17 Nov Tue 2009
My First Yarn Ball
A few nights ago I got to try carding and spinning wool. My friend Bailey has a spinning wheel and carders and gave me a lesson on how to use them. As if that weren't exciting enough, she was able to get wool through Evergreen from our sheep. I showed her pictures of the sheep that grew the wool she works with and she showed me how to work the wool from the sheep that I help to grow. It took a bit for me to get into the rhythm of the spinning wheel. I had to coordinate the pumping of my foot with the spinning of the wheel and the movement of my fingers through the wool as it wound together into yarn.
Pretty impressive, right? I thought so until I saw the yarn balls that Bailey spins. Turns out they aren't necessarily supposed to have all those lumps and size variations. But as Bailey says, imperfections in hand spun yarn are beautiful, or so I'll keep assuring myself until I get a little more practice.