I learned to spin!

So, this weekend I learned how to spin. Frustrated with being stuck at home when my husband (a) went to see Indiana Jones 4 with my nine-year-old and (b) went to curragh practice on Saturday morning, I called up Nels Wiberg at Babe’s Fiber Garden in Whitewater and asked if he had a storefront, because I wanted to come over in the afternoon.

I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t an apartment building containing an office and three rooms of fiber, wheels, and other tools.

But Nels was an angel. He doesn’t just sell Babe spinning wheels, he invented them. And he had several types of wheels on display, as well as niddy noddies, skein winders, and skein blockers, all made of friendly and affordable PVC tubing. When he wasn’t showing me around, he was giving me stuff. A directory of fiber shops, a flyer for an upcoming fiber fest, the current newsletter for the local spinning guild, which I had had trouble connecting with.

Before I knew it, he had slipped off one shoe and was seated at a wheel, spinning and explaining everything he was doing. Then he invited me to try. (Who, me?) He watched me screwing up the draw and the draft, explained a technique that might help me, then demonstrated again while I watched over his shoulder. When it was my turn again I was spinning.

Really. Spinning!

I bought a little booklet about spinning up dog fur, and 2 ounces of wool of some sort or other, and Saturday night (long after the kids were asleep) I sat at Maggie, my Ashford Traditional, and ended up spinning up all of it.

Ok, so there was a little waste. Threw it out. OK, I don’t know what kind of wool it was. Don’t care. OK, I still have to ply it up before I can spin some more; Maggie came with a Lazy Kate with two full bobbins. I think (since one is natural grey and the other is natural white) I will turn them into center-pull balls to ply them.

But I can spin now, and if you don’t know how to spin, the only thing I can compare it to is getting on Ravelry in the first blush of Rav-honeymoon. You know how to do something cool all by yourself…but you know there’s so much more out there to learn and experiment with. You log off and then you log back in again right away so you don’t miss anything.

My goal has been to spin up all last year’s Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival fiber before this year’s festival, so I can justify buying some more. Now, we have the technology!

Hmm, that’s three balls of chocolatey wool from “Wookie,” and a ball of sliver from a Jacob sheep. I also have some “starter” wool from master-enabler Lauren, and the rainbow-dyed braided roving I bought at Susan’s Fiber Shop. Oh, and a little BFL from The Spinning Loft in Howell, Michigan, as well as a baggie of really nice wool Beth practically pressed into my hand as I left. And, well, two raw Romney fleeces and some raw llama I still have to prep.

I can’t wait.

Oh yeah, here’s a picture of my first bobbin-full. As soon as WordPress lets me show it to you!

Spinning wheel to come

I have been putting money down on a used spinning wheel for a couple of months, and now it feels enough like mine to tell about it. It’s a used Ashford Traditional. possibly dating back to the 1970s, but it looks just great. I haven’t picked it up yet, and refuse to do so until I have paid every last dime.

But here it is (scroll down).

Now, time to think about motorcycle-related items I can spin and knit with it. Balaclavas? Riding gloves? Dickies? An alpaca cap to wear under a helmet in the winter?