This weekend I took the Spinning 101 class at Hill Country Weavers. I now know how to spin. Check it out!
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="yarn spun on a drop spindle"]
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="my second attempt with a drop spindle"]
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After the first class I borrowed a drop spindle and worked at home. I really wanted to spend time working on my drafting, and after about three hours I finally got a good hang of it. Turns out I wasn't preparing my roving well enough before I started spinning it up.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="first attempt with a drop spindle"]
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If you can tell from this picture of my first spinning attempt, this yarn isn't drafted as well and has big chunks in it.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="first attempt on a wheel"]
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This is what I got after spending two hours with a spinning wheel. LOVED IT. I really want one now. This is bad.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="close up of wheel-spun yarn"]
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I think you can see in this shot that the thickness of the yarn is a bit more consistent. There are still chunks in there, but it's not nearly as bad as before.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="color carding"]
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After lunch on Day 2 we played around with color carding. The teacher had me spin up her examples, and I did a few of my own. Very very fun.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="variegated yarn"]
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I spent the last hour or so spinning up my own concoction ... it's a striping/variegated yarn with dark red, pink, blue, purple, and mint green. I'm trying to figure out something to knit up with it.
I now love spinning and really want my own wheel. I've been eying a few on eBay; I really want a Louët. I used the Louët Victoria in class today, though that is way out of my price range. I like the modern look of the Louët wheels a whole lot. We'll see what happens. For now I'll just go over to HCW and use the wheels that they have set up at Knit Buzz.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="yarn spun on a drop spindle"]
[/caption][caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="my second attempt with a drop spindle"]
[/caption]After the first class I borrowed a drop spindle and worked at home. I really wanted to spend time working on my drafting, and after about three hours I finally got a good hang of it. Turns out I wasn't preparing my roving well enough before I started spinning it up.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="first attempt with a drop spindle"]
[/caption]If you can tell from this picture of my first spinning attempt, this yarn isn't drafted as well and has big chunks in it.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="first attempt on a wheel"]
[/caption]This is what I got after spending two hours with a spinning wheel. LOVED IT. I really want one now. This is bad.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="close up of wheel-spun yarn"]
[/caption]I think you can see in this shot that the thickness of the yarn is a bit more consistent. There are still chunks in there, but it's not nearly as bad as before.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="color carding"]
[/caption]After lunch on Day 2 we played around with color carding. The teacher had me spin up her examples, and I did a few of my own. Very very fun.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="variegated yarn"]
[/caption]I spent the last hour or so spinning up my own concoction ... it's a striping/variegated yarn with dark red, pink, blue, purple, and mint green. I'm trying to figure out something to knit up with it.
I now love spinning and really want my own wheel. I've been eying a few on eBay; I really want a Louët. I used the Louët Victoria in class today, though that is way out of my price range. I like the modern look of the Louët wheels a whole lot. We'll see what happens. For now I'll just go over to HCW and use the wheels that they have set up at Knit Buzz.
Did they make you use Corriedale on the drop spindle? I bought I spindle from there a while back and the lady suggested I get Corriedale to use. I don't really find it all that easy. Also, kinda scratchy, what on earth would you use the resulting yarn for? I used it to make stripes in a kitty pi.
ReplyDeleteThere was a spinning 101 class I really wanted to take, but I work on weekends. They don't have any other wheel classes until September. Woe is me.
Yep, Corriedale. While it doesn't really give you anything functional, the roving is great to learn on because it catches easily and is easy to pre-draft. I spent about five hours one night playing around with a borrowed spindle, but I definitely prefer spinning on my wheel. You know, HCW has a bunch of wheels in Knit Buzz that are free to use. If you want we could meet up sometime and I could try to show you how a wheel works!
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