I have always been enamoured with the thought of spinning. I pictured myself in a bucolic setting, happily whiling away the hours while at my wheel. I thought I’d try drop spindle to see if I was any good/liked spinning. So, when I saw a class advertised at Romni Wools, I jumped at it. I waited patiently for months for the date to arrive, driving my friends nuts with a countdown to the event.
The fantasy world crashed head on into reality today. I totally sucked at it. Now I know it takes practice, but I’m so used to picking up a needle or hook and knowing exactly what to do that it blew me away when I was uncoordinated and spastic. I kept breaking my roving whenever I tried to spin it and had big gobby chunks throughout. Everyone else had laceweight, and I had sport! I did learn quite a bit about wool and its composition, so not all was lost. Plus I have some really funky roving to work into thrum mittens this fall.
I have decided that my job in life is not to be the spinner, but the one who buys from the spinner. Never again will I question the price tag that accompanies handspun. I paid a much higher price today in blood sweat and tears!
I found the woman who taught me to spin through a local spinning guild (check listings at Spin Off magazine). She taught me the basics on the spindle first, and I was just terrible at it! I took to the wheel pretty quickly though, and while I still need a lot of practice to be completely happy I’m getting pretty consistent. So, you might just find that the wheel works better for you then a spindle.
Don’t give up yet! I failed miserably at the spindle but succeeded at the wheel. Then, once I got the basic principles, I went back to the spindle with a new understanding. That moment when it all comes together and becomes effortless, automatic, and almost impossible NOT to do successfully (like riding a bike?) is worth all the frustration!
I think that’s my biggest trouble with learning new crafts–I’m so used to being pretty good at crochet that when I try to pick up something new I’m totally baffled as to why my hands won’t just cooperate and do it *right*. It’s sometimes hard to remember when I was as bad at crochet as I am at, say, tatting, and how I managed to keep myself going until I got better…
That is really neat…I didn’t even know there were classes like that…but then again I never really searched for any.
I had a lot of fun Drew and it was a very important lesson for me. I’ve been knitting and crocheting for so long (30+ years now) that I forget what it’s like to be new at something. Lesson learned. I haven’t given up totally, just will look for an online source with more information.
I wondered how the class would go! I felt the same way last Feb when i picked up knitting needles for the first time. Hope you still had fun though!!