Spinning Fun

I had the most awesome day today.  This weekend there is a spinning retreat at the same place as last week's knitting retreat.  Fun Knits is one of the vendors there, and Shelley invited me to bring my wheel and hang out with her there.  I almost didn't go (my excuse being the ferry cost, was just there last weekend, intimidated by experienced spinners, etc.)  In the end, I just couldn't miss out on this opportunity, so off I went.  The only unfortunate part of the day is that I forgot my camera, so therefore need to record this day using words instead.

I arrived at the Lodge and went downstairs to the market.  Before long Shelley convinced me to try spinning.  She also showed me some pencil roving from Louet that she said she really liked spinning when she was a beginner.  I had also read on Ravelry that this was a good thing for beginners, so I bought the roving and Shelley helped me attach it to my leader.  Well, with people around, I was a bit nervous so it took me a bit to get it going to how I could spin at home, but I eventually got it to work.  After a little while, I decided to go upstairs to the main room to watch a demo.  I watched the demo for a few minutes, then went to watch some other people spin.  I explained that I was a brand new spinner, and that I wanted to watch and learn.  A couple people asked me where my wheel was.  I told them that it was downstairs, but that I was far too self conscious to spin with this group.  Well, they would have none of that and eventually I went and got my wheel.  This was the best thing I could have done.  People were SO helpful, and I feel that I made great progress today.  My biggest challenge has been to treadle slow enough for my hands to keep up, and with the help of the spinner next to me and her "heel toe" chant, I got the hang of it much better.

During this past week, I've been reading the Ravelry spinning forums, and reading all about the different kind of wheels.  It was so awesome to see many of the wheels that I've read about and seen online.  It is much different when you can see the size of things "for real" and not on the computer screen.

By the time I returned home to my camera, here's what I had on the bobbin (I'm discovering how hard it is to get decent bobbin pictures, and ventured to the backyard in my pajamas to get this picture):

In roving form, it appeared like this:

This Louet roving in the Toffee colourway, and will soon be available at Fun Knits.  I love the how this is spinning up.  I also bought more in another colourway, since this pencil roving is so great for a beginning spinner like me.  Here's the other bag that came home with my, in the Teddy Bear Colourway:

Fun Knits also has some great sock roving packs, which Shelley blogged about here.  I bought the same one that she is knitting up, love the purples.  I will be saving this for when I am a much more proficient spinner!

And my final purchase was this great roving from Hummingbird Fibre Arts:

The picture does not do this roving justice.  It is a Romney/Silk Blend.  Several people were spinning up different colourways of this yarn, and it looks SO nice.  And it's pencil roving too, bonus!

So, there is the recap to a wonderful day.  Better go because I want to spin some more tonight!

Comments

[Uli]

Woweeee.... sounds like you had an awesome day. I was thinking about you!!!

[Raven]

that sounds like a wonderful day. I love those roving that Shelley sells and what a nice treasure from Hummingbird. I'm glad you had a chance to hang out with spinners - aren't they just so much fun?

[greta]

I am so glad you decided to go...aren't spinners WONDERFUL?
The pencil roving looks DELICIOUS (especially that last one...wow!)
must go check out the ravelry spinning forums!
Blessings to you and yours!

[Paula]

Beautiful roving. Lovely colours in the last photo.
I predict a herd of sheep will be the step next...:-)

[Andrea (noricum)]

That last photo almost had me whipping out my credit card, but I managed to be good. Somehow. ;)