Monday, September 03, 2007

The dark side

I took a little break from "work" knitting the other day and deciding to try spinning. I bought a "Learn to Spin Kit" when I was in graduate school a few years ago, but never really used it- I found the spindle (it was top whorl) really hard to control and wobbly (it was not a very nice one). Recently I swapped someone for an Ashford Classic spindle, bottom whorl. I still had the fiber than came with the kit (really rough Swalesdale top, but easy to spin, they say). I found the bottom whorl much easier to spin with.


Though it was easier to use, that by NO means suggests that it was easy. My results were "variable" at best- some parts were super thin and broke (the Classic is a pretty heavy spindle, apparently) while others were totally superbulky. I managed to get a decent quantity going, and even plied it. The result is decidedly thick-n-thin.

Despite the frustrating parts, it was kind of fun!

2 comments:

Kathy said...

I'm a brand-spankin' new spinner myself. I've got a Mother Marion's Kick Spindle that I'm using and I've gotten to the point where I can get some thin yarn, but for the most part it sure looks like novelty yarn. :-)

I'll be very interested in your progress.

Anonymous said...

Looks good to me!

I'll bet if you kept trying you'd even it out.