This is what I was doing just about a year ago . . . figuring out how to spin really lumpy, really bad yarn.

See, years ago, I bought a “learn to spin” kit (book, wool, spindle), and never really got around to doing anything with it. I kept it in my closet with the yarn, looked at it every now and again, but basically, it just sat there.

  But, last year–well, November, really–I finally decided that I needed to do something about it. Either I was going to get rid of it to free up the space for knitting yarn, or finally figure out how to do the spinning thing.

Guess which one I opted for? For the next couple weeks, I sat with my copy of Lee Raven’s excellent “Hand-On Spinning” and, little by little, started making sense of the whole thing. (The Knitter’s Review boards were really helpful, too.)

Then, one year ago this week, I got my first wheel. A second-hand Ashford Kiwi off Ebay. It arrived just as I went under a bout of bronchitis from a cold I almost fought off, but which came back and got me, just in time for my brand-new toy to come. (And a weekend with a guest and a gathering of some really serious Carly Simon fans, getting together for her concert at the Apollo theater last December. I more or less slept through the visit, and luckily had always planned on staying home for the concert. But that’s another, long story.)

But anyway, my wheel arrived just about exactly a year ago, and I thought I’d take advantage of this milestone to look back at some of the spinning I’ve done over the last year. Heaven knows I’ve improved!

The skein at the very top is my very first attempt. I don’t plan on ever doing anything with it but keeping it as a reminder. It came off my clunky, bottom-whorl drop spindle (Ashford, is my guess, but I really don’t know for sure). The next was my first “real” skein–Navaho-plied kind of badly, it’s true, but it’s got an interesting texture to it. Someday, I might actually turn it into something . . . or not!

The blue-green (which you may recognize from the header at the top of my page) came along about February–two months’ worth of spinning experience. Not too bad, huh? The orange-burgundy, I just finished last month.

As you know, I’ve since gotten a Lendrum–about nine months ago, in fact. As much as I liked my Kiwi, I decided fairly quickly that I wanted one that was a little smoother, a little more versatile. Risa showed me her wheel collection, and introduced me to her twins, to help me make my decision. (I didn’t really look past her Lendrum, to be honest, I didn’t want to be tempted by any of the more expensive wheels . . . though I was very much taken by her Journey Wheel. That is one nifty piece of engineering.)

Luckily, my spinning has improved immeasurably in the last twelve months. In fact, there’s almost no comparison. I still have a lot to learn, and there are skills I’d like to, but don’t yet, have. It’s been great fun so far, though. I very much want to get a handle on woolen spinning and the long-draft method. I’d like to give another try to preparing my own fleece. (Although I think a drum carder would be more or less mandatory. I don’t think I have the patience to hand-card or comb a whole fleece’s worth of wool.) Dyeing would be interesting, too, although I don’t know where I could do it, what with the white kitchen sink, the white bathroom . . . too messy and too nerve-wracking for Mom to attempt that.

But, really, so far, everything I’ve learned has been self-taught. Me, wool, books, helpful websites, helpful suggestions, and lots of trial and error. So, if anybody is thinking they could never do this and can’t find a teacher. . . it’s possible. There were spots when it would have been seriously helpful to have someone point and say, “Do this,” or “This will work better,” or–especially–”This is how much twist you need.” But the exploration has been fun, and I enjoy figuring things out, so . . .

I’ve been thinking of letting my Kiwi go off to a new home, to let it help someone else. It doesn’t seem fair to let it just sit in the corner, doing nothing. One of these days I’ll go through the Kiwi’s stuff (the bobbins, the extra flyer, the maintenance kit, and so on) and come up with a price I think is fair . . . although, really, trying to pack it up safely in a box and trusting it to the hands of the Post Office? A little too worrying.

On a different note, my SP6–the one I’ve been spoiling–got her last package the other day. Go say hello to Tracey, a knitting mother of 2 1/2 kids. My KRSP pal should have gotten her final gift just about the same time, but I haven’t heard from her–I hope the package arrived! Her name is Angel. I’m still waiting for my last SP6 package–my pal sent me a note saying that it had come back in the mail with a smudged address, but I expect it any day. And my KRSP gift-giver . . . haven’t heard from her in a while, but I can’t wait to find out who she is. These two exchanges have been fun.

Tags: Finished Spinning, Knitting/Spinning // 11 Comments »