May what?

I looked at the calendar today and realized it is May 17th.  May is already over half over?  I have no idea where the time is going.  Oh wait, yes, yes, I do.   

May 7-8 was the 38th annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I spent a fantastic Sunday afternoon wandering around the fairgrounds and visiting adorable sheepies.  This was my fifth year attending MDSW, and I’m fairly certain I can point to this festival as my downfall in all fiber-related obsessions.  After this year’s festival, I thought back to previous years, and it was fascinating to me how much has changed in those five years.  My first year, I had only been knitting a few months.  I remember coming home with bunches of Tilli Tomas silk and my first Malabrigo skeins.  I had no concept of hand-painted yarn or indie dyers, and I don’t even remember seeing fiber or spinning instruments.  It just didn’t register. The next couple years were all about the sock yarn, and even though last year I brought home a spindle and some fiber, I still went mainly for the yarn.

This year was different.  I saw yarn and even picked up and inspected a few skeins, but this year was not about yarn.  In fact, the only yarn I came home with was yarn I produced myself.

On a spur-of-the-moment impulse, I sent in that colorful skein of yarn that I wrote about in my last post.  I entered it in the novice spinning class.  Seeing that first place ribbon was a really nice start to my day.  At the end of the judges’ comments was the note:  “keep spinning”.  That might have been more encouragement than I needed.  I may not have purchased yarn, but I did come home fully prepared to make lots of my own.  The fiber haul:

You can see I was so eager to start spinning my new fiber that I finished a skein even before I gathered the purchases together for the picture.  Why so eager?  Well, I also brought home this:

Oops.  Okay, not really. This was a completely planned purchase.  I’m terrible about making decisions.  Terrible.  Especially big decisions that cost a lot of money, but I headed to the festival with my main purpose being to shop for a spinning wheel.  After trying a few, I was struck with the overwhelming urge to slow down, not rush into anything, and do more research.  I sighed to myself, disappointed that I was going to let my indecision get the best of me.   As I continued to hem and haw over a wheel purchase, I did start making fiber purchases.  By mid-afternoon, I decided I had more fiber than I was going to want to spin on spindles.  So I told myself the wheel was practically a necessity.  And of course, the judges had said to "keep spinning".  I browsed some more and eavesdropped on wheel conversations and finally settled on the Lendrum double-treadle that I had been testing at Carolina Homespun.  It wasn’t long before I was lugging a big box out to my car.

I’m happy to say, I’m thrilled with the purchase.  The wheel assembled in five minutes and within another five, I was spinning.  I’ve barely stopped since.  That would be where May has gone.  Well, spinning and a good bit of swim, bike, run training.  The Columbia Triathlon is this weekend!

And just because no MDSW post is complete without animal pictures, here's a really cute alpaca. 

I already can't wait until next year.

You spin me right round, baby, right round....

I've been spinning.  It's not as easy to pick up and put down as when I'm knitting a sock, but I am trying to spin a little each day.  I'm drafting more smoothly, my yarn is getting more even, and, well, I'm starting to think a wheel could be in my future.  I finished spinning about 2 ounces and have plied and made actual yarn.

I've learned, however, that I'm not any more monogamous of a spinner than I am a knitter.  Three spindles = three different yarns in progress.

I've got a little of everything going:  some rough practice wool, fluffy merino roving, and a merino/tencel blend (swoon).  It sort of works for me having a few options when I want to spin.  Different fibers for different moods?  Maybe I'm just a fickle crafter.

I recently was lucky enough to be one of the random winners for a knit-along.  My prize was a custom journal made by Becky's Paper Creations.  I figured that with my new interest in spinning, it would be fun for the journal to be for spinning.  I gave Becky a picture and a few thoughts, and on Saturday, this arrived at my door:

Isn't it the cutest thing?  I love it.  I figure I'll use it to keep samples of fiber and yarn and to record yarn specs.  Now just to keep spinning so I have some more to put in it.  Thanks Becky!

Drop Spindle Spinning

I've tried to spin yarn before, but not really having any clue what I was doing, I never got very far.  I have 3 drop spindles and some practice fiber, all of which has been buried away in the closet for the last several months.  When I saw that Cloverhill Yarn was offering a beginning drop spindle class, I jumped on the opportunity.  After two hours of class, I definitely had some progress to show for my time.

 I loved every minute of it. When I got home, I pulled out the pretty trindle and fiber that I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last year, and I sat down and started spinning. It's new, it's awkward, and it takes my full attention as I try to draft the fibers evenly and keep the spindle spinning. I'm still big on "park and draft" -- meaning I stop the spindle from spinning as I work on drafting the fibers.  My yarn isn't perfect but not lumpy either.

 When you first start knitting, each stitch takes concentration, and in the beginning, it seemed to me that there were always new skills to learn.  I loved that part about learning to knit.  It was easy to block out the world and just stare at the loops of yarn over 2 wooden sticks.  Simple, but so much to pay attention to.  After knitting for several years, rarely do I shut out the entire world and focus only on my hands and stitches.  A big part of me misses that aspect of knitting.  I miss the escape it provided.  For the past several days as I anticipated stress at work, I found myself reaching for the spindle.  Spinning requires my full attention, and there is neither pressure to rush nor an expectation of how much I should be spinning in a given time frame.  No rows to count or fabric to measure, just a calm and quiet twirling spindle.  Progress is slow, but I'm definitely seeing some results.

I'm not sure whether spinning will stick more this time or whether once again the tools will be put aside.  I'm not too worried about it one way or the other.  Right now, I'm just enjoying the peace.  Although I admit, I might be a little eager to finish up the 4 oz of purple fiber I'm working on now so I can move onto this: