Spinning Practice

I have been spending a bit of time over the last few days with my new spindles. I love love love the Eichheim because it spins long and smooth. I like the notch in it and the fact that he bends the hook ever so little to balance the spin. There is also a small brass tack on the underside to balance the wheel, just as our tires on the car have balancing weights. The end result is wonderful and I will be using this spindle mostly.... so far, until I buy other wonderful spindles.

The basic spindle doesn't spin long or smooth and should have been passed by......live and learn. Just to compare, I used some of the same roving on my original cd spindle from my first class and found that now that I can draft as I spin, even it is better than this new wood spindle.

As for my knitting, I decided that the laddering in my booby socks is unacceptable.

I frogged back to before it became noticable and will continue from there. I had gotten as far as turning the heel and working on the foot, when I said to myself "Who am I kidding...I don't like the way these look....I wouldn't give them as a gift this way and wouldn't want them for myself this way." I have always just plowed on through errors and I feel I came to a major turning point when I came to this decision to frog it back. I guess I am maturing as a knitter and the finished product matters, as well as the process. I posted the inquiry about avoiding ladders with so many purl stitches on the Ravelry Magic Loop forum and got a few suggestions like:

wrap the yarn backwards on the first stitch (which I am trying) and also turn the socks inside out, working from the inside, instead of the outside ( which I also am trying on the multiple rows of purl stitch). I hope this combination of changes will result in no ladders. To be continued.......