You spin me right round baby right round...
Like a record baby round, round and round. Does anybody besides me remember this song from the 80's? The lead singer kinda creeped me out. Anyway, sorry for the tangent but it is related. I did my first spinning last night. I used my craptacular $1.25 handmade spindle so don't laugh at my finished products. I'm lucky that they look anything like yarn. I dug out some fiber that came in a sample needle felting kit and gave it a whirl (I crack myself up).
The fibers that I've been playing with 
My first handspun yarns
Knitted swatch
Close up
I could tell that I was spinning the fiber too tight but then again, I couldn't get the stupid spindle to turn for long. I think it isn't balanced very well because it wobbles while I'm trying to spin :( How much can I expect from a spindle that I crammed together in less than 10 minutes? I also don't have enough of any fiber to really spin more than a couple of yards worth but at least I'm getting some practice. I wish I knew what the fibers were because the one on the far right is something I don't ever want to touch again. I called it "mutt" wool - it looked ugly, felt ugly and spun ugly. The one in the middle is Bartlett wool. Easy to spin, nice feel, great colors. The one on the left was real loopy, shiny and the fibers were long. It felt really good but when I spun it, it seemed real coarse like a lopi. It kinda looked like lopi too when I knit the swatch. I don't like lopi so I'd rather not play with this wool again either. I'm going to get a sample bag of roving in order to play with the different types until I find my favorites. All in all, it didn't take me but an hour to spin, skein and set the twist on these minis. I can't wait to do more. I'll definitely have to set aside a spinning day now :)
The wonderful spinning ladies over at KR have been great spinning enablers - Amie, Bess, Lissa, Donna and many others. Thanks for your guidance and support!
I shared with my mom what I was going to spend my birthday money on and she told me about a friend who has a farm near them and spins and knits. I put the bug in her ear that I'd eventually love a spinning wheel. MacGuyver (what we call Mom because she can fix anything) and Ebay Man (what we call Dad because he'll spend hours after work sniffing out bargains on Ebay) will surely hook me up with one for Christmas :) Well gotta run. I have a short work day and I need to place my spindle order today - yippie! I'm getting a Golding based on Bess' recommendation. I really want that Celtic Knot but can't rationalize spending the extra $20. I want to save and buy some cashmere (yummy). Have a great weekend everyone...
4 comments:
*snicker* Not only do I remember that Dead or Alive song...I still have the 45" vinyl single I bought back then...hee hee...
Hey, look what you did! I really want to hate you because your spinning is so much better than mine but I can't. Oh, and don't knock your cheapy spindle. I only started drop spinning for the sake of the roman reenactment and in my research I found that though they did have some very nice (and surprisingly modern looking) spindles, they also spun with just rocks attached to the fiber. And they made incredibly thin, fine yarn. Which is to illustrate nothing, really, except WOW we can MAKE yarn! When I upgraded to a spindle with better balance and weight, it certainly improved my spinning and made me actually like doing it. But I'm trying not to think of wheels because I actually want to spend my time knitting, though I'm sure I'll fall sooner or later.
Always happy to enable! You'll love your Golding, whichever model you get... and YAY! A wheel! Yippeee!!!!
Your spinning looks great! I've heard such wonderous things about the Goldings. I hope you get your wheel this year :)
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