Don’t worry, I’m not going to start singing songs about bad hair days (although I’m totally livin’ one today)…
I recently splurged on a Woolee Winder for myself. At first I wasn’t sure I liked it. The Majacraft Little Gem has a hyper sensitive braking system and I couldn’t get my tension correct – it either pulled too much or too little.
I tried again last night with some Romney from Spunky Eclectic and am pleased with the result so far. The proof will be in the plying.
Before:
After:
Another thing that has made a huge difference is using a metronome to time my spinning. I had a nasty habit of treadling inconsistently so that affected the way my yarn was coming out.
I found this online metronome and after some fiddling around, have decided that for this roving and the thinness I want, it worked best at 69 beats per minute. I keep either my left foot or right to the beat. I figured it worked through 10 years of piano lessons, so why not! The result is a much more consistent twist per inch rate. There is also something soothing about the constant ticking. Between the constant ticking and the relaxation that the actual spinning provides me, I was almost spinning in my sleep!
I think I need more time with the Woolee Winder before I’m comfortable with how it works. I like it with the Romney, but experiments with Alpaca didn’t go as well. For that I may have to either go back to the original bobbins or practice a whole lot more.
spinning in your sleep!??? I like the lace weight. Theo colours are nice. Metronome is a great idea. Even with knitting I find music sets my pace, so when I am in a hurry I “rock out” as Chicklet would say and when I am chilling I listen to my favoured sappy stuff. 🙂 I can see how it would be incredibly soothing! cool.
It would not surprise me at all if you did fall asleep spinning. I have not found another motion, other than maybe rocking in a rocking chair, that is quite so soothing. And to get yarn as a by-product is pretty cool. 🙂