11. You Spin me Right 'Round

So I've been spinning for pretty much a year now. Hand spindling at that. I haven't bought a wheel yet, but I think someone who I had been looking at purchasing from is moving to my city, so there would be no shipping charges. Either that or I find a weekend sometime when my folks and I can go up to Gaspereau Valley Yarns and buy a wheel from there. I have far too much fiber, and hand spindling takes soooo long. It is really quite rewarding though, seeing all the fiber turn into a string of single ply, and then seeing the single ply turn into two- or three-ply (I still haven't gotten the hang of Navajo plying yet though).

I currently have four spindles on the go with four different fiber types and three different animals at that. There is a 70/30 blend of Nova Scotian Alpaca/Merino, 100% Bluefaced Leister, 100% Superwash Merino, and a 100% Silk Top. I don't like spinning the Alpaca, but the BFL and Merino are like butter to spin. The silk is tricky because it's sooooo fine. My godmother (who is also a spinner and crafter extraordinaire) gave me some silk fiber and a very small brass spindle for Christmas. It is amazing, and I love it, but it's so tiny that it takes all my concentration to spin anything decent, even still the stuff I'm producing it not the greatest. The Merino and BFL though, they are doing great even though I've been spinning them super fine. I'm going to try to Navajo ply the BFL tonight with the knowledge that overspinning is better for me and underspinning. Wish me luck.



-Cheers and happy spinning!