Spinning Gold!

I have found a new love! It is spinning! No, I’m not meaning spinning around and around but spinning lovely, scrumptious roving and making beautiful, gorgeous yarn out of it. I have been using a drop spindle to spin mine. I'm soon investing in a spinning wheel. Once I get some made up I will give you a link to an etsy store to purchase this lovely hand spun yarn. (With the Lord's help, of course) I will also tell more about drop spindles and spinning wheels later in other posts. I learned to crochet when I was young by my Grandma. I got away from it for a long time. Then my husband suffered a stroke in January 2012. To keep myself busy when I wasn't taking care of him I started to crochet again. I then bought myself a drop spindle and some roving. I didn't want to buy a lot of things until I knew for sure if it was something I wanted to do. Then I found out that yes, I did want to spin my own yarn. How thick or thin a yarn ends up being depends on the type of material you use. As you practice spinning you will get better at making your yarn come out smaller. Of course some people prefer to knit or crochet with bulker yarn and there are others that prefer the thinner. I love the unevenness that you find in the yarn when it is hand spun. It is like having the best of both worlds. It is wonderful to have the roving turn into beautiful yarn. I’m sure most of you have heard the story of Rupulstilskin and how he spun straw into gold. With what we are spinning it isn’t much better than the straw. It was dirty and smelly and then it is turned into this beautiful luscious yarn that ends up an equally beautiful garment.  I haven’t gotten into the raw wool yet. I will give itt a try though. The raw wool needs to be cleaned then carded before it can be spun. Of course this has just come off the animal so it has dirt, sticks and even poop in the wool. Not the fun part of spinning but I plan on giving it a whirl! Until next time happy spinning!