A Midsummer Night's Dream

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

- Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare

The night of the Longest Day, something strange happened. Suddenly my dear old antique spinning wheel started insisting that I really should be spinning with her - instead of doing any of those pesky tasks that people do when they're planning a trip away from home for several days (I was about to leave the following day to spend the Midsummer weekend with my family).

The thing is, the dear old antique wheel (also known as Elsa) is really rather far from the perfect spinning fitness. The footman is missing its head, the wheel axle is not quite straight and yes, the bane of antique wheels - there's only one bobbin. Still, there's not much you can do, when the other insists, and you'd really rather be spinning than packing or doing dishes...

I managed to fix a thing like a metal hook to the footman, so that it would spin the wheel and fall off only every 30th round or so. Then I greased the axle and spun away... some pre-yarn. Considering the condition my old lady is in, I'm not sure it's up to anything more strenuous, at least not until I get the footman properly fixed (if not even replaced). Still, we had a couple of hours of nice, not-very-nerve-wrecking twisting of yarn with a proper tension and all.

That's unspun pre-yarn....

... spun into pretty one-ply. 

Now I just need to decide what to do with it!

(Let's not tell Elsa, but I really wouldn't mind having a nice, smooth, modern, double treadle wheel too. Just to get Elsa some company of course. And to save my lower back from the ache of pedaling the antique wheel at million rounds per minute.)

The day before Tour de Fleece

This year's Tour de Fleece (the spinning event which pays homage to the Tour de France cycling competition) begins tomorrow.


Like all clever participants, I've spent the last weeks preparing for the event. Unfortunately for me, most of my preparation has focused on making sure my fibre stash won't run out. It's not likely to happen, as spindling is a more time consuming craft than spinning on a wheel, and I have plenty of wool stashed around my flat, but as a former Girl Scout, I feel one should always be prepared ;)


The last I spun for any length of time (and the first time I spun with my new-ish 31g Schaht hi-lo spindle) my right hand seized up for a few days. I decided to have a little test run today, to warm up my spinning muscles up a bit. I was hoping to spin the rest of the baby camel and superfine merino blend sample that I'd begun spinning at a spinning meet I went to at the end of April, but that may have to wait awhile, while I do some work, and give my hands and shoulders a rest.

Preparations, part 2

As I wrote in my last post, I ordered Tuulia Salmela's eagerly awaited spinning book.
 It arrived last week, and I can already tell it's wonderful.




 I'll be able to review it more thoroughly once my holiday starts (one more day to go, yay). I'm definitely looking forward to that :)



I also managed to buy some limited edition fibre that Tuulia had dyed specially to celebrate the release of her book.

 

Preparations, part 1

This post was supposed to be how I plan on avoiding jealousy between my spindles and the wheel, once it arrives. However, I realised that would a traditional case of running before one has learned to walk. Instead, I decided to write a short note about how I learned to spin, and to mention a new source of knowledge and inspiration, which I've just ordered. Local knitters showed me how to spin, when I received my first spindle in 2008. I got a further lesson from the maker of my 2nd spindle, Rina. After that, I kept on spinning mostly by myself, and watching the occasional video on Youtube. However, Tuulia was the person who taught me to spin on a wheel. I took part in her workshop at one of the Finnish knitting retreats, and saw the light. Tuulia is a Finnish spinning guru, and now her book (the first one of it's kind that I'm aware of) is out! I ordered it as soon as I heard it had been published. Hopefully sometime soon I'll have an autographed copy of my own :D Hopefully, the book will show me ways to take my spinning to a new leverl. I can already tell that I'll be talking about this book in the future, so watch this space!

Who are The Spinners' Bin? - part two

I'm one of those people who used to hate all kinds of crafts at school. The only thing that really interested me (besides boys and more academically oriented school subjects) was art and painting, playing with colors. Then one summer I was just so bored, had absolutely nothing to do, that I decided to take up crocheting. They really should put some warnings on those crochet hooks "fiber arts will eat up your life",  "your stash will take up all your money" and definitely "crochet may lead to other, more dangerous substances such as knitting or spinning", because that's exactly what happened to me. Before I knew it, I was teaching myself to knit and purl and choose between bfl and falkland. And eventually, I bought my first spindle, dragged my great-grandmother's spinning wheel from the attic and hang out at the LYS where they allow you to try out different modern spinning wheels. And now I want one, BADLY.

Luckily for me, I also met Karoliina, who shares my passion for fiber and yarn and colors. Being a dirt-poor college student, I have no means to buy an expensive wheel, but between the two of us, we have managed to keep our hopes up. This blog is mainly about spinning and spinning wheels (and how to get one if you have very little money!); but also about friendship, sharing, and the joy of enjoying crafts.

Who are The Spinners' Bin? - part one

I caught the spinning bug when I was a young lass in my early twenties. I'm now approaching 30, and I've yet to fulfill my dream of owning a spinning wheel. Yes, I'm looking at you career, for failing to attain the heights where this (as in buying my own wheel) would be possible.

A few years ago, I met a kindred spirit in Alarwyn, who like me, had also been bitten by the wheel bug. Neither of us is patient enough to attempt this journey on our own, so we're a lucky couple of ladies, to have found a friend to share the journey with.