You spin me right round...

I need to edit my "About me" on the blog to reflect that I am now spinning yarn. And I looove it. I told Pete about it yesterday and stunned him into (temporary) silence. Then he said, "I think you've gone over the edge. Pretty soon you're going to be sitting cross-legged, on the floor- topless- with dreadlocks." I assured him that I was most certainly not going to be wandering around topless any time soon but I don't think I convinced him, somehow.

Anyway I actually don't have any pictures of my own fabulous yarn or spindles (I'm not spinning on a wheel but with a drop spindle). Now that I've realized this I'm feeling motivated to take pictures and share them with y'all...tomorrow. I promise! At least some time this week. And really, with the exam grading I'll be doing later in the week, tomorrow is certainly for the best. Yes.

Um, where was I? OH YEAH...spinning. Guess who has been really interested in my spinning, and begging to learn to spin? Zion! So tonight (after our big trip to Rhinebeck for the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival, which resulted in us coming home with 2 lbs of unspun roving to turn into yarn) I sat down with him and we started. I was a little apprehensive, cause I wasn't sure he'd have the fine motor skills to successfully spin and I didn't want to see him feeling frustrated or disappointed in himself or by an activity he had so many positive feelings about. But he did great! I split the wool into a thinnish piece for him and drafted it out just a bit for him. Then I hooked it up to the spindle and held the loose roving away from the spindle so it wouldn't get tangled up and away he went. He's watched me spin a fair bit so he had a good understanding of what he needed do be doing. He was essentially parking and drafting- spinning the spindle, the catching and holding it while he moved his fingers up the length of the roving allowing the twist to travel up, then pinching the wool to stop the twist travelling, spinning the spindle and starting the process again. He spent about 10 minutes spinning and I'd guess he spun about 5 yards of worsted weight yarn- and did so VERY evenly. Check it out:




And the yarn he spun!



I am so proud and impressed!