Sit and Spin

Having fallen in love with crochet I have developed an addiction to all things yarn related.  A few years back one of my friends went with me to a fiber arts festival in Wisconsin.  This was the first time I had ever seen anyone actually spinning fiber into yarn.  It looked so easy.  The ladies were just sitting there gently moving the pedal(s) with their feet and feeding what seemed like an endless supply of fiber into the spinning wheel which made it magically turn into yarn.  They could even carry on conversations while they did it.  I was amazed at the variety of yarns that could be produced from this simple yet complex machine.  I wanted to try but I wasn't quite brave enough to learn how yet.

At this fiber festival they had many demonstrations.  You could learn how to sheer a sheep, wash the fiber, comb the fiber into roving, and how to spin the roving into yarn.  It was a crash course in sheeponomics.  I had never even heard of a fiber festival before I went to this one, but you better believe that I wanted to know more. 

Then I moved to Colorado.  I now lived in the country.  I drive past sheep nearly every day on my way to work.

 Fiber arts are nothing to sneeze at out here and if I was going to learn how, then this would be the place I was going to do it.  Luckily for me, I have an awesome boyfriend that actually got me what I wanted for Christmas that year - a spinning wheel.  It wasn't brand new or even top of the line, but I can tell you that it does indeed turn fiber into yarn.  He found it through talking to the nice ladies at the artisan co-op in town and she directed him to a nice lady with a used spinning wheel for a fairly cheap price.  She used to teach people how to spin and this wheel was one that had been used by many students.  It only needed a little oil and some love and before I knew it I had a real live working spinning wheel.  She even gave me a short lesson in spinning before we brought the wheel home.  What a deal!

Once we got it home I started to learn how hard it can be to turn fiber into yarn.  First of all, fiber in its purest form can be a little hard to find at the usual stores.  They don't sell roving just anywhere.  So I stopped in the artisan co-op and started chatting with the ladies there, and one of them told me she could sell me a small amount of roving to practice with.  I nearly jumped for joy when I got the roving. 

The most difficult part of spinning is getting your rhythm with the foot pedal and feeding the roving into the wheel.  As a beginner I had to have help to keep my wheel moving while my fingers were figuring out how fast to pinch and pull the fiber apart.  I've also learned that every type of fiber is different.  Some of them have long strands, some have short strands, some pull apart easily and some make clumps that don't want to separate.  Once I got a better feel for what I was doing I ordered some roving online.  I've decided that so far alpaca fiber is one of the easiest to work with.  It is also incredibly soft.  I've also learned that there are dozens of different varieties of sheep and all of them make a slightly different fiber.  Some are more course than others.  For the softest garments you want to use the finest fiber.  The thicker fibers are better used for things like heavy jackets and outerwear that isn't in direct contact with your skin.