Spinning

Ever since I saw women carding wool at Sturbridge Village when I was very young, I have wanted to learn to spin. Finding a wheel, just waiting for me, here when we moved in was just amazing. But before I touch the wheel, I wanted to learn the basics. So using the internet, I discovered drop spindles, and a whole community of women spinning their threads, and just had to learn.

I wandered over to Mielke's Farm and bought a learn to spin kit. Then I found some roving at my lys and here is the result. The roving is a lovely blue with a fluorescent yellow/green highlight. This spindle is a bottom whorl, which I have discovered is a little harder to use than a top whorl, and that it's also very heavy. My first attempts weren't bad, but spinning is something you need to see and do to learn to figure out how much twist to put in, how thin to make your strand. So through the mailing list I joined, I met a very friendly woman from So. Cal, who was willing to meet up in person and teach me. That was very helpful. Now I needed more spindles!

So I purchased this one. It's a Kundert, and quite lovely. See the gorgous purpleheart wood? The roving being spun on this one I won at my first meeting of the Ventura County Handspinners and Weavers Guild and I just love the colorway. It's a gorgeous blend of rust and copper and gold and blue and I can't wait to see the finished yarn. I'm hoping to make it a 2 ply sport weight or fingering weight, but we'll see!

Well, I love the Kundert, but it's still a very heavy spindle. I needed something really light to help my single become more fine. And then I found The Journey Wheel. And I found Sheila Bosworth, and her husband Jonathan, who create what someone at my guild called the "cadillac of spindles." Sheila's customer service is the best I've ever gotten. I bought this one with her help, a tulipwood midi that is just incredible. It spins forever and is so beautiful to look at and to touch. I already have plans for a collection. The fiber on that spindle was a free bag of mill ends that came with a full box of fiber from The Sheep Shed Studio. I'm really pleased with the fiber I got from them.

I have a few more spindles in my collection already that will have to wait for another day to be displayed. Tomorrow: my WIP's!!!