As those of you who’ve been around for awhile know, I used to spin.  I bought a great Lendrum double treadle, watched some DVDs, took a class at Estes Park, bought some fiber and messed around with spinning. I never really dedicated myself to it and never felt like it was everything I thought it would be. And eventually I put the wheel away and moved away from spinning. I even thought about selling my wheel, but Marcia & Diana talked me out of it.

After that I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I started seeing a lot of talk on blogs about spinning and fiber and how much people were enjoying their spinning. Then one day I was looking at dealers on Schacht’s website and saw that there’s a new dealer right here in Laramie. In a hazy series of events, I advertised my Lendrum for sale on Ravelry and called Talia at International Fleeces about a Schacht Matchless. And as they say, it was all down hill from there. It turns out that Talia had been trying to get a spinning club started so we agreed to get together the following week and she would bring a Matchless and a Ladybug for me to try.

I sat down with Talia and spun on the Matchless in double drive, then in Scotch tension, then I spun on the Ladybug in Scotch tension. When I sat down, it was kind of like being a newbie all over again – almost like I’d never spun before. The difference was that it came back to me fairly quickly and with Talia’s instructions on drafting and mechanics, I feel like I improved a lot that first night. After a couple of hours of spinning, it was very clear to me that I loved the Matchless and loved spinning in double drive (which is something I’d never done because I couldn’t set my Lendrum up like that)!

The second week was even better than the first. Talia again loaned me her Matchless until mine arrives and I spun some lovely blue-faced leicester from Sweet Georgia.

As you can see, it’s a little uneven – some is underspun, some overspun, but I made yarn! And I enjoyed it. I consider that fantastic progress in my spinning adventures. Talia let me keep her Matchless and take it home with me, so I’ve been spinning like crazy.

I bought 12 ounces of Jacob Humbug from International Fleeces and proceeded to spin that all up between the second and third week of our club (which is still nameless)

I plied the Jacob as a 3-ply – my first attempt at that – and while it’s still uneven with over- and under-spun (and plied) areas, it’s better than the first yarn. Don’t you think? I even practiced a little Navajo-plying on what was left on one bobbin! I guess I need to remember to do that penny thing with the pictures. I’m new to taking pictures of this yarn stuff, so sorry for the omission.  The Jacob is an aran weight, I’d guess.  I guess I should also figure out the wraps per inch. That might be useful information, huh.

Last week at spinning club, Talia helped me figure out how to spin the Falkland from the JulieSpins fiber club (unclub?). I’m shooting for a sport weight 3-ply and with her help I did a practice skein and am on my way. I love having someone help me figure things like that out the first time. It makes all the difference because I actually feel like I’m learning, and not just spinning my wheels (hah).

I took that picture Saturday morning before I spent a whole lot of time yesterday spinning.  I’m almost done with the first 3rd of the fiber (I have 10 oz total, so each bobbin should have a little over 3 oz) and the first bobbin is about 3/4 full. I know my singles aren’t completely even, but they’re pretty darned good for me!

I’ve been trying to spin a little bit every day and I’ve found that if I can get up and get ready in the morning (rather than screwing around) I have 15-30 minutes to spin and that really makes a difference.  I sometimes spin in the evening too, especially if we’re watching (i.e. listening to) something on tv, but even if that doesn’t happen, I got some spinning in for the day. I’m so glad that I decided to stick with spinning (thanks girls!), and for me, selling my Lendrum and deciding on a Matchless has been very motivational. And I am so grateful that I found Talia and that she’s willing to take the time to work with me – a good teacher really does make all the difference.