![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
My spinning story...
It all started long, long ago in a land far far away...Alberta to be exact...at my sister-in-law's to be precise. She has been an excellent spinner and weaver ever since I've known her. Over 29 years ago...before Paul and I married...I spent the summer with my brother and his wife. I knew I was serious about Paul, just not sure how serious. So I decided to go away for the summer and see if I could live without him. LOL! Well, what happened was we wrote letters every week or more frequently. My sister-in-law laughed at the amount of mail I received! She chuckled at all the 'x's and 'o's on my mail.
In an effort to distract myself I landed a job at the Town Office drafting a cemetery map...which I might add, was not a very well done job. No doubt due to my being distracted by thoughts of a certain young man! However, to further distract me my sister-in-law, Sarah, decided to teach me to spin. But not just spin! Oh no! We had to go all the way back to the beginning...with the sheep.
I can't say I've shorn the sheep, but I can say the fleece we picked up was very dirty and smelly, not long off the sheep. We washed it, carded it, and then Sarah introduced me to the drop spindle. A lovely little tool known the world over in various forms.
That summer I spun enough yarn to make the longest thickest scarf I've ever made in my life...6' long and 12" wide! By the time I finished spinning the yarn, I knew who it was for. And I knew I was sunk...I loved Paul.
After my arrival back home Paul and I wasted no time coming to an agreement on a wedding date. I'd like to say he asked me to marry him...but I don't think it happened that way. We met each other after the summer apart and we were pretty desparate. One of us was talking about doing something that meant we'd obviously be a serious couple. The other said "I guess that means we should plan a wedding then." The other agreed and so we did!
I dropped spinning after leaving my sister-in-law because I did not have a spindle or the time. I was knitting that scarf for Paul and working full time. Plus planning a wedding!
That scarf lasted about 25 years before it sprung some holes in the thin spots. I let it sit for awhile, then unraveled it and reknit it, doubling up the weak spots, into a scarf for Carl. Carl's scarf was much smaller and I have oodles of yarn leftover. I was totally amazed at how long the scarf lasted...and how resilient the wool was even after 25 years!
In the meantime...I've been visiting this yarn shop buying knitting yarn. It also sells spinning supplies and wool roving to spin. I never paid much notice, being too busy with my other hobbies. But then one day the owner and her co-worker piped up with me being able to dye roving or yarn just like I do for rug hooking. Well, I never thought of that. I'd been buying their hand dyed wool to knit for awhile. Never occurred to me to make my own to knit!
So I decided I'd try it. But as I looked around I was lamenting the cost of yarn to dye. Well that was it. One of them mentioned spinning my own yarn to dye! LOL! I smell a plot! I really like the ambience of the shop. And we have an excellent spinning instructor locally. So I took the plunge.
It's cost me a bit of money. But as hobbies go, it's not bad. A spindle for $50CAD. Some roving for $5. That's it. Then there was a gizmo to help get my yarn off the spindle and into a ball. That was about $10. However since then I've picked up a smaller spindle $60. And a contraption called a niddy-noddy to measure my yarn as it is turned into skeins - $50. And lots and lots of wool roving. And then there's the spinning class - $120. Still, when you look at the cost of learning to sew and a new sewing machine (good basic ones run around $1000!) - this is cheap! If it works out, I'm bucking for a spinning wheel for Christmas. It'll be approximately $400CAD. MUCH cheaper than learning to quilt!
While I was in the Maritimes I picked up some roving to spin. I tried to pick up roving we couldn't find here. I only had one flub - the alpaca suri that was sold as "alpaca prime" by London-Wul outside Moncton, NB. I've been told I can spin it to make baskets or tote bags. It'll be too rough to knit into a garment. This is it...
It's pretty rough and coarse. I should have opened the plastic bag and checked it first. But I fell in love with the colour...
I was in Dartmouth, NS. one day and asked the proprietor of Tangled Skeins about roving to spin. She disappeared in the back and came out with this...a lovely soy silk and merino blend. Merino is great for spinning. It's very soft and makes a nice fine yarn.
My spinning instructor tried spinning a short piece and it was gorgeous once spun!
Meghan was with us the day we visited Belfast Woolen Mills. We found the following alpaca and cashmere blend.
