Willits, Mendocino, and Husch vineyards

We had a great weekend! We spend the night in Willits, CA where we used to live. We visited with Charles and Denise, and got a chance to catch up with Greg and Lisa Francis as well. We went to breakfast in Fort Bragg, and then went to the Mendocino headlands and did some shopping. Densie and I even made our way to a yarn store in Mendocino, and Emma got a chance to go through an art gallery. Evan enjoyed dumping a water bottle all over many things, including himself.

After Mendocino (it was slightly foggy and about 52 degrees--perfect!) we made our way slightly inland and went to Husch vineyards. You haven't lived until you've tried wine tasting with three kids! I got a bottle of wine for me and the best white grape juice ever for the kids. We will definitely be going back there!

I have made yarn!

I stayed up late last night, and plied my two skimpy bobbin-fulls of my corriedale cross singles. The attached lazy kate on my sonata worked just fine, but now I see why people get the jumbo flyer! I'll have to skim off some grocery money for one of those bad boys. I meant to take pics of my yarn on the bobbin, but that particular bobbin didn't spin very well, so I wanted to get it off and get it oiled again. My two bobbins, which were not full, almost filled up my third bobbin when plied! Yikes!

I also did not measure or weigh anything; this was purely an experiment.

I wound the yarn too tightly on the niddy noddy, as well. That was fun, getting it all off. And my yarn is more woolen than I expected, but, hey, it's my first skein!!! The great part is that it is balanced, and not twisting up on itself anywhere. Yay me! Especially when you consider that my entire spinning experience, drop spindle included, is about 1 month.

the picture on the top is my skein before washing, my niddy noddy (which I now know is too small!) and my beloved "Hands On Spinning" by Lee Raven. The pic on the bottom is my yarn floating on top of the wash water. It has now been rinsed and is drying on a towel. I was surprised how dirty the water got when washing it! EEEEWWW!!!

I'll post pictures of the finished skein tomorrow once it's dry.