 |
| My third yarn. Blue Faced Leicester. |
By now you might have picked up on the fact that I am an over achiever. I take all hobbies to the extreme. Some people like to powerwalk, I hike the Inca Trail. Normal people go to college and major in something. I got a triple major, and finished a semester early. Most people date for about a year before getting engaged. I was proposed to after 5 days, and two dates. I said yes. Don't worry, it's worked out so far. I didn't fall off a mountain, die from stress, and it's been 2 years and counting of wedded bliss. But then I started to KNIT, and now I am in danger of losing myself to the opiate of yarn.
I had always known how to knit. I have very early recollections of a shameful past involving acrylic string and unfinished scarfs. Then one day I found an LYS (a local yarn store in knitter speak for all my craft impaired friends :p). Life changed. I learned about patterns (I'd always just made stuff up from squares), knitting techniques (who knew I knit "continental"), the beautiful world of wool, and hand dyed/handspun heaven. Now I must admit that I had not always been faithful to the fiber. I had cheated with other crafts, had dalliances with other arts but my heart has always fluttered to the sound of clicking sticks. I joined Ravelry, swore off synthetics, and pledged my allegiance to the small fiberphile businesses.
 |
| Pioneer woman...ish |
Then one day in my fiber explorations I saw it...the spinning wheel. Like a real life manifestation of my make-believe imaginings as Sleeping Beauty. I checked. There was no sharp spindle to prick my finger on. Bummer. I looked around, but no one had seen me checking. I bet they knew I was thinking it though. It was so glamourous in a do-it yourself, renaissance reenactment, princess in a tower kinda way. And then the old over-achiever alarm went off in my head. OMG. You could take knitting to a whole new level. And I thought learning to crochet, felt, and tatt had been ambitious. HAH! I could learn to make my own freaking yarn. Add that to my baking, cheesemaking, sewing, and knitting lessons and I could be the pioneer woman to reckon with. The domestic leader in the post-apocalyptic world where electricity and the internet have failed us. You know, something like this picture to the right. -----> I still don't know how to clean but no one will care when we...Whoa. I just got carried away on a mega train of thought. You can see how my hobbies get out of hand with such an overactive imagination.
I got online and researched the best spinning teacher in Saint Louis. The sound of clicking sticks was getting drowned out by the whirring of a spinning wheel. I found Susan, of Spunsilver Creations. Ravelry was humming her praises, both for her store and her weaving and spinning lessons. Wait. Weaving? OMG. I have always wanted to weave. Ever since the American Indian display at the Grand Canyon....hold on....spinning. One thing at a time, but don't think I'm not already planning ways to convince my husband to buy me weaving lessons and a loom.
 |
| Very first yarn! |
I contacted Susan and she was super nice. We set up a lesson and I was already researching all kinds of spinning stuff, developing spinning wheel envy, and dying of shock over the prices. After securing my husband to babysit one Monday (he's so sweet!), I drove out to her beautiful home where her shop is located. Her store is small but stocked full of any fiber or tool you would need to create gorgeous yarn. There are wheels and looms set up everywhere and the most tempting of wools and silks to touch. Over the course of two lessons (2-3 hours each!) I learned about fibers, handling the fiber during spinning, using an Ashford
drop spindle, a
Kromski Fantasia spinning wheel, plying yarn, and prepping the yarn you've made so you can knit with it. I was in heaven. It's strange because looking back there was so much information and so many techniques that we went over but it all just kind of clicked. Elizabeth Zimmerman, in her Knitter's Almanac, talks about having some kind of "historical memory" about what to do when she first sat down at a spinning wheel. Like her hands just seemed to remember spinning in their past lives and knew how to work the wheel (of course I'm going to have to get my copy of her book out now and do this justice in my paraphrasing). It felt sort of like that. It all just seemed to make sense, and maybe also because Susan is a really good teacher :)
 |
| Maxi on the drums! |
I made my first little baby skein of yarn. It wasn't perfect, but honestly it wasn't too bad. Since then I have been sucked into a vortex of spinning, thinking of nothing but making yarn. Ok, not really because the baby is still having serious sleep issues and is just so darn cute on his drum set. No, seriously! Look to the right. But I have made four other skeins (about 100-150 yards), and knit them up into hats. Oh yes, we have come full circle back to the knitting. I told you that my heart belonged to knitting. After all, what's the purpose of using the wheel if not to make yarn to knit with. Although, I really do like treadling on the pedals of the wheel. I looked it up, but it only burns about 100 something calories an hour. Too bad. I was hoping it could count for cardio.
The very best part though was that Susan gives her students a discount (on top of already having the best prices online!) so I was able to buy my wheel with the money saved up from my Etsy store and she threw in a
Niddy Noddy (more yarn speak, click the links, I swear it's interesting-ish) and
bobbins as gifts! So if you were worried that I wasn't going to talk about my adventures in spinning anymore (I know...I know), FEAR NOT! There's a pictorial on the way illustrating the steps from wool to hat. But for now, here's an exhilarating pictorial of the day that my wheel came home.
 |
| Coming back home from walking the dog I found this waiting by the door! hooray! I don't think Kromski should print what it is on the outside though....someone might steal it!...hmm probably not. |
 |
| I dance giddily around the box for a few minutes, dancing a jig while Max looks at his mom like she's the best entertainment since Dora. Then I finally, and CAREFULLY, open it. Paper. |
 |
| Whoa. That is alot of small wooden parts. This must be the Ikea of spinning wheels. Better break into Robert's toolbox and get supplies. I might need some snacks too. |
 |
| "We can help". I like that. I enter the number into my cell phone. |
 |
That is $478 worth of little paper wrapped packages. That's about 225 knit hats and patterns to sell.
I have a lot of catching up to do. |
 |
| 20 minutes of unwrapping, 1 hour and a half assembling, 45 mins of hearing Max wail and fuss to get ALL of my attention, one broken drill bit (oops!), a phone call to complain about missing parts and instructions, and my new baby is up and running. And I did it all by myself with no boys helping. But no Robert, you can still build the bookcases and stuff. Woodworking will be the one thing I don't excel in post-apocalyptic times. Now I have to find some wool. |
