I'm Spinning!

I'm back! No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I'm just pretty inconsistent when it comes to blogging. I have been making a lot of things, the most exciting being my own hand spun! I haven't knit with it yet, it's been washed and needs to dry. Maybe I can do a swatch tonight. I'm so excited. It really is magical... fairy tale stuff. Here's a bit of woolly fluff on my lap, it passes through my hands and voila, a long, somewhat smooth length of yarn tugging towards the spinning wheel. Kind of Spiderman-ish.

I'm taking classes at Place des Arts for anyone in Vancouver area, that may be interested. The wonderful thing is, we get to take the wheels home during the week. I'm starting off on what I gather to be a very basic wheel. See..

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I was supposed to practice with a big spool of scrap yarn the first week, but I got fed up with that and used some roving I had from my drop spindle kit. (I tried it a year or so ago and quit almost immediately) This is my very first homespun, already plied but not washed to set it yet. This is perendale I bought at Birkland Bros.

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I'm certainly happy with these first results, but I'm already looking forward to the day I can achieve something very even and consistent. As my Mother always said, when it came to painting or drawing. "You need to learn the rules before you can break them."

OK, this next batch of pictures shows my second attempt. Much finer, and using another method of spinning.

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While this yarn was running through my fingers, from the wheel to the winder, it felt pretty even, well the last half of it did, (that's when I began to catch on) but as you can see in the close up, there's quite a bit of variation in thickness as well as twist. These two cakes will be plied today. I'm so happy, it's a snow day here. No work!

The class I'm attending is spinning and dyeing, so eventually you will see some colour in the hand spun. The exiting thing is, that at every step of the way, you are able to make choices. You can dye the roving first, then spin. You can spin then dye. You can spin in the grease, (spin with the lanolin in ) then wash or vice versa. It seems endless.

I will be back very soon to post my latest knitting. Promise!