Best of a bad job

The last thing I remember doing on the spinning front before my "sabbatical" was carding fleece and making some rolags.  I wasn't really getting on with carding (I haven't met many people who do) and the rolags were, frankly, horrible with lots of bobbly bits in them and all slightly greasy. 

Every time I went into my loom room I'd see this sitting accusingly by the door:

 This week I've just spun the lot of it with the following result:

It's not very good but it's been quite a cathartic exercise in a funny kind of way. I know that two years ago I couldn't have spun the rolags at all, let along persisted until they were all used up.  I definitely know that I now want to spin colourful and attractive yarn!

The trick with this stuff, however, is to try and weave or knit something vaguely nice out of it.

Time to scour the books and magazines or even venture on to Ravelry for inspiration. 

Learn, practise and play

Well, I reckon the mini-spin course was a great success.   I got to grips with my wheel - a Louet S10 - learnt to 'roll and pull' whilst drafting, and more or less mastered the art of the long draw (it's all about doing it with 'panache' apparently).  Along the way, there was lots of inspiration as everyone tried out new techniques and had fun in what was basically a fibre-lover's playground. 

We re-visited carding... hand carders (meh) but wow, how I want an Ashford wild drum carder - just stuff whatever you like in one end, turn the handle and produce a lovely batt for spinning fancy yarns.

When I originally started spinning, plying was something I got the hang of straight away.  It was funny this time as I tied myself up in knots, literally, attempting Navaho and Andean plying.  I have to say it's not easy experimenting and falling flat on your face with others looking on!

Naturally, I couldn't resist spending money in the shop. So as well as plenty of tips, notes and exercises to do, I now have even more lovely fibre to practise and play with. These are Merino/Silk rainbow blends.

I was thrilled to end up spinning some boucle yarn... great fun and I see lots of this in my future!

Rooting around in my loom room I've found a basketful of assorted, neglected rolags which in theory should now be a piece of cake to spin - let's see!