Spinning Nirvana

I've now had the Lendrum wheel for a few weeks and without a doubt, I am going to own this wheel or one like it in the near future.

I have to admit that I've taken to spinning like a duck to water. Other than a few initial problems with adjusting the brake tension and keeping the twist out of the drafting zone, learning to spin has been a piece of cake.

While I know there is a plethora of information I need to learn and many techniques and tricks yet to be discovered, I am so pleased that this has been a very relaxing and pleasant learning experience.

I'm in the middle of spinning up some Coopworth Wool Sliver I bought when I learned to spin with a spindle (the balls shown are from spindle spinning). I've already plied two full bobbins of singles into 422 yards of 2-ply yarn, with plenty of fiber left to spin. I really want to spin it all up and see how much yardage I get out of a pound or so of sliver. I even practiced Andean plying with this batch of yarn.

As per my standard operating procedure, I'm busy lining up even more projects.

Ergo, after an evening of spinning with Bonny this week, I picked out some dyed locks she had in her stash. She's carding them for me now and when finished & weighed, I'll be purchasing them from her.

In the meantime, when the Coopworth is done, I want to play with chain or Navajo plying. I have some over-spun weaving yarn I bought on a cone a while back. Because of it's tendency to bias, it's not a great yarn for knitting but I'm hoping that by chain plying it, I'll get something balanced and more knit-able out of it. If not, at least I have learned something new and will be gaining more plying experience.

Since yesterday was a busy day, with Dancing Diva performing at the Mall of America with her dance studio for the Fraser Roll 'n Stroll and a dance competition at Bloomington Jefferson immediately afterward, I didn't have much free time. However, I did manage to stop by the MKG Yarnover for a few minutes to lay in a supply of even more spinning fiber. I wish I would have had time to browse a bit more but I had a couple very tired little girls with me. I made a quick circuit and found some Louet Northern Lights 100% wool top at the Yarn Garage booth. I'm anxious to dive into spinning it but plan to wait until I've learned a few more spinning tricks. I've been reading Spinning Designer Yarns and am anxious to play with mixing the plys to get different effects.

I also have a number of smaller quantities of colored wool hanging around here that are just waiting for the acquisition of some hand carders to be mixed and blended in more spinning experiments.

So, as you can see, I'm off and running with this spinning thing. I'd give a hoot and a holler but spinning is far too relaxing and meditative to warrant that reaction. So, how about a blissful sigh instead.

Ahhhhhhhh . . .