Way back in September, 2006 my sister got married. And for her bachelorette party, she, a group of her friends and I all went to a Renaissance fair in New York. There, I found a small booth which was selling yarn, fiber and drop spindles! At that time, I didn't even know drop spindles existed. Of course I bought one, and 8 oz of merino, and walked around the fair for the rest of the weekend spinning yarn.
I've been working on the same roving since then… off and on, mostly off. But something the other day made me pull out the drop spindle and roving and get working on it again. I was outside in the yard, just sitting there, and the urge to spin yarn came over me like a big WOOSH. I didn't think much of it, and continued on with my day as I normally would. Then later when I was poking around online, one of my Twitter friends, Rachel, was talking about how much yarn she had spun recently, and about updating her Etsy store. So, I wandered into her store and began looking around. OMG! Pretty!
I wanted some! But of course, being the way I am, I couldn't be satisfied buying some of hers… no, I have to make my own. I started chatting with her a bit about how long she's been spinning, and she suggested a good spinning wheel for beginners, and it just began to feel more and more RIGHT, that NOW is the time to learn to spin.
To be honest, I've been avoiding it—RESISTING the urge to learn. At TNNA last year, someone in the Louet booth asked if I'd like to try spinning on a wheel, and I recoiled. Oh, don't get me wrong… I TOTALLY wanted to, but there was a part of me telling me it wasn't the right time yet, and that if I had sat down in that chair with the roving running through my fingers, there would be no going back. So instead, I wandered away from the booth with a small piece of colored roving the woman gave me to encourage and motivate me to do it in the future.
My quest this week has been to search for an Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. At first I began searching for a used one, but they seem to hold their value, so used ones aren't *much* cheaper than new, nor are they easy to find. They seem to get snatched up pretty quickly.
I think I've come up with a solution, but I'm not going to go into any details until I have the wheel in my hands, just in case something doesn't work out. In the mean-time, I'll enjoy the roving and drop spindle that I do have.
I did a little YouTube research to learn more about how to spin with a drop spindle and found some great videos!
After watching the videos I felt a lot more confident, so I continued working with the brown merino. Eventually I decided that it looked far too different from what I had already on the spindle, so I decided to stop, and use the rest of the merino at another time. I wound the spun yarn around a chair, tied it off, wet it and hung the hank to dry. Today after work, I went through a grouling, circulation restricting process (see video #3) of winding it into a ball, then used the drop spindle to ply it.
Here are the results! It's still a bit damp from it's first round of wetness—which in retrospect I think I could have skipped until after plying. Ah well, live and learn.
I totally love it. There are 86 yards, although I swear it looks like more. I think I'll make a hat or a garter stitch scarf with it. I haven't decided yet… I've got time.
The drop spindle is finally free, and ready to begin something new! I'm wandering away now to do some more spinning…
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