I do have the flu but it is a bit better today. I don't have the concentration abilities to do any fancy knitting though and the house is a disaster. I'll take any excuse not to clean! I should be done with the Spontaneous Scarf soon. I've abandoned the Regia fingerless mittens since DH tried a finished one on and didn't like it. I'd like to start the Spring Fever socks in Socks, Socks, Socks but think I may see what it feels like to only have 3 WIPs for awhile.









Here is my absolute favorite spindle which I bought 2 years ago at Taos Wool Festival from the spindle maker himself, Tracy Eicheim of Woolly Designs. The photo isn't great but it has carved out overlaid scenes of jumping rabbits on the whorl. This baby spins like a dream and I adore the slightly bent hook. Tracy is not currently producing spindles but once he is back I'm buying more.



I taught myself to spin after watching a demo about 4 years ago at the Taos Wool Festival. A woman in the Fire Ant Ranch booth was spindle spinning and I immediately bought a kit with a fun Fimo clay/dowel spindle (still one of my favorites) and some colored wool and rayon strands to add to make the yarn glitzy. I also used the book Hands On Spinning by Lee Raven to learn more.







In this blurry photo you can kind of see my Fimo spindle, my brass Tahkli for spinning cotton, my purpleheart Bosworth, my David Reed Smith Judi which has the largest whorl and the rounded featherweight Kokovoko spindle. The one other spindle I'd like to try is a Hatchtown - I did get to spin on a Hatchtown bottom whorl spindle at a pet rescue fair in Albuquerque once.