not be reproduced, so get ‘em while you can!

Mighty is a light fingering weight yarn, very tightly spun from 100% superwash Corriedale wool. $16, 400 yards per 100 gram ball, and this stuff is damn near bulletproof. Everything else in the GK line was geared toward softness, so I chose this yarn because sometimes you need something different. Mighty is tough and durable in addition to being more budget-friendly than some of our luxury options. The dense nature of this yarn really shows off the rich, multi-layered colors.

Slowly but surely I’m getting all my raw fleeces washed and dyed in preparation for Tour de Fleece. As much as I’d like to card & spin it all myself, that seems awfully selfish so I put several 4 ounce batches up for sale in the shop. More to come as time and drying-rack-space allows.

It’s that time again! The Tour de Fleece is upon us, and I am once again hosting a team. Last year’s Team Tour de Batt was all about carding, and this year I have decided to open it up to all types of fiber prep – scouring, dyeing, combing, drum carding, picking, felting, hackling, and whatever else might float your boat.

Team Et Cetera! You’re welcome to join us even if you’re spinning for other teams, and we are very relaxed with the rules, so don’t worry if you can’t post every day. This is just a place to show off all your yummy fiber creations.

It will be my goal to card a batt every day of the tour, in addition to some occasional spinning on the challenge days. My store is sorely in need of batt replenishment, so this year’s event can’t come soon enough.

Some of you may have gotten a glimpse of this yarn at DFW Fiber Fest, but in case you didn’t, I’d like you to meet the newest yarn in the Gritty Knits line: Smug.

Smug is a soft, smooth blend of silk & merino wool. This yarn is a dream to knit with, perfect for projects calling for dk or light worsted weight. Want to try some? Everyone who makes a purchase from Gritty Knits in the month of June will be entered to win a ball of Smug in the color of their choice!

20% off Nom throughout May 2012, to celebrate the ever-so-distinct honor of Nom being chosen as Jess’ Selection on Ravelry this month! Whoo hoo! I’ve got several new colors in there for you, and I’m continuing to dye out-of-stock colors as fast as I can.

Meet my new spinning wheel!

After changing my mind a thousand times, I decided to sell my Aura and replace it with a Spinolution Hopper. This wheel is small and compact, the craftsmanship is much improved since my old first generation Mach 1, and it has fairly large bobbins plus an optional jumbo flyer head upgrade that I can purchase if the need arises to fit 2 lbs of fiber all in one skein. (Ironically, seeing the jumbo head is what sold me on this model of wheel, even though I opted for the normal head on the one I bought.)

It wasn’t exactly Love At First Spin…  The entire head swayed back and forth wildly while treadling, due to an ill fit where the big, square peg attaches the head to the body. I was able to minimize the movement by cutting up a Kleenex box into a 3-sided shim. And the bobbins each had a spot where they scraped against the wood backing when pressed fully down on the shaft, so I used a cereal box to cut little, circular washers that keep the bobbins spaced further out from the base. The wheel is pretty finicky, as are almost all Spinolutions I suspect, but I really feel like it’s worth the trouble to have a wheel that provides so many things on my wish list. I hope so, anyway. I’ll report back after I’ve used it more.

Here’s the inaugural skein, spun from a semi-felted Wensleydale fleece:

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Why I sold the Majacraft Aura (because I know you’re going to ask): My bad back screamed out in protest every time I had to carry it from one room to another, or heaven forbid up and down the stairs. It’s a large, sturdy wheel and I am a giant wimp. (If you are less wimpy than me, it shouldn’t be an issue for you.) Also, my personal preference is for the flyer arms to have pegs or hooks (for no other reason than because that’s what I’m used to) and I never really fell in love with the squeezy-wire-circle contraption.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Aura and would still recommend this wheel to others. The craftsmanship was impeccable and the wheel is capable of making gorgeous yarn of almost any style and thickness. It just wasn’t the right wheel for me.

I only have one true “complaint”… The large, sharp wire coil that acts as the orifice hook sticks out and gouged into my leg a few times while I was absentmindedly walking by. I wish Majacraft would put some kind of cap on the end, or even just a dollop of hot glue.