Well, I think we all knew it was bound to happen at some point.
The other week I received an email from a friend (who also happens to be the president of our knitting guild) letting me know that she was looking to rehome some of her spinning equipment and, as she knew that I had enjoyed learning the drop spindle method, wanted to know if I’d be interested in one of her spinning wheels. It took me all of about .2 seconds to respond with a YES LET’S GOOOOO, so after a few emails back and forth about when we were both available, I was driving over to her home and getting a little lesson in what-the-heck-to-do with this stunning little piece of well-crafted machinery.
As I sat there I realized how in over my head I was, as this was nothing close to drop spindle spinning (I mean, other than the spinning fiber into yarn part), and also, I have little ability to get my feet to do one thing while my hands do another. I have to say, my teacher was very patient with me and even offered to come over should I find myself in some sort of fiber-emergency, which I haven’t needed yet, but let’s be real, I’m just getting started. She also sent me off with about a pound of rambouillet that is all ready to spin.
I decided, after a bit of work with the fiber she gave me, that I would rather use some fiber from my stash that I bought to do some drop spinning with, which, after opening the braid I realized had been dyed horribly (see photo below) so who cares when I mess it up, lol.
See what I mean about the dye job? It was literally only dyed while in the braid so that as soon as I got it home and unbraided it, most of it was undyed. I can’t even imagine how someone who owns a dye company could not even unbraid their fiber before dying. Anyway, it made for a great waste fiber to practice on, and was a lesson in who not to shop from in the future.
So, I have been practicing every evening and getting more and more on my bobbin. I’m not sure how I’m going to ply it, I don’t have anything to ply it with, as I’m getting closer to the end of the braid and didn’t take into account that I’d need another bobbin to ply it with. Can I just wind half of it onto another bobbin? How do I do that? I suppose I will have to remember to ask my fiber friends at the knitting guild a few of these questions. Anyway, enjoy a little clip of me learning to spin yarn!
I’m not sure about that fiber, it may have been dyed so that the result would be a speckled sort of yarn, which has become so popular. Or not. Interesting.
I talked with someone at the shop where I bought it and they think it was a fluke and was dyed improperly. Luckily it’s been great to use as something to get me used to spinning without really caring whether or not I’ll use the end product, lol