Progress

The wheel had me a bit confused so went in for a little lesson. I found out that my biggest problem was speed. I was going way too fast in the feet and way too slow in the hands. I needed to learn to relax and let it flow.

So I've been working my way through 4oz. of a lovely braid in yellows, greens and blues. Some days are better than others. I have not yet tried plying so we'll see what I get when I start trying to make a well balanced yarn.

Many of the podcasts I listen to have spinning segments in them and the podcasters often name their wheels. I thought long and hard tried out a few and may have settled on Monty. So in a bit Monty and I are going for a little spin.

This past Saturday was WoolFest at LakeFarm Park and I bough more wool, some lovely mohair and Margaret. Margaret, to put it bluntly, is going to be a problem child. Margret is a large garbage bag stuffed full of black and white smelly wooly goodness.
I tried my hand at cleaning the fleece, one word, yuckers!

I think I need to do a bit more skirting before I try to clean more of her. I just tried to to a portion of the bag and wow, the first bucket of water was more mud than water. The second bucket, brown water, the third bucket was pretty clear but she's still full of veggie matter and some unknown, ha, brown bits.

Looking forward to introducing Monty to Margaret, someday.

The beginning

Well here it is, the start of the big crafting adventure. To be fair the big adventure started years and years ago when I learned to crochet from my mom. Tried the knitting thing but that did not work very well. Must have been too young, who knows. Sewing was also learned from mom, I didn't want to waste the time taking sewing and cooking in school when I had a perfectly good teacher at home. That time was better spent in shop class, playing with the cool tools.

So, my first love will probably always be crochet with the fancy doilies being a big favorite. I've done sweaters, afghans, toys, hats, scarves . . .

I'm also a big fan of bear making. I've done large and small and insanely small that are hand sewn. The bears are kind of on hold right now, bigger and better things have caught my attention.

I have been bit by the knitting bug and learned to knit just to knit socks. A weekend workshop with a bunch of friends resulted in one boot sock and the start of the second which was finished when I returned home. Many, many pairs have followed as well as my first sweater, one puppy coat for Miss P and loads of projects that have been started.

The next next big adventure and the reason for this blog is that I've now decided that I should spin. I bought a lovely drop spindle and some wool at French Creek Fiber. Picked up "Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning" and gave it a go. Then I looked up drop spindling on youtube, what a great resource, and got some good tips. I produced an okay yarn but I wasn't sure it was "proper yarn". There was a beginning spinning class and a beginning plying class at my lys (local yarn store) Corner Stone Yarn and for $30 I learned I've yet another hobby. I really need to quit my job to have enough time for all the crafty stuff I want to do.

So yesterday the Grand Adventure began. I picked up my spinning wheel. An Ashford Traveler, single drive. I had some adult supervision to help with the assembly, (dad did the assembly, I handed him the tools). The assembly went very well, the first spinning bout, well lets just say, I need more adult supervision. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve and probably another trip back to Corner Stone Yarn for some help. This weekend should be exciting and I shall figure out the wheel, maybe, probably, wish me luck!

Huh, haven't even gone into the quilting. . .another post, another day.