So I've been taken with spinning my own yarn. The spindle my husband bought me for my birthday was a wonderful idea. I've been spinning my way through a pound of Coopworth wool he bought me, and I've begun to get things in hand.



It seems that I tend toward a fairly thin yarn. I have several test yarns I made, dyed with Kool Aid (another fun distraction lately) and dried. I just wound one around a ruler, and found it came out at 13 wraps per inch--and that isn't even one of the thinner yarns I've done. I have a skein I plied drying over the shower curtain bar right now that looks nearly that thin, even though it's two ply, and two, no three, other mini skeins that are near sock yarn thickness.

I tried spinning thicker yarn, but it looked like a sloppy mess. It may be the way I pre-draft, or it may be the spindle I am using. It's a small Ashford spindle, 10 1/2" long, with a 2 3/8" whorl; it weighs slightly over 1 oz. I've already realized I need a variety of spindles. I've looked at some online. Annie carries spindles; I need to visit her one day at her shop to see what else she may have that I would like.

I'd also like to try my hand at making my own spindles. I almost did that the other day while I was trying to ply my new yarn. I really didn't want to take off the yarn I was working on to ply, but I wasn't quite done with the bit I was working on at the time. I found myself spinning and spinning to fill the spindle, and then winding and winding it to get it off the spindle. Speaking of which, Chris, watching that production, asked me why I didn't get a niddy-noddy and a skein winder while I was at The Woolery getting my birthday gifts...and I admitted that I simply forgot in the midst of all that fiber frenzy. He suggested I see if Annie had some at her shop.

Seems my beloved has discovered how much I've spent on fiber lately, and instead of getting angry with me, he is campaigning to get an SG guitar for his birthday in June.

Someone sent me some fiber. I have no idea who it was, or what it is. It is looooong wisps of silky feeling white fibers. Perhaps it is silk. I mentioned it to Annie, and discussed the craxy prices I see for fiber online, and how that intimidated me as a new spinner. Who wants to lay of $20 or $30 or more for a fiber they may end up hating? She told me she had smaller sample bags of fiber at her shop...Uh oh, I'm in trouble again, I'm sure.

Yep, the next day, she brought in two bags of fiber. An ounce of dark gray Alpaca and an ounce of coarse merino in a creamy white. Guess who they went home with? Of course, they were soooo reasonable. And then today, she brought in some silk, too. A cap that she dyed in blues and a cap in white, and a silk hankie in white. I bought them all, too. Of course, I;m too chicken to try them yet, but they are calling to me. It seem I operate that way...have the material on hand, pet it, fawn over it, dream about what to do with it....and eventually the moment will come when I will reach for it. I still have 3/4 a pound of the light brown Coopworth to learn how to keep a nice steady thread running through the spindle. And another of Louet superwash in white wool as well.

I put out the call at school for everyone to save their unused easter egg dye tablets for me --and I've stocked up on Kool Aid for dying as well. Monday I have to go to the dentist again and I'll try to get out of the house early so I can stop by the drugstore to see if they have dyes on sale as well. I can hardly wait to spin some of the white roving. The light brown limits the colors I can dye, but almost anything will be possible when I get to the white.