My spinning story

My background

It was only very natural for me to start spinning some day. I grew up in a small village in Siberia. Very harsh weather always called for woolen socks, hats, mittens, sweaters, scarves. I love snow. It's purity, it's magical sparkles when flat snowflakes reflect the light of the sun or an electric poll. But I prefer to have occasional snow, which comes and goes the following day. My parents both were knitters. My father was an avid spinner as well. He had his electric spinning wheel, which he used to spin some sock yarn while watching TV. I still remember the humming sound of it, which was somehow adding comfort to the already cozy home.

How it all started

Maybe because I wanted to make my home more comfortable and cozy, on 12th August, I purchased an Electric Eel Wheel Nano 1.1 from Dreaming Robots. It had to sit in the closet for a while because I had a new Ashford Rigid Heddle loom 32", which was gifted to me by my dear husband (the best birthday gift ever!) in July. I started practicing spinning only on September 9th. At some point I watched some Craftsy classes about spinning, and they were so enormously helpful! I wish I started spinning after watching Drafting From Worsted to Woolen with Jacey Boggs Faulkner, which was particularly informative and helpful. Thankfully, all of the Craftsy's classes are free for now. Later I'm planning to join the School of SweerGeorgia as well, - I find them hugely inspiring. I am especially attracted to the fact that Felicia Lo Wong is a multicraftual maker, so I don't feel weird about myself, because I'm jumping from one form of fiber craft to another all the time.

The first spin

So, here I am spinning for the first time in my life -before watching any substantial class. First of all, I discovered that I am a left-hand spinner being a right-handed in everything else. Actually, my both hands are developed and I can swap them sometimes, I guess, that's because I was going to a music school as a child. So far, I spun 300 gram of wool fiber from KnitPicks. The first 100 gram was Bare Wool of the Andes Roving. I spun it using a short forward draft method. It was surprising how long was the staple length, I had to hold my hands wide apart. It was difficult and my first yarn was bad, very inconsistent - I've never seen a yarn so bad before. But nevertheless, I will use it anyway, because I already plied it.

See this yarn on Ravelry.

Plying

My singles were very bad, but my plying was pretty good. Thanks to one awesome Craftsy class Ply to Knit: Spin the Yarn You Really Want with Jillian Moreno that I managed to watch before plying. It is recommended that you use a lazy kate for plying. I didn't have, one and instead I used one myself using a plastic basket with holes and a couple of needles. It worked perfectly!

The second spin

More experience makes it better, or so they say. My second 100 gram of fiber I spun was Wool of the Andes Roving Fjord Heather colorway. Fabulous color, smaller staple length that the first fiber. It was fun to work with color. I called it Aquarius. It was slightly better. I was experimenting with different draft techniques, including one of the "long draw", which was so exiting. 

See this yarn on Ravelry.

The third spin

For this spin I gained a better confidence. I called this yarn Andean Sapphire. Was the yarn better? Maybe a little. Mostly, I was exploring different draft techniques. I like to spin from the fold, occasionally enjoy a long draw, but mostly prefer short forward draft. This 100 gram of fiber was Wool of the Andes Roving in Delft Heather colorway. In general, this yarn is better. I learned how to control and maintain the consistency of my yarn. It's far from perfect, but I made some noticeable progress here.

See this yarn on Ravelry.

In conclusion

I discovered that spinning is addictive. I produced imperfect yarn that I love, and every time I see my skeins I pet them with this warm fuzzy feeling inside. They are my tiny babies. I'm definitely planning to use my yarn as soon as possible. And of course, more fiber is coming soon!

P.S.: What did I make from this yarn? 

I used it to weave my first stroller blanket for my baby boy. It turned out better than I could ever imagine, considering I used my first handspun yarn. Because I didn't have enough handspun yarn for a blanket like that, I decided to use commercial yarn for warp, and only handspun yarn as weft. It turned out to have a wonderful drape, and it is extremely warm and cozy. We use it every day.