My Christmas

So, Christmas is about a lot of important things to a lot of people.  For me one of the important aspects is getting together with the people I love and exchanging gifts.  I hopefully gave nice, thoughtful gifts, and I definitely received them as well.  Five of the gifts are somewhat related to my farm (the fiber actually) so I thought I would showcase them here on my farm blog.
Here’s my cool new sheepy key chain:

Here’s my new cool sheepy knitting bag:

There’s two new books, one about wool and the other about textiles in history:

And there’s my new minispinner.  I read about this in a newspaper when I was on the Olympic Peninsula as it is made in Chimacum.  It seemed like a really cool device that would be easier to use while watching TV and travelling.

I spun this up in about 2 hours while there was a concert and then news on TV.  It is really easy to learn to use.  It is quiet, and because I do not have to concentrate on the wheel at all, I can concentrate completely on the fiber I am drafting.  I chose a difficult fiber to start with- a baby camel down and merino blend roving.  But despite this I think I did OK.  I think this will give me more flexibility and opportunities to spin that I do not have with my Ashford wheel.  Hopefully I can start making more progress on my stash!

ADDENDUM:

I received two more fiber/farm related presents that I did not have photos for before.  There’s a nest box I received from my step-father Al.  I won the smaller one in a contest ,and he bought the larger one for me.

And my husband Tom bought me a Autoknitter sock knitting machine stand.  I already had the knitter which I had purchased with Tom’s blessing a few years ago but have tried various tables in our house to no avail.  We even purchased an antique table for it, but the knitter is too heavy.  So I found an antique stand actually made for it, and we ordered it.  It arrived just before Christmas.  Tom put it together for me, cleaned it up a bit and now I have my antique sock knitter on the stand designed for it.  Knit on!