So Happy it Hurts

I bought a used spinning wheel something like 12 or 13 years ago. Straw Into Gold, the fabulous store on San Pablo Avenue, was still open then and one could go and browse wool roving and feed a desire for instant gratification. The wheel is a single-treadle, double-band, Clemes & Clemes made close to here in Pinole, CA. At that time the company was no longer around, and my friend Katie gave me a few lessons, starting with a drop spindle. I never got as far as plying and made some typically interesting first attempts before I became sidetracked.

Fast forward to last year when, on this blog, I showed pictures of my wheel, at last dragged out of the garage and dusted off. Having returned to fiber arts in general I was interested in having a refresher course. I kept finding I had just missed the start of a few classes but at last my patience has been rewarded! This past Saturday was my first class in beginning spinning at Article Pract. The teacher is Kristine from the online and real store A Verb for Keeping Warm. I hefted my wheel on over after getting a few more bobbins from the company that is back in business.

Kristine showed us two drafting methods, one of which I hadn't learned. She gave us Blue-Faced Leicester (BFL) wool roving to spin with and we tried "over the fold" drafting. It was tricky but some of my previous experience probably payed off as we jumped in very quickly. I cam home enthusiastic and wanting to practice, wishing to see the flow moments expand into actual minutes. On Sunday I took out the wool again and went to work while the true love restrung his mandolin.

I fell in LOVE with spinning. I spun all the wool from class and broke into my bag of BFL purchased from the shop around the corner last year (when I unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate my spinning on my own), I filled a bobbin and was really in the groove. The wool feels so alive and both plastic and fluid. Spinning is like making incredible magic! You have an area that is thick or thin or both, and perhaps lumpy. Just by manipulating your two hands you can pull (draft) it out into something remarkably like yarn. And so much yarn emerges from so little. It's really cool to harness the twist of the wheel to pull yarn from a pile of fiber. I felt like the conduit, someone assisting the yarn in manifesting itself. And I think it was not terrible looking too. Of course we shall see if it all breaks apart when she teaches me to ply it. I can't wait!! Here it is on the bobbin.

Instead of starting a second bobbin to ply with this I decided to try my dyed roving to see what that would be like. I split what I had in half so I could fill two bobbins for plying. It didn't go very far but it was very pretty.

The true love made me stop to eat, but apparently it was not soon enough. I awoke at 4 am with excruciating pain on the top of my right foot. I ended up staying home (which is why I am writing this now) and going to Kaiser to get it looked at. I though it might have been the strap of my Dansko shoe which I had safety pinned closed after the elastic broke, damaging me during treadeling. They aren't sure what it is and will notify me about the x-ray tomorrow but it could be metatarsalgia. And now I am thinking the treadling really just iced the cake of too much jumping up and down barefooted on the Dance Dance Revolution dance pad. It's sort of funny. I would hate to think spinning wool would be so physically damaging.

So now I am on vicodin and keeping my foot up, hoping I will be able to actually put weight on it tomorrow. I am already tired of the crutches which we happen to have in the garage due to all of my ankle issues. Of course, this morning I was already planning how I would have to treadle with my left foot now.... I am so bad. The true love reminded me to take breaks so this doesn't happen on the other side. And I guess I need to get my shoe repaired too.

So is my enthusiasm dampened? Not a bit! I have been reding all about spinning, pricing fiber, and looking at the work of other beginning spinners online while resting. I am excited to throw myself into this hobby and just hope my right foot will be working again soon! I look forward to giving away groovy little skeins of yarn.