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The knitting retreat.
One cozy evening at the retreat I sat down casually next to a friend to admire her spinning wheel. It was a cunning bit of construction and I just had to get a closer look at it.
Here it is folded up in its travel mode:
[album 65561 Folding Wheel.jpg]
And here up and ready to use:
[album 65561 Folding Wheel 2.jpg]
[Please note the wicked cool socks on everyone's feet in this picture...knitters wear the most interesting socks.]
Anyhoo... as I was chatting with my spinning crack dealer... I mean friend, she casually whipped out some of her choice drugs, I mean fiber and had me try it out on the spot. Dang she was bold. Everyone was watching!
Now a little background for those of you who might not know. For quite a while at our house we had TWO spinning wheels. Hub Man and I both tried to learn to spin. I even took a private lesson at a local yarn shop before giving up on the whole idea of spinning yarn and selling the last wheel several months ago. I just could not GET it. But that was before I met the Spin Harlot.
She taught me something called "park and draft".
The heavens opened. Angels sang. I began to spin yarn.
No one up until that moment had ever shown me this simple trick. I spun the spindle and then stopped it. THEN I let the twist travel up the fiber. I didn't have to do two things at the same time. I was either spinning up the spindle, or drafting. Which of course my hens and chickens means that it has been documented and verified that I cannot chew gum and walk at the same time, but never mind. I don't care. I made yarn.
Not only did I make single ply yarn, we made plyed yarn. The real thing. I took it back to my room and soaked it in hot water and thwacked it on the counter top to 'set the twist' and let it dry overnight.
Here's my first real yarn... ever:
[album 65561 Yarn a.jpg]
A closer view:
[album 65561 Yarn b.jpg]
Here's the spindle my drug dealer spinning friend sold to me. I slipped the money into her knitting chair when no one was looking and she handed over my beginner's spindle.
[album 65561 Yarn c.jpg]
Like any good dealer, she gave me some free fiber to take home with me to practice on. I spun it up and yesterday at the knitting group she helped me ply it. I processed it last night and here is my yarn:
[album 65561 yarn d.jpg]
Closer....
[album 65561 Yarn e.jpg]
It's on the bulky side, but I intend to use it in a felted bag, so I'm sure it will do fine. I'm very excited to have finally learned this skill, even if only the very basics. I don't know if I will turn out to be a wicked cool spinner like my friend T., but I will always be grateful that she used her patient teaching abilities to launch me into another area of the fiber arts with such a long and glorious tradition.
(Oh how pretentious! That yarn is about as far from 'art' as I am from a Wombat. Get over yourself Cupcake.)
There are days my dear ( ), when I would love to park and draft YOU!