First spinning

[vaneramos]

This is my first major spinning project completed to date. It is delightfully quirky and squooshy. I often hear the recommendation to keep your first skein so you can see later how much you have progressed. Well, this isn't exactly my frist skein because I've made a bunch of smaller ones, and I like it well enough to use as weft for a scarf, so I probably will.

It is spun from 100 g of Ashford silk merino sliver, colour juniper, ondjjo's Lendrum wheel. I experimented with three different draft methods onto three bobbins: over-the-fold, worsted, and a slightly long draw. This was not the right fibre for a proper long draw, but it was good practice. I was trying to see how the colours would distribute differently, but they all ended up looking more or less the same. Over-the-fold may have emphasized the variegation slightly but it was way slower. The other efforts were more efficient and produced plenty of colour interest. The slubs were somewhat deliberate as I'm more inclined to make funky yarn, but it is hard to be consistently inconsistent. Finally, I plied the three into a worsted yarn. Some was left over on two bobbins, so I joined them and chain-plied the smaller skein.

As a knitter I had no desire to learn to spin. I could tell it required a lot of eye-hand coordination and concentration, and I didn't feel it. Learning to weave made me want to create my own fibre. So I had to learn. I finally took Aaron Bush's introductory spinning workshop at the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat in May. Now I think I enjoy spinning most of all. This is how expectations usually work out, isn't it?marian_w also likes spinning a lot so I guess it's genetic; hers just manifested sooner.

Comments

Love Spinning - Love Knitting

[(Anonymous)]

Beautiful work. I love spinning, but knitting is still my primary love. I find spinning quite meditative, while my knitting can be quite raucous (at least in my own mind)

Re: Love Spinning - Love Knitting

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That's a fun way of describing it. I think I aspire to raucous spinning!

[knittingwoman.livejournal.com]

Shimmer mentioned your handspun photo so I came over here to look:) It's gorgeous and I am rather a big fan of all things purple. As a knitter I so far also do not have the urge to spin my own yarn. I am lucky to have access to quite a lot of handspun locally if I wish. Good luck with our spinning ventures.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Welcome. Speaking from experience, if you learn how to spin, the urge will probably follow. But we already have so many creative projects vying for our attention, don't we? Happy knitting!