Sunday Spindling

Last September I took a class on spinning on a drop spindle. Shortly before that I had purchased Knit Picks Turkish Drop Spindle (I wanted to get something inexpensive in case I didn't want to pursue it ... yeah right). I've watched the Knit Picks videos. I watched lots of Youtube videos. I bought beautiful hand-dyed rovings. Should have yarn by now, no?

I actually left the class with something resembling yarn, which was better than before the class when I kept dropping the spindle on the floor.



I understand the principles and the motions, but it still wasn't quite working. I know that when you are a beginner, of course it takes time to get good at it ... but why was this so difficult?

I recently purchased Productive Spindling by Amelia Garripoli and after reading the first few pages had an "Ah Ha!" moment and my spinning went much better. I wasn't pre-drafting well enough and I wasn't using the correct hands for the fiber hand and the spindle hand, making things extra akward and difficult.

This book is really good. I've only read section one so far which is a very basic intro to spinning. Section 2 is about different spindle types, different ways to ply yarn, finishing yarn and being more productive in spindling. I am going to hold off on that section until I get basic spinning down :o)

The book is spiral bound, which is awesome. Its so much easier to use a technique book when you can lay it flat and free up your hands.



My leader yarn that you can see in the below photo is Koigu PPPM ... now my singles are getting much closer to what I am trying to spin. Instead of rope you could use to tie a boat to a dock like I was getting before.



I did two sessions of spinning this past Sunday and actually feel like I am learning how the fiber acts, how much to draft and how much twist goes into the fiber depending on how long the spindle spins. You know, what spinning is all about.