Before I talk about my recent drop-spinning classes, some backstory……
When I was in grad school I went through a phase where I felt if I was going to study weaving I had to understand everything about it. Scholars wrote often of the natural dyes used by the weavers and the fiber content of the works. There was also mysterious talk about “s” or “z” spin and ply.
In my quest, I took the following classes:
- natural dyeing class — a lot of fun, but not very practical for a casual hobby as you need to devote pans to the dyes and I’ve never really had enough storage space in where I live for the occasional dye binge.
- drop-spinning – oh my goodness how frustrating! I kept trying and trying and all I could create was this barely spun lumpy mess. And then I would walk into a yarn store and find all this lovely soft yarn, why would I keep this up?
- weaving – this I enjoyed. I was able to sit down in front of a loom and reach a rhythm pushing and pulling the warp thread across the weft. Watching cloth build up in front my me was very satisfying. Sadly, I again ran into the space commitment issue. I just did not have the room in my living space for a decently sized floor loom.
Cut to almost a decade later. I went to the regular Friday knitting circle at my lys, Piedmont Yarn and Apparel, where the monthly “yarn snobs” presentation was by this super cool woman Kristine, who runs A Verb for Keeping Warm. I noticed she was displaying fiber as well as yarn and spinning on a drop-spindle throughout the visit. One of the other circle visitors (I can’t remember who) asked her about spinning and Kristine was very open to talking about how the process worked. It was a bit of a revelation for me to hear someone speaking about the spinning process in such practical terms. I was also very excited when I found out she teaches spinning at another lys, Article Pract.
It took a few tries, but I finally signed up for the beginning spinning class this past month (the end of July). I think the combination of more time with a teacher who can explain the process at different levels and a bottom-whorl spindle was the magic I needed. It was not pretty at first, but by the end of the week I was spinning yarn to take to the second class to learn to ply that held its spin and was getting consistent in width.
It was very exciting, and I promptly signed up for the Intermediate class that started the following Tuesday, which is focusing on spinning to knit. The class project is a knitty pattern, the Lace Ribbon Scarf and I have 70 yards already spun, plied, and set to begin the project the next session (this coming Tuesday).
I chose a flax/wool blend in a vibrant red and a 100% silk tussah.
I spun them separately and then plied them together. I had thought of trying out carding to blend the 2, but the sample I used really ate up the more vibrant yarn and I was worried about losing the fireyness of the red.
I admit, I’m not sure I will start spinning all my own yarn, but it has been very exciting to finally break through and learn how to make my own yarn, to feel I can create yarn from fiber that I would use. Finally, a foundation skill that I can take with me, and fits into any living space!