It is just gorgeous to the touch! Meghan pounced on this and wouldn't let it go. She kept telling me she wanted me to make her something from it. Finally she decided she wanted a headband out of it. She said she doesn't like to wear hats. She wants a knit headband. Well, there's a lot of wool there for a headband! There's easily enough for hat and mitts. I'll make her a headband and me a hat...maybe.
Then we were at The Loop in Halifax. I picked up a few packages of roving there. This first is a Bamboo/Merino blend. It feels very soft, but was so tough to pull apart the lady ended up taking scissors to it! When I told my spinning friends they let out a collective gasp. Scissors on wool roving is a 'no-no' apparently. When you get to the end of spinning the cut piece the roving all ends in one spot, making a noticable join/weak spot when you go to add another batch of roving. Well, I'll just pull apart the cut part so it's not all straight across. I was told when I had issues with the strength of the fibre to just hold my hands further apart from each other on the fibre and pull. Some fibres can be very long.
Another purchase at The Loop was this lovely Nova Scotia Shetland wool. I am looking forward to some lace knitting with it.
And then this lovely soft Coopsworth roving.
I've never heard of this sheep breed before. But then I'm new to this spinning thing.
You'll notice most of what I purchased is white. That's because I hope to dye it later as yarn. I'm not interested in dyeing it as roving. The roving felts easily and dyed roving can be harder to spin. Plus I'm used to dyeing yarn. I've been doing it for rug hooking for years.
Of course with all this fibre floating around, I just had to pick up a new spindle when I came home. Our local shop had some gorgeous spindles come from IST Crafts on the Isle of Wight, UK. I've been borrowing a lightweight one from a friend to spin my merino. But this spindle is much nicer! I'll be using it from now on. It spins steady, fast, and forever! Lovely spindle!
I can see myself spinning for awhile. It is so relaxing to just drop my spindle and go. Tonight I'm heading out to practice a special piece with the choir. My ride is coming about an hour early to pick me up. That will give me loads of time to do some spinning while waiting for the others to arrive at the church. Great stuff!
It all started long, long ago in a land far far away...Alberta to be exact...at my sister-in-law's to be precise. She has been an excellent spinner and weaver ever since I've known her. Over 29 years ago...before Paul and I married...I spent the summer with my brother and his wife. I knew I was serious about Paul, just not sure how serious. So I decided to go away for the summer and see if I could live without him. LOL! Well, what happened was we wrote letters every week or more frequently. My sister-in-law laughed at the amount of mail I received! She chuckled at all the 'x's and 'o's on my mail.
In an effort to distract myself I landed a job at the Town Office drafting a cemetery map...which I might add, was not a very well done job. No doubt due to my being distracted by thoughts of a certain young man! However, to further distract me my sister-in-law, Sarah, decided to teach me to spin. But not just spin! Oh no! We had to go all the way back to the beginning...with the sheep.
I can't say I've shorn the sheep, but I can say the fleece we picked up was very dirty and smelly, not long off the sheep. We washed it, carded it, and then Sarah introduced me to the drop spindle. A lovely little tool known the world over in various forms.
That summer I spun enough yarn to make the longest thickest scarf I've ever made in my life...6' long and 12" wide! By the time I finished spinning the yarn, I knew who it was for. And I knew I was sunk...I loved Paul.
After my arrival back home Paul and I wasted no time coming to an agreement on a wedding date. I'd like to say he asked me to marry him...but I don't think it happened that way. We met each other after the summer apart and we were pretty desparate. One of us was talking about doing something that meant we'd obviously be a serious couple. The other said "I guess that means we should plan a wedding then." The other agreed and so we did!
I dropped spinning after leaving my sister-in-law because I did not have a spindle or the time. I was knitting that scarf for Paul and working full time. Plus planning a wedding!
That scarf lasted about 25 years before it sprung some holes in the thin spots. I let it sit for awhile, then unraveled it and reknit it, doubling up the weak spots, into a scarf for Carl. Carl's scarf was much smaller and I have oodles of yarn leftover. I was totally amazed at how long the scarf lasted...and how resilient the wool was even after 25 years!
