Posts
Today was a beautiful winter day for both me and the family ... though we went our separate paths for most of it. Hubby and the 5yo went to the local ski hill and then skating. It was a gorgeous day for it: sun was shining and the snow was crunching. It even seemed to warm up ... at least my nostrils stopped sticking together from breathing in the ice cold air. Isn't that the weirdest sensation? Is there even an expression for that? 
But I digress; it was that kind of day.
My day started of at the Galt Farmers' Market: which I blogged about earlier today.
Then, I went to the Kitchener Farmers' Market for my first ever spinning lessons... and not the kind of spinning you do on a stationary bike. ;) This spinning is much more traditional. In fact, our instructor, Tabi Ferguson from the Roving Spinners, told us that spinning was originally done with a rock and stick. This "modern" spindle is not such a new design.
Brief History of Spinning
It is generally agreed that the spinning of fibres, to form a thread or yarn, has been in existence for over 10,000 years. The drop spindle was the primary spinning tool for almost 9000 years, it was used to spin all the threads for clothing and fabrics from Egyptian mummy wrappings to tapestries, ropes and sails for ships. -excerpt borrowed from History of Spinning
I think I owe 9000 years of history a bit of my own time to learn how to spin with a drop spindle.
One of the first things Tabi told us was that she found spinning highly addictive. She's often up into the middle of the night spinning. Gawd! This sounds shockingly like my knitting. She also said that she started off as a knitter but prefers spinning. She's also using her engineering skills and is designing her very own spindle - you've heard it here first, folks!
Many of her spindles are rudimentary objects. As you can see from the one photo of the three spindles, her two are the hand-made ones. Spindles ideally weigh as little as possible - to allow for finer yarns to be spun. The heavier the spindle, the thicker the yarn will need to be.
At any rate, I actually did manage to spin something today. It was lumpy and uneven, but I filled my spindle with a single ply of gorgeous blue-face Leicester purchased from Yarn Indulgences.
 | Blue Faced Leicester Our very popular BFL, this is a white top, that is very lustrous and soft. It is beautiful with a long 5 inch staple length, definitely worth trying! Blue Faced Leicester is a longer stapled wool (the individual fibers are longer) which is fine enough for next-to-skin wear and very hard to felt. It is considered very easy to spin, and is easy to dye with acid dyes (including food coloring and drink mix). It is extremely popular for fine to medium yarns for anything from lace to socks to light sweaters, and insulates and wears well enough for outerwear too. |
Our first class involved learning the basics including drafting and spinning the fibre into a single-ply. Next week, we will ply it to make a two-ply yarn.
By the way, if you're wondering if I managed to get outside today, especially after raving about what a gorgeous, sunshiny winter's day it was? When I got home from the spinning class, hubby & 5yo were out skating. Our poor dog was beside himself wanting to go for a walk. Instead of jumping into my spinning, I was a good dog owner and took him for a walk. Now, let me get back to my spinning. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment