Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Oh Boy..... things just got more bleak for the man

So.... the man has true fear now. Yes - he is afraid, and rightfully so.

 The story starts 8 or so months ago.

A friend of mine from work and knit group had some drop spindles her husband had made for her to sell when she was doing demonstrations. They were 5$ and came with the drop spindle, some fiber, and some printed instructions.

Whelp, I went through the instructions and didn't have much luck. The main issue was my being able to figure out how to get a lead onto the spindle if I didn't have any hand spun yarn on hand. I tried and tried but the fiber kept sliding off. It wasn't working. So - I pitched it to the side figuring I could revisit it in the future.

Well - that time came.

I was watching a video by dalequan on YouTube (definitely click for her channel) where she was spinning on a drop spindle. She, from all I have watched, is a really talented spinner. So, I thought I'd ask - what do you do if you don't have fiber to use as a lead. And she answered. Not only did she answer me, she answered me with a 20 minute video that answered a LOT of my beginning drop spindle questions.

She has no idea how much I appreciate what she has done - but now the man has fear because now... NOW I can make my own yarn in addition to buy it. The day will come when he opens the guest bedroom door and he is welcomed with a wall of yummy, delicious, colorful yarn.

This, my friends, is a picture of my very first drop spindle yarn! The fiber is blank - so I know when I'm done, I'm going to try and dye it too! I'll most likely give the kool-aid method a whirl, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I'm spinning a rather lightweight yarn. I'd say thinner than DK but not quite lace. Perhaps fingering weight?

I'm having such a good time now and its all thanks to dalequan.

4 comments:

florencefrazier2002 said...

I SO want to learn to do that.  I have a friend that has a spinning wheel and she says it's in her basement.  If her daughter doesn't want it, she said I could have it!!!!  It needs some parts and probably needs reglued but I will take it!!!!!  Girl, not good, you are egging me on toward my dreams!!!

Cris said...

 Grab a drop spindle in the mean time AND go watch dalequan's video - it's 20 minutes long but it is the absolute BEST explanation I have seen. Like I said - I just let it sit. There wasn't one video that made me feel like I could pick it up and do it until this one. She was very helpful in the whole process. Granted, I'll have to ask her for some help when it comes time to get a spinning wheel. I would highly suggest anyone who wants to spin or spins go to her channel and subscribe!

I think its AWESOME you could get that wheel. Oh that would be nice! And missing parts are easy to replace but I know that wheels are not that cheap at all!

Kat said...

I would have done that already if it wasn't for the cost. Plus that's all I need is more yarn than what I've already bought! :o)

CrochetBlogger said...

How fun! I want to learn to spin at some point but haven't quite added it to my craft set yet. I do remember someone from my craft group saying that the man in her life thought she'd save money by spinning her own yarn and actually roving is apparently often more. But I won't tell your man. :)

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