In the meantime...I've been visiting this yarn shop buying knitting yarn. It also sells spinning supplies and wool roving to spin. I never paid much notice, being too busy with my other hobbies. But then one day the owner and her co-worker piped up with me being able to dye roving or yarn just like I do for rug hooking. Well, I never thought of that. I'd been buying their hand dyed wool to knit for awhile. Never occurred to me to make my own to knit!
So I decided I'd try it. But as I looked around I was lamenting the cost of yarn to dye. Well that was it. One of them mentioned spinning my own yarn to dye! LOL! I smell a plot! I really like the ambience of the shop. And we have an excellent spinning instructor locally. So I took the plunge.
It's cost me a bit of money. But as hobbies go, it's not bad. A spindle for $50CAD. Some roving for $5. That's it. Then there was a gizmo to help get my yarn off the spindle and into a ball. That was about $10. However since then I've picked up a smaller spindle $60. And a contraption called a niddy-noddy to measure my yarn as it is turned into skeins - $50. And lots and lots of wool roving. And then there's the spinning class - $120. Still, when you look at the cost of learning to sew and a new sewing machine (good basic ones run around $1000!) - this is cheap! If it works out, I'm bucking for a spinning wheel for Christmas. It'll be approximately $400CAD. MUCH cheaper than learning to quilt!
While I was in the Maritimes I picked up some roving to spin. I tried to pick up roving we couldn't find here. I only had one flub - the alpaca suri that was sold as "alpaca prime" by London-Wul outside Moncton, NB. I've been told I can spin it to make baskets or tote bags. It'll be too rough to knit into a garment. This is it...
It's pretty rough and coarse. I should have opened the plastic bag and checked it first. But I fell in love with the colour...
I was in Dartmouth, NS. one day and asked the proprietor of Tangled Skeins about roving to spin. She disappeared in the back and came out with this...a lovely soy silk and merino blend. Merino is great for spinning. It's very soft and makes a nice fine yarn.
My spinning instructor tried spinning a short piece and it was gorgeous once spun!
Meghan was with us the day we visited Belfast Woolen Mills. We found the following alpaca and cashmere blend.
It is just gorgeous to the touch! Meghan pounced on this and wouldn't let it go. She kept telling me she wanted me to make her something from it. Finally she decided she wanted a headband out of it. She said she doesn't like to wear hats. She wants a knit headband. Well, there's a lot of wool there for a headband! There's easily enough for hat and mitts. I'll make her a headband and me a hat...maybe.
Then we were at The Loop in Halifax. I picked up a few packages of roving there. This first is a Bamboo/Merino blend. It feels very soft, but was so tough to pull apart the lady ended up taking scissors to it! When I told my spinning friends they let out a collective gasp. Scissors on wool roving is a 'no-no' apparently. When you get to the end of spinning the cut piece the roving all ends in one spot, making a noticable join/weak spot when you go to add another batch of roving. Well, I'll just pull apart the cut part so it's not all straight across. I was told when I had issues with the strength of the fibre to just hold my hands further apart from each other on the fibre and pull. Some fibres can be very long.
Another purchase at The Loop was this lovely Nova Scotia Shetland wool. I am looking forward to some lace knitting with it.
And then this lovely soft Coopsworth roving.
I've never heard of this sheep breed before. But then I'm new to this spinning thing.
You'll notice most of what I purchased is white. That's because I hope to dye it later as yarn. I'm not interested in dyeing it as roving. The roving felts easily and dyed roving can be harder to spin. Plus I'm used to dyeing yarn. I've been doing it for rug hooking for years.
Of course with all this fibre floating around, I just had to pick up a new spindle when I came home. Our local shop had some gorgeous spindles come from IST Crafts on the Isle of Wight, UK. I've been borrowing a lightweight one from a friend to spin my merino. But this spindle is much nicer! I'll be using it from now on. It spins steady, fast, and forever! Lovely spindle!
I can see myself spinning for awhile. It is so relaxing to just drop my spindle and go. Tonight I'm heading out to practice a special piece with the choir. My ride is coming about an hour early to pick me up. That will give me loads of time to do some spinning while waiting for the others to arrive at the church. Great stuff!
Comment Form