A New Love Affair With Spinning

Confession time: I have entered into a new long-term relationship.  It's all happened so fast.  It's exhilarating, it's intense, it's scary at times but always fun. I have fallen deeply, passionately in love with...spinning.  I just can't get enough of it.  I feel it has deepened my understanding of my other fiber crafts and that it is elevating me as a fiber artist and, in a weird zen-like way, as a person.  Intense, right?  

Whew, it feels good to get that out there in the open.  

Anyway, yes, I find that I enjoy spinning.  A lot.  

So, since I've been a little behind on my project posting, I thought I would share with you some of what has been happening with this new found love of mine.  Boy...there is a lot more to spinning the I previously thought.  But luckily (and I do mean "luckily" because I feel like had I found this love ten years ago, there would have been much less available for me to greedily consume) there is a plethora of resources out there to help, even if you have to sort of figure it out yourself, in your home, with only  the help of two well-meaning toddlers.

It started with a drop spindle.  Once I saw the magic of turning fluff into stuff, I wanted more.  My first endeavor at creating yarn with a drop spindle was a little lumpy and bumpy, but boy was it fun.  Then came the splurge.  I told myself it would be an early Christmas present- so remind me in December not to ask for anything else for Christmas.  I got a wheel! (Insert squeals of delight.) It is the cutest ladybug I have ever laid eyes on.  It's the Schacht Ladybug, to be exact, and I love it.  And perhaps this marks the point where curiosity turned to passion...or perhaps it's more comparable to Pandora's box.  Can't close it now.

I had some mixed BFL, so I got to work and made my first yarn on my new wheel.  It's a 2-ply yarn that is somewhere between worsted and bulky.  Not the prettiest yarn you've ever seen, but I swatched it and am making a hat for my son.  He is three.  He doesn't mind if it is a little lumpy.  Then, after consuming an alarming amount of reading material and Craftsy classes, I tried creating a thinner and perhaps slightly more attractive yarn.  I used a short forward draft with combed top to create the next yarn.  It is currently being put to work in a shawlette.  Pictures of that completed project are coming soon.

Oh, there's more.  After this, I got some polworth combed top and tried a short-forward pinch and release.  (I don't know if that is the official way to describe it, but that is what I did, so that is what I'm typing.)  Then, just for kicks, I tried a chain-ply.  I didn't actually produce a lot of yardage from this endeavor, so I thought a small project would be best.  (Turns out chain-plying sucks up your singles like whoa.)  I haven't started them, but this darling number is going to be woven into little mug-rugs with the help of my rigid heddle and some other yarn I have in my stash.  

The amount of knowledge I have crammed into my brain in the last few months about fiber has surprised me.  I never knew how significant fiber preparation was or that your drafting technique can affect the shine, drape, warmth and strength of your yarn.  And then there is the art of balance.  Who knew that was a thing? And then there is art yarn.  Slow down there, Champ.  I honestly am never going to be able to look at yarn the same way again...and that's okay.  Yarn has become even more beautiful to me, if you can believe that's possible.  I think I might be slowly inching my way into the "weirdo" category, so I will stop while I'm ahead and just give you the summary.

Summary: I like spinning.