Guess what I learned to do yesterday...

I've been wanting to learn to spin on a wheel for a while now. I can drop spindle, but that is such slow going. Yes, it is nice and portable, but not very practical. And the fiber that I keep buying has been piling up. So yesterday I went over to visit Jane Deason, also known as Angora Jane. She taught me to spin in no time! Very excellent instruction and patience. Although, I don't think I was a terribly difficult student, I just really need to work on slowing down!

She taught me on an Ashford Kiwi. Thats it in the picture above. Sorry its blurry, I was taking pics with my phone. As super easy and awesome as that wheel was, another wheel in the room caught my eye.

So she let me spin on this one for a while. Its sooooo much more old fashioned looking. I LOVE the way it looks 1000 times more than the look of the other one. It really wasn't much harder to spin on and I love that the bobbins can be stored right on the side of it. So, I think I am going to cough up the extra and go with this super pretty, solid wood wheel. Its still an Ashford and its beautiful!

Not only did we cover spinning, but then Jane taught me to ply the yarn I had just spun. And then beat it. So I actually left with a skein of pretty handspun yarn. If you ever want to learn to spin on a wheel, you should look into one of Jane's classes. She usually teaches one at Fiber Christmas in July. She is a member of make:Tulsa so you can find her at some of those events as well. If there is a spring fiber fest out at Brush Creek Barn, I bet we see her set up there too! (If I hear of any for-certain info on a spring fiber fest, be sure that I will post it!)

See my pretty yarn?!? She had even picked out colors that were perfect for me. Lots of blues and purples, a little bit of greens and yellows. Yay! (it was some of her hand dyed roving) And then she was super generous and let me borrow a wheel until the one I order gets here.

So I stayed up waaaay too late "practicing."

I'm not totally consistent yet, but I am not creating super thick/thin art yarn either. It's like worsted weight yarn once it's plied. I can't wait to knit up something for myself with my very first wheel spun yarn!

Did you learn or try anything new this weekend? I'd love to hear about it!

Comments

Annie @ Wattlebird said…

I've always wanted to do this!!! So jealous!

March 13, 2011 at 2:17 PM

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