When we were visiting the city, checking out Columbia and deciding what neighborhood we'd like to live in, I made a pit stop at the famous Purl Soho Yarn Store which is full of incredible yarns and fabrics, none of which were in my price range. What was affordable, was a drop spindle, and I though, what the heck? It might get my spinning willies out.But between moving, exploring our new city, two kids at home and a very busy husband, I never got a chance to give it a try. It's been sitting on my dresser in a jar full of pencils, holding my skinny bracelets since we moved here.
Then the other day I was digging through my ribbon tub and found some wool roving that I picked up somewhere and thoughts of spinning came roaring back.
It's addicting. I'm telling you. After watching a few YouTube videos, my favorite was a series from this lady, I got the hang of it. The idea of "pre-drafting" or pulling your roving into the right sized strands before spinning, worked best for me, but it seems there are a number of ways to go about it. After a while my spindle started spinning off kilter so I unwound what I had around a chair, twisted it up the way yarn comes from the yarn store and doused it in hot water. After two days of hanging it to dry (with a hanger as a weight) I have my very first hand spun skein of yarn. It's small and I have no idea what I'll make with it, but woot! My own yarn.
Oh man. I see spinning wheels and whole fleeces in my future.