Spinning This Week!

Now that the aran afghan sampler is finished I have started spinning again. YAY! I read Yarn Harlot's blog and she has a mantra that inspired me: "Tuesdays are for spinning". The idea behind it is that you dedicate regular time to spinning so that you can improve on your technique, reduce your stash and buy more fiber. It really stuck with me as a good idea so I thought I should do something like that as well. My husband likes to play video games occasionally and with our 1 year old he doesn't get time to do that often so we decided that Tuesday & Thursday nights will be game nights for him and spinning nights for me. We're still spending time together AND doing something that we enjoy.

Here's "my" Ashford Traditional wheel and spinning spot in the living room

Technically this is not my wheel - I do not own it. It is my mother-in-laws and she has let me borrow it indefinitely. I've had it for several years now and a couple weekends ago I told her that although I love spinning on it she can have it back whenever she needs it (I was trying to be thoughtful but secretly wishing that she wouldn't take me up on the offer). She quickly said "Oh, I don't want it back" and I was speechless. She ordered this wheel brand new directly from New Zealand. That may not seem like much but she rarely buys anything new. I still haven't replied to her on that. Do I say, "Are you sure?" or just "Thank you! Thank you!" and run away quickly?

Anyway, so far my spinning experience is made up of 1 pound of Romney wool. I have purchased several different types of fiber but I like to try them one at a time. Last night I tried spinning this beautiful chocolate alpaca roving that I got from Paradise Fibers.

It's so much softer than the Romney wool. I just wanted to put it up to my face and pet it! I almost gave up spinning it but then I finally got the hang of it. I had to slow down and let it twist more than the Romney. It doesn't cling to itself as much and can easily be broken so the extra twist works just right. I was able to spin this full bobbin:


Plus about half of one other bobbin. I'm thinking that this is something I would actually knit up and wear. Possibly making it into two-ply yarn and then knitting a simple scarf to show off the fiber. I'm not sure yet. The Romney was used just to learn on and I didn't have too many intentions of knitting it into anything - but this alpaca is just luxurious! Tonight I go back to knitting but I'm looking forward to Thursday's spinning night already!