Monday, May 19, 2008

The Start (....and End??) of Spinning

As though my hands were not full enough with knitting and crochet and some sewing on the side, I decided to venture into the new and scary world of spinning. I had been seeing all the wonderful handspun yarns on the net and wanting to try some myself, for a few months. But I had /have a few problems.
In my part of the world, knitting or crochet as hobbies is very rare. I have never physically met anyone of may age or younger who knits or crochet (Thank God for the net!), however people do recognize these crafts. On the other hand, spinning is almost extinct, belonging only in the folk art museums. Similarly, wool is also not avilable. As a result that I can get none of the required spinning supplies over here.
But still I could not resist looking into the spinning groups at ravelry and the spinning turorial links. That spurred me on to make a spindle myself. Even my ever(almost)-patient husband was forced to roll his eyes and wonder out loud what I was up to. However he helped me with the making of the hook and thus came into exsistence a DIY spindle.

Next, as I had no wool roving, I decided to try with cotton. Cotton fibre is so small and fragile, I expect it is much harder to spin than wool. However with repeated trial and error, I did get the knack of it. I managed to spin about 16 metres of singles. Some I dyed after spining, other before.

My spindle as well as my stamina are worn out. Spinning cotton is much too tedious. So I have stored away these remains of my spinning adventure, until such time when/if I get some wool fibre to play with. This spinning episode took most of my two evenings and although I did not come up with any useable yarn, I did get a hang of spinning and it was fun!





2 comments :

  1. What a great adventure.
    Maybee I send you some wool or..?
    Ulla

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  2. I can send wool too. I have plenty to share. Cotton is indeed tricky since the fibers are so short.

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