This is a long overdue post. About 2-3 weeks ago I learned how to spin yarn! It was a great experience. It was a two days (beginner on saturday, beginner advanced on sunday) 6 hours each of just spinning wool, so fun! Some people will probably ask why would you spin yarn when you can buy it super cheap online. Well, it's more about connecting with the material and the process. It's a form of slow fashion which will hopefully make me appreciate the work that goes into a garment and it's impact on the environment and my lifestyle. Plus it's very fun to see something evolve from the raw material into a finished garment. Next step if I get ambitious will be to source local fleece from a New York state or USA small farmer. But I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
It was also very cool to learn about different types of spinning and different types of wool. For example did you know that there are two main styles of spinning: woolen, which is more lofty (good for socks and any garment needed for insulation) versus worsted (not to be confused with the yarn weight, the more dense spin).
Update: I bought myself a spinning wheel so look forward to lots of pictures of handspun, naturally dyed yarn. While I learned on a Louet S51 I actually decided to buy the Lendrum folding wheel because of its portability. Also my teacher said that it was a great wheel that you could grow with and that it would "do everything you need it to do" which seems like the greatest endorsement. And it was her personal wheel of choice so there's that. I've loved the Lendrum so far (canadian made) and have spun enough yarn for another short cardi in corriedale which I just naturally dyed last week (a post on that process soon) as well as a skein for a hat. All is well in spinning and knitting land.
-Amanda
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