Materials to practise with as I try to master the drop spindle.
From the top, fuzzlings and 'random rolags' from Fondant Fibre;
above is a sample of Southdown which the ever generous Deb included in my package along with a lovely stitch marker and the makings of a cup of tea!
So far, I've spun the blue and white fuzzling and I'm about to tackle a rolag, and it is all great fun and very absorbing. I happened to read an article yesterday which mentioned the myth that if you spin your own yarn you will buy less yarn. The more likely situation is that you will buy just as much yarn as you did before only you'll have less time to knit it because you'll be busy spinning. I can see the truth in that.
That's why I'm convinced it's a rabbit hole I shouldn't go down… ;o
Beautiful wool and stitch marker are they available anywhere?
Posted by: Swissrose | 12 February 2015 at 09:30 AM
A word of warning. It is addictive. My mother was a spinner in a group (my father used to call it Wheeltappers and Shunters). She made a hand-dyed, hand-spun, hand-knitted waistcoat for my son when he was about three, and it was beautiful. Then the childminder put it in a boil wash and felted it. All that love ruined by an unconsidered act. I still have it as a reminder to look after precious things
Posted by: Liz Davey | 12 February 2015 at 09:48 AM
I don't think Deb (at Fondant Fibre) sells the stitch markers but she has included one, in different styles, with each of my orders. In addition to fibre she dyes yarn, and while there's none in her shop as I write, she does update her stock every few days, I think, so she may have some soon. I've got a couple of skeins of MCN sock yarn from her, and one is almost a complete pair of socks so I'll be posting about it shortly.
Posted by: Cornflower | 12 February 2015 at 09:59 AM
Oh no, that's terrible, Liz!
(Love your father's name for the group.)
Posted by: Cornflower | 12 February 2015 at 10:00 AM
It was a dreadful TV programme in the 70s!
Posted by: Liz Davey | 12 February 2015 at 06:22 PM
Ah, I knew it would be addictive. Looks such fun, though. And the vocabulary - fuzzlings! Wonderful.
Posted by: B R Wombat | 12 February 2015 at 09:45 PM
One point in spinning's favour is that it's very easy to pick up and put down, so you can do the odd minute or two whenever you get the chance.
Posted by: Cornflower | 13 February 2015 at 03:49 PM
Oooh, don't tempt me. I've so many single socks awaiting partners. I must resist.
Posted by: B R Wombat | 13 February 2015 at 09:47 PM
And soon you will have bags of wool awaiting spinning, and then you will decide it would be nice to try dyeing yourself, so more bags of wool, and fleece, and dyes, and so on. (Ask me how I know this.)But it is so nice to make yarn and carry it all the way through to a finished something. But there is less time for knitting and for reading. Although there are folks who can spin and read at the same time. I am not there yet.
Posted by: Lee M | 15 February 2015 at 01:58 PM