Spinning yarn: oh god, don't let me mess it up

I’ve been kind of/sort of experimenting with yarn spinning since Louise from Spin City hypnotized me at a craft show about a year ago. I bought two drop spindles and some bats of fibre. The addiction began.

I did an informal spinning class with some friends from work: one of us who knew what she was doing, and the rest of us who just wanted to squish fibre and look at sparkly bats. I was intimidated: I spun up 50g of highly uneven green fibre, and it sat in my spinning stash for a long time.
Louise invited me to join her spinning group on Facebook: it’s full of amazing spinners sharing gorgeous handspun yarns, and everyone is so supportive and helpful that I find myself scrolling through posts when I need a break from the bad news in life.
Louise had the idea to have monthly themes, kind of like a spin-a-long. This past month was Bollywood! I love the fabrics, the shine, the amazing choreographed group dances. I love the music: I studied it throughout my “world music” class in university (for the record I think that name is stupid because it classifies everything outside of western music norms as an “other.”)
I remembered that I had a braid of red and burgundy fibre hiding in my spinning stash. I got the idea to ply it with some gold thread to evoke the shine of Bollywood textiles.

Plus, I got to use my new cheaply made niddy noddy to wind it off the spindle! Still, throughout the whole process, my mind was like this:
“Wow this is actually really cathartic, why don’t I do this more often?”

“OH GOD I THINK I OVERSPUN THE FIBRE MY DRAFTING IS TERRIBLE IT’S NOT EVEN OH MAN I THINK I’M RUINING THIS GORGEOUS FIBRE WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!”

Oh yeah, that’s why I haven’t done this more often. Still, the gold thread…sort of plied? It’s not nearly as neat or nice as I was hoping, but for a first “finished” attempt, I’ll take it. I bought a gorgeous bluegreen bat from Louise at the Waltham Abbey Wool show a couple weeks ago, and there was a deal on sparkly thread so I also bought silver and blue.

Holy sparkle, Batman! I got this stunningly gorgeous batt from Louise of @spincityuk at the @walthamabbeywool show yesterday! I very narrowly avoided buying ANOTHER drop spindle from her (I’ve had this one for about a year), but only because I want to buy a wheel later this year! . . . . . . . . . . . #creativehappylife #craftastherapy #handsandhustle #creativityfound #abmcrafty #createmakeshare #calledtobecreative #crochetconcupiscence #makersmovement #slowliving_create #handmadehour #craftsposure #wemakecollective #crochetaddict #crocheteveryday #crochetfun #crochetersofinstagram #i_loveknitting #knittersofinstagram #knittinginspiration #craftholic #projectoftheday #abmcrafty #craftastherapy #igknitters #knitstagram #makersgonnamake #myunicornlife #yarnlove #yarnaddict

A photo posted by Angie Panozzo (@gamercrafting) on Jan 16, 2017 at 11:38am PST

I think I just might do some more spinning in the near future. It’s an excellent distraction from a world that seems intent on imploding on itself!
If you want to try spinning, join Louise’s group for some sage advice and check out her shop for some unbelievably gorgeous batts, spindles, braids, and handspun yarns.

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