I'm that chick that used to spin and knit and stuff sometimes. And sometimes I used to talk about it. And then I stopped, oops.
SO, superquick catch-up time.
Not too long after the last post-- February 2012, yikes!-- I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool again, where I bought way too much fiber and...
An Ashford kiwi spinning wheel. w00t!
I went in intending something completely different-- in spite of the allure of a classic spinning wheel, I wanted to try a Road Bug because they're so small and cute and portable, but I could not for the life of me get it to go the right direction and it wasn't comfortable and then. And then. The shop owner shook his head, put a Kiwi in front of me, and I started making yarn.
Oh, yarn.
Anyway, that was May 2012, and later that summer I had the good fortune to get myself hired... which significantly cut down on my free time for messing about with crafting, though I did do a good spate of knitting early this year. And, you know, the occasional bit and piece before that. I finally finished my scarf, which is a million years old but eminently satisfying.
SKIPPING AHEAD to May 2013 when I... didn't go to Maryland S&W, which is probably for the best. But I did go to the Long Island Fleece and Fiber Festival out in Riverhead. Which should be another post of its own, because it was awesome, but suffice it to say I bought too much fiber again, and realized I better start clearing a little of the backlog.
So I pulled the wheel out of my closet-o'-yarn, and sat down to sweet talk it.
also pictured: giant storage bag of gorgeous fiber, edge of laundry hamper, sock drawer. So sue me.
And there I went, remembering the five minutes or so they spent showing me how to use it, doing my best to replicate those motions, and googling as necessary. The bobbin on there was already pretty full of random yarn that had been spun by people trying the wheel all day, so I just used it as a leader and started spinning the cheapish green roving from my last post.
Not pictured: my ridiculous heart-pounding excitement when it started coming out even.
It was rough at first, but then it all started going right. I settled into the rhythm of it and soon enough I was getting a fairly even twist. It's a bit tighter than it should be, and especially on the early end of things there are some big fluctuations.
But, wow. Once I finally came back to my senses-- it's shockingly easy to fall into a trance, breathing in and out as you pedal, even and quick-- I could not for the life of me believe I hadn't started out with this sooner. Spinning on a wheel felt much more intuitive and natural than drop spindle work for me; not having to worry about the whorl running out of steam and starting to spin back was a relief, and taking care of the twist with my feet meant I could devote more attention to drafting.
I also tried spinning from the fold, in spite of the fact that it went against every gut instinct I had about fiber. I can't really explain how it works or why it was easier for me but damn it felt good.
Anyway, soon I decided I'd gotten a good start and wanted to set up to ply so I popped in a fresh bobbin.
Well, no, actually. I looked at my wheel, realized I had less than no idea how to change the bobbin, googled it, tried it, panicked when I couldn't get the whorl off the assembly, experienced brief but impassioned buyer's remorse, kept at it, and finally managed to get it off, changed the bobbin, reassembled it wrong, took it back apart and fixed it and then I was ready to spin.
Look at that. JUST LOOK AT IT.
The second chunk of roving went well, and once I judged them to be about even I plied them. And totally neglected to take pictures.
shut up, it was exciting.
From there it's business as usual-- off the bobbin, onto the niddy-noddy, dump it in a sink, hang it to dry. Wheee! It didn't even need a weight, it didn't curl up on itself after I blotted the worst of the water out.
Glamorous bathroom shots
I also split and plied the leftover scrap yarn on the bobbin-- waste not, want not. I actually think I did a reasonably good job of judging an equal quantity-- I did have to split the leftover on one bobbin to finish it off, but it was only some ~20 yards, which considering a total lack of ever doing this before seems like a good bet-- and I set those too.
The grayish yarn is oddly pretty, but it smells like the fleece was treated with some kind of chemical... I don't know what it is, but I'm not a fan. I don't know if I will ever use it for anything but, well, there it was.
closeup!
The color's a little washed out because I can never camera, blah blah blah. BUT YEAH. It's damned satisfying.
I still have a good length of the very fine, gorgeous yarn on the second bobbin, and I'm not one hundred percent sure what to do with it. Right now I am leaning toward trying to spin a roughly equivalent length on another bobbin, then splitting the rest of the roving as evenly as possible and hoping for the best when it comes to plying. I could also set this as a single and split the remainder and hope for the best, but I don't think there's enough to use for anything.
After this? Might play a little with hemp-- I hated spinning hemp on a spindle but I think the wheel might be a better fit for me. I also have a ton of wool, a nice length of hot pink bamboo top, and several other new and exciting fibers, but I don't know if I'm ready to tackle the stuff I am really looking forward to knitting up just yet.
I'm also thinking I... should get a book, or take a class, or something. I feel like I've done fantastically well thus far, but I have no idea what I'll do when I inevitably hit a snag of some sort. I'd also like to pick up a few more bobbins, because I know I'm notoriously indecisive and I'll be happier if I can switch up what I'm doing without having to do it in chunks.
Still, looking at my hank of wool, I feel pretty awesome.
Awww yeah.
UPDATE: not enough to warrant a new post of course, but I thought the finished result was worth seeing:
There's 44 yd of the grey, 28 of the green, and 10 of the brown. I was actually surprised by how much that adds up to. No idea what I can ever make but whoooo yarn!
Also, the weird chemical sent of the gray stuff seems to have faded out as it dries, now it smells like clean wool. (Mmm, clean wool.) Huzzah!
