My First Spin-In

This was the weekend of Learning How To Spin. Now I *have* actually used a drop spindle. At Sully Plantation, for about an hour, during the American Bicentennial. I was very, very little. As such, I began as a total newbie, since things one does for an hour decades ago don't really count towards actual knowledge points (usually). I was first given the Spinny Stick lesson with some designated Junk Yarn. The spinny stick was a shiny orange-copper double-ended crochet hook, probably about an N, and was almost as fascinating as the lesson. (I'm all about shiny orange-copper things.) Once I figured out how the twist in the yarn was actually happening, and the whole "drafting" thing (which is vastly different in NASCAR, by the way), and "parking" thing (again, different with cars), I was entrusted with a spindle. I was told only it was a collectors' item. (This makes sense, since the Lovely L collects such things.) Here is the spindle:


Turns out it's quite rare, and quite valuable. It's made of resin, is virtually indestructable, and, oh yeah, really beautiful. It was very easy to play with, once my left hand figured out what my right hand was doing (mostly by copying what Bunnysquirrel was doing). I ended up getting this much stuff spun (the lumpy white stuff on the bottom, not the really evenly-spun lovely grey stuff at the top):


I know, it doesn't seem like a lot, but I eventually figured out important things like making sure What Goes Into The Spindle is even - because then what comes out is even, and how to slide my hand along to do the drafty-thing. It was pretty cool!!

The Spin In contained Lovely L (hosting), Gryphon, Dragonfly Kate, CraftyGryphon (me), Bunnysquirrel and Eutrapelia. I now know Many (i.e., more than three!) actual spinners. And boy, did I get to see all sorts of spinning wheels. There's Saxony wheels (the classic Sleeping Beauty style), Castle wheels (upright, and I swear you could put stained glass in the back for the pretty), and the magic tilty-wheels like Kate had, which I belive was a "Louet" (if I'm wrong, please correct). If I actually get up to the point of Spinning as a Hobby, I'd eventually get a wheel, but probably one of Doug Dodd's Pocket Wheels, because in my house, it's all about SPACE. I don't have anywhere to *put* a wheel! (The sad thing is we got rid of my great-great-grandmother's beautiful Saxony wheel when we cleaned out my grandmother's house "because we'd never use it". The woman who got it was thrilled - I'm pretty sure she got a MAJOR deal, since we didn't know what we had. Sigh. And my husband wonders why I never want to get rid of anything...)

ANYway, the spinning thing might happen. I spent Sunday's NASCAR race both wondering why my driver couldn't figure out "speed" and "pit road" (he got black flagged TWICE for the same violation!!) and spinning up a bag of decorative spider web, which actually had a lot of the same properties as the junk wool L had given me to learn on. It didn't feel nearly as nice, but the stuff about pre-drafting, and being careful, and spinning and all that was about the same. When I got careless, I got chunky yarn, when I really paid attention and was careful, I got stuff that would actually knit up fairly easily. Oh... and I kinda made my own spindle out of a cheap wooden candle-stitck and a cup hook. It didn't spin as smoothly as the really beautiful resin spindle, and it didn't have hold-the-yarn-here notches, but it worked! I got about an ounce of non-flammable polyester yarn when all was said and done.

Yarn in Progress

Look! A Ball of Actual Yarn!

I mean, look at that. It LOOKS like yarn. I'd need to get another bag, spin it up, and ply it to make it actually work as yarn - unlike wool yarn, this stuff doesn't really stick to itself, so the twist has to be pretty tight. As it is, I'm going to search through Etsy and find a spindle I like . . . well, okay, I found one, but I need to wait a week for the check to the credit card to clear before I buy it. But I think this "spinning" thing may actually become a Something!