Every year I am surprised when the long southern summer gives way to autumn. We're moving towards sweater weather, fiber festivals, and indoor crafting.
Speaking of fiber festivals, I did not have nearly enough adult supervision at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. After circling the Daedalus spinning wheel booth for seven years of festivals, I finally bought one. Specifically, I was sample spinning with another woman. I was admiring the wheels, as always. And just as I was about to leave, this wonderful stranger said, "I'll buy one if you buy one." I took that as a sign from the Universe that the time had come for me to acquire an electric spinning wheel.
After I got it home, I played with it a bit. And the first thing I learned is I had no idea what to do! I had been able to spin on it fine at a festival. But I also realized I am used to the rhythm of my feet and hands together. Without that, I didn't know what to do. I got busy with the 234,000 stitch shawl, so the new e-spinner sat in a tote bag.
Last month I taught at DFW Fiber Festival. The folks who run that festival are brilliant! If you want to learn how to run a non-profit event, shadow them. Lovely market. Lots of interesting classes. Fantastic people. Just excellent all-around. One of the nice things about that event is they provide lodging for all the teachers. With that lodging comes breakfast tickets. Which means most mornings the teachers gather over breakfast. This is a great way to make connections and new friends.
I met Meagan Condon on the first day. As soon as she said her name, I recognized it from PLY magazine. We quickly became friends. Meagan teaches spinning. I asked her if she had any advice for how to transition from spinning on a treadle wheel to spinning on an electric wheel. The answer should have been obvious to me — get some fiber and spin! Spin thin. Spin thick. Spin at different speeds. Try to spin my "default" yarn. The Daedalus Starling has speeds from 1-100, so spin in increments of 10 or 20 and just see what it does.
Of course, that meant I needed fiber.
The DFW Fiber Fest people provide dealer bucks to the teachers. I wandered the market in search of something that might be a good fit. My preference would have been Corriedale, but I didn't find any of that. Instead I found some washed Tunis, which happens to be a Shave 'em to Save 'em fiber. Trying a new fiber is not a bad idea. I should also mention The Livestock Conservancy now has a nice page of downloadable pdfs describing the profiles of different fibers.
I'm not mentioning the particular vendor here because this Tunis did not turn out to be good stuff. I'm not sure what happened, as the vendor is someone I consider to be reliable? I'm glad I spent dealer bucks on it and not my own money. There were a lot of nepps and second cuts in the fiber. The tips were brittle. It just wasn't quality fleece. On the flip side, the parts of it that were good did card up into lofty rolags. I think Tunis would make an excellent woolen-spun yarn. I just think this particular fleece was from a shepherd who hadn't yet learned all the finer points of growing and shearing a good product.
Fortunately, imperfect fleece worked for my needs. I started by spinning slow, then turned up the speed, then turned it back down. I ended up spinning a fairly thick woolen yarn at the 35 setting. If I had been spinning a finer singles closer to my default, then a 40 or 45 speed setting would have been better. This poor fleece just wasn't going to spin into a fine singles nicely. Right now, I can't imagine spinning on the fast settings like 80 or 90. Maybe cotton? I can't imagine my hands keeping up!
I made a super-bulky 3-ply with very uneven twist from my practice Tunis. Got about 100 yards, so enough maybe for a hat? I might throw it in a dye pot sometime just to see what colors I can get. Sometimes spinning for fun, dyeing for fun, just playing without worrying about the outcome is exactly what you need to refresh your crafting practice. As a teacher, it is useful for me to be the student and remember what it is like to be new, unsure, and not yet good at something. Since I spend a lot of time knitting for purpose, it is good to craft for enjoyment instead.
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