How far I've come

My first attempt at spinning was a disaster.

It all started when one of the ladies from my old knitting group schlepped her folding spinning wheel to the group. Mind you, we met on Thursday evenings in the cafe portion of a Barnes&Noble book store at the time. And if we weren't strange enough already to other patrons, playing with our sticks and yarn, we certainly became strange then. But she sat there, unfolded the wheel, grabbed some pretty blue roving (at the time I only knew it as wool) and happily spun away while she chatted with the others.
....While everyone else had lost interest in watching what she was doing, I was hooked. At this point I had become good enough at knitting that I didn't need to look at my fingers anymore while working a plain sock, so my eye were glued to her actions. I watched with rapt attention as her hands did this pulling thing, and her feet quickly treadled the peddles in front of her. The roving in her hand was sucked onto the bobbin and soon she had to grab more from her bag.
....Eventually I started asking her questions, like how did it work, what was she doing, how did she stop the yarn from untwisting when it was all done, what was the fiber she was working with? And then she said those 5 magic words "Do you want to try?"
....At first I just giggled and shook my head like most people do when you offer them something. You know what I mean, I'm sure. Someone asks you if you want something and you politely shake your head and tell them "no no, that's alright." when in fact you are so intrigued by the idea that you're practically buzzing with wanting to try. But Lise insisted, removed her bobbin of pretty roving, slapped on a new one and told me to get my butt over. She showed me what to do, then moved over and had me sit down. At this point our group had stopped working and watched me with amusement.

First try at a wheel

....I sat down, and with Lise's instruction began spinning. It was a disaster from the get go. First I didn't treadle enough, so when I'd draft out the fibers they would break. Rejoining them took forever and usually the wheel would suck in the yarn when it broke off so we had to go fishing for it. Then I treadled too fast and the yarn began kinking back on itself...badly. My feet and hand's just couldn't get a rhythm going. Lise said there was nothing wrong with stopping the wheel and drafting out a bit to get the twist out. And that is what I did. Now here is where it get's really bad.
....    Lise didn't mention that I could turn the wheel a little by hand to let the spun up yarn wind onto the bobbin; I quickly ran out of arm length but not twist. So in my head (and I'm not sure what neurons didn't fire together that day), the longer the distance between my hands and the wheel, the more over-twist I can let into my roving. So I asked my friend to hold a bit of the single to the side. Then I asked her to pass it on to my sister. Then I asked my sister to pass it on to the lady sitting next to her who had stopped knitting at this point to hold her sides as she laughed hysterically. Then I stood up. Then I held the yarn really high above my head. Then I stood on a chair. I can still draft out yarn and get over-kink out. I'm 5'5" if that helps you visualize it any better.
....At this point the yarn is going from my hand (held above my head again) to the lady sitting three chairs away, to the wheel. Not only is my knitting group laughing hysterically (I think my Mom stopped breathing for a moment), but the other patrons of B&N are also chuckling and laughing. Lise is laughing so hard she's crying and has taken several staggering steps away. And finally, just when I think we'll have to cut the yarn off, she turns the wheel slowly by hand and it winds the yarn slowly onto bobbin. I was able to climb down from the chair, and stopped messing around with the wheel.

First spindle handspun

....By the next group she had brought a spindle along with some roving, showed me how to use it, and it turned out to be a much better experience. Mostly because I could spin the spindle, and then hold it between my legs while I drafted out the fiber (known as park and draft).

So as I sit there, lovingly petting my new Schacht Ladybug spinning wheel every 5 minutes (yes, I'm one of those people) and contemplating what I should spin up next, I can't help but think of that first experience from 2009. I still have that first skein sitting in a bin around here; the thing looking more like a super thick dreadlock then a skein of handspun yarn.
It was a interesting shove into a whole new wooly world, and I'm glad I took the plunge.

Current wheel project

The Oregon Fail

Yesterday my Mom, sister, sisters friend, and I made a little road trip down to Oregon for the Flock and Fiber Festival. We were going to pick up my Schacht Ladybug wheel. I was so excited that the night before I was contemplating going to bed at 8pm just so that Saturday would come sooner. Instead I made it all the way until 10pm. xD But I digress.

A trip that should have taken 2.5 hours each way, took more like 7. 

At 9am on Saturday we gassed up the car and headed out to the freeway. We made very good time (in my opinion at least) because there weren't that many car on the road. I don't blame them, who the heck wants to be driving around at 9am on a Saturday?
We went a little bit past Chehalis when the tire pressure light came on. So we pulled into the nearest gas station, put air into the tire, Maggie and Lucia got some snacks and coffee and we tried to set off again. But the tire pressure light was still on. Mom thought one of the tires might have a leak in it, and didn't want to drive on the freeway. So we took back roads to the nearest Les Schwab...which was 22miles back the way we'd come. =.= Guy at Les Schwab said that if too much air is put into a tire it can make the gauge act up. So he let some air out, and put us back on the road.
We hit the freeway again, and were probably 10 miles past the gas station we had stopped at when the light came back on. And then turned back off. And then came on again. And this time it stayed on. Mom panicked again, so we got off the freeway and drove 15miles to the left to yet another Les Schwab.
They people there were going to replace the tire that had presumably a hole, but it would take an hour because there were 7 other people before us. At this point it was 12:55pm.
We sat around the tire center for an hour and of course I didn't have anything to knit...or to spin. The ONE day when I looked at my simple sock project and though "Naw, I won't need that because I'll be busy running all over the Fiber Fest" we get stuck for an hour at a tire center. It was horrible.
But the guy looked at all four tires and couldn't find anything wrong with them. So he looked at the cars computer, and there was the problem. The computer was making the tire pressure gauge act up. So he reset it and send us on our way.
An entire 2 hours of my life and time wasted for something as simple as a computer reset! =.=;; Story of my flippen life.
We suck at this road trip thing. 

My Ladybug

But we got to the Festival, I paid the remaining balance on my wheel and it was being assembled for me as I was shopping around. I got to see some of the sheep, and my resolve to own one or two is even stronger now. They are just so cute! And some only come up to your knee!! It would be like owning a medium sized dog. A dog that doesn't bark and eats grass and grain and gives you fleece.
With the fest closing soon we made it back to the hall where my wheel was, and bought it; right from under someones nose. The guy was looking to buy it too, but I was there first and I had made arrangements already, darn it. >=D Mwahaha.

The trip home as much better with no incidents. I even got to drive back about halfway through; it was nice being able to go 70 mph =).
We might go again next year, and hopefully this time the car isn't going to act up and rob us of 2 hours. Stupid car.