Okay, so I missed it by a week. Oops.
Early June 2014, I ordered a "learn to spin" kit online. Inside, a clunky wooden spindle, and a few balls of natural Finn wool (it's still one of my favourites breeds, even now). A few YouTube videos later, and I was park-and-drafting, and making some kind of super slubby rope that wouldn't really come in handy for anything in particular. A few days later, the slubs started to even out, and I was spinning some kind of fairly-even-if-a-little-fat rope. And then, 10th June 2014, I plied, washed, skeined and photographed my first handspun yarn. I called it Cappucino. Super bulky, probably underplied, but even now it's stashed away in London as a reminder of where I started.
Since then, I've amassed a nice collection of spindles (the original wooden beast is still a total babe for plying), and cracked two of them (sad day, sad day...) I've spun a huge variety of fibres - Merino, Falkland, Shetland, Southdown, alpaca, silk to name a few... I've spun almost five kilometres of yarn... And I've learnt so many new techniques: chain-plying, corespinning, cloud coils, fulling singles, spinning backwards long draw from rolags... I've discovered some wonderful indie dyers whose fibre is a joy to spin...
It wasn't a planned decision to start spinning. It was a whim. A whim that I totally and utterly fell in love with, and I can't imagine not doing it. There's a wonderful sense of excitement when you finally finish a yarn, or when you open a new box of fluff. Spinning calms me down when I'm stressed, it's a wonderful focus of energy when I'm buzzing. Basically, best on-a-whim decision ever.
So - cheers! Here's to the last year, and hopefully to many more :)
congrats!! i share the love fior spinning!
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