The Spinning Begins
I just came back from my first spinning class at my LYS: Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins in Boulder, CO. Though it's a wheel spinning class, today we started out on drop spindles. Well, actually, we started on the floor, learning how to pick out a good fleece. Then we teased, carded, pre-drafter, and THEN got to spinning on drop spindles. Meanwhile our teacher was washing one of the yuckiest pieces of the fleece, to show us how and let us see how much difference the washing makes.
I was having problems with the twist traveling up into my pre-drafted fiber so I couldn't finish drafting it, but then I got the hang of it -- I just have to make sure my spindle has enough momentum for me to let the twist up into the full length I have drafted, then spin the spindle up again before I draft more (or park and draft if the twist is getting out of hand). It was delightful. I loved the feeling of the greasy wool, the feel and sound of the fibers moving past each other, the feel and look of the fluff twisting up into yarn, and more.
Slowing down, with pictures this time:
I started with this.
Actually, this picture is of the cleanest part of the fleece, which I reserved for spinning in the grease (with the dirt and lanolin still in), while I wash and dry the rest. I have a big paper grocery bag, half full of this white Lincoln fleece, and half full of dark brown Corriedale fleece.
I used my fingers to tease part of the fleece out into a halo of fiber, picking out a very few seeds and grass bits as I went. I didn't get a picture of this halo, but it's the kind of thing that makes you want to make an Afro-style clown wig. Just a big ball of really loose fluff. Then I used these:
I carded the halo out into a more-aligned mass of fiber that looked like troll hair. This is where the first great sound came: not the teeth of the carder bumping each other, but the sshhh of the wool sliding and straightening as I pulled the carders away from each other. Then I rolled the wool off the carder, making some of my first rolags:
When I showed this to my husband at home, the rolags got his first "Neat!" response. It is a pretty remarkable change from the original fleece, and it only takes a few minutes!
Then I pre-drafted the rolags and set to spinning. After spinning maybe six of these small rolags, my spindle looked like this:
I can't seem to decide yet whether I'm spinning the finest thread this spindle can produce without breaking (don't worry, I did that too -- the breaking, that is), or something that will knit up more quickly. And I'm not sure whether that decision, in this first week of practice, will be made by my brain or my fingers! But I'm sure it will come eventually.
Many questions come to mind. My singles are soooo tight! I know plying will relax them a bit, but how much? What kind of yarn will the style of draw I've fallen into produce? Will it be something I could stand to wear, once knit up? I've read enough spinning blogs now to know it might take months or years before I am guessing well enough at the answers to these questions to adjust my spinning accordingly. But right here at the beginning, I'm having fun yet, and I don't need answers. If I can't knit this up, I'm sure my daughter will enjoy using it for something. She's three. No object escapes being made into a toy for long.
Speaking of which...
Ever Taught a Three-Year-Old to Knit?
Well, now I've begun. Yesterday I sat DD (three and a half) down and taught her finger-knitting. I've been building up to this for a while, and she keeps referring to "when I learn to knit," so I asked her if she was ready to begin. She said yes, and she caught on pretty quickly and started producing that loose I-cord you may remember if you did some finger-knitting in grade school. Her attention span didn't allow for more than a bracelet's worth at the first sitting (that's the bracelet up above), but after dinner she told me she wanted to sit down and knit with me again until bath time. That even-shorter attempt ended up being unraveled and wound back on the ball, with no protest since I let her do it herself. We'll see where it goes from here. She was so pleased and proud to be "knitting" alongside me. And her first question on seeing me spin was when she could have a turn with the spindle. I don't know if I'm the right person to teach her. But perhaps we'll figure it out! I'll have the use of the spindle for the duration of the six-week class, so maybe once I'm rolling on the wheel (so to speak), she can give it a try. And then there's that great gift certificate waiting to be spent on something. Maybe a spindle would be a good investment in DD's fun and self-esteem.
Wish us luck -- we have each embarked on a journey these last 24 hours. Here's hoping they're long, happy, and productive ones.
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