A few weekends ago, I pretended that I had enough time to do all the knitting I want, and that I might have time for another sort of fiber hobby on top of it. Under this delusion, I took a beginner spinning class at L&B Yarn Co. with Brita from Yarn Made Me Do It. Brita dyed up some Corriedale (I love sounding like I know what I’m talking about by naming the type of wool) for us all to try out. I learned to pre-draft the fiber, and Brita taught us to “park and draft”, which lead me to numerous thoughts of “and she claims I will be able to do this continuously some day?”. I did eventually finish spinning, then learned how to ply, wind onto the swift, wet finish the yarn and twist it into a skein! My first skein of handspun, beautiful greens and blues, in all of it’s lumpy, bumpy, thick and thin glory:
This is probably a skein that will never be knit – I think I might frame it, along with my second skein of handspun. (When Brita pulled out more fiber for sale after class, I couldn’t resist grabbing some more to try out). They both look so adorable in their skeins (and probably a lot better than they would knitted up!) that I’m going to have to leave them that way. The fiber for my second skein was also 100% Corriedale, in the “Something New Everyday” colorway (such an adorable mix of pinks, reds, and grays):
I did much better on my second skein, and by the end I think I had finally figured out the whole let-go-of-the-spindle-while-drafting-at-the-same-time thing (just like Brita said!). My yarn was getting much more consistent by the end of the . . . ok, I forget what you call a bunch of fiber that is not a batt . . . was it combed top?
Now I’m working on another 3 oz. of fiber from a Louet spinning kit I got for Christmas last year (I’d been too chicken to try it out until I had the class). It’s a solid color, and I don’t know what type of fiber it is (I can’t find it anywhere on the box or any insert in the kit), but I can tell you that it’s pretty! The singles I’m spinning from it are much thinner than my previous two skeins, which hopefully means I’m getting better because Brita said for a while all any of us would be able to spin was really fine gauge yarn (I think this was an attempt to get us to enjoy our fat, lumpy first skeins while they lasted).
I’m sort of cringing at the thought of an actual spinning expert (or even someone with intermediate spinning skills!) reading this post, because I’ve probably said multiple things that are incorrect (and infuriating to a fiber-fanatic). Hopefully this learning curve won’t be too steep!
The color on the spindle is beautiful. I have put off learning to spin. I have 2 puppies so drop spindle is out unless I want to contribute to their toys. I don’t really have time or money for all the things I would like to do . ;)
Beautiful yarns! The fibre in the last picture is gorgeous, the colour is so sumptuous!
Linden! It’s so beautiful!! I’m so impressed with you!
No one be fooled by this blog post, Linden is totally a natural born spinner. :)
Hi there, spinning friend of Brita’s here. Your yarns are lovely, and you should totally make something out of them! Don’t worry about saying anything incorrect. 1) you didn’t, and 2) everyone was a beginner once.
Aww shucks you two! Thanks for the encouragement! : )
I had a great time taking that class with you, Linden. :) Wishing you & your spindle all the best!
I had a great time taking the class with you! I’m sad I’m going to miss out on the intermediate class this time around, but hopefully I can catch it next time!
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