07.20.06
Alas, Spinning I Is Over
Last night was the last Spinning I class at The Yarn Tree 
The final class was dying our handspun skeins with Earthues natural dyes.
The bottom right photo shows the dye colors (I’ll try to find out the other dyes sources) - clockwise from the top left white bin is yellow, purple, red (cochineal) and brown (cutch crystals). I know it’s hard to tell - the yellow and the brown look the same as well as the red and the purple. Tonight I finally rinsed the yarn (keep in fridge so they don’t mildew) and hung them to dry on the fire escape. I will post photos of the final colors.
Lesson learned - do not wrap up fibers in Press ‘N Seal Wrap! While the fuzzy cocoon effect is fascinating and the product actually seals very well, it also sticks like the dickens to the fibers! It seemed like a good idea at the time, at the time being very late at night when I made this decision, after a long, hot and humid night of simmering the fibers in mordant.
While the yarns were simmering in their dye pots, we all tried out spinning on the wheel.
Oops, that’s not spinning, that ’s celebrating with beer!
Elizabeth waits patiently for her wheel to be set up.
Spinning on the wheel is such a different experience. It was like having to learn how to spin all over again. My yarn was slubby, it would break, it would spin out of the guides - it was a mess! Then there was the coordination of the working the treadles to get the right speed and drawing out the fibers in relation to that speed. I also did not feel like I was truly “understanding” the fibers because everything was moving so fast. But it was also great because everything was moving so fast!
I think by the end of class I got the hang of it. Of course, now I want to take Spinning II in the fall. For now, I will be happy with my spindle. I still want to get a second smaller spindle to use with my silk hankies. I cannot foresee a spinning wheel in my Brooklyn apartment in the very near future, but it would be fun to dream about it.
Here is my little spinning-wheel-skein. I believe this is black Peruvian wool.
Can you say “overspun?” When I took it off the niddy noddy, it sprang off the wood like a rubber band and the skein instantly spinning itself into a twist! I have not set the twist to it yet.
I wish the class did not have to end. Caroline is a wonderful teacher and I felt like I learned a lot from her. My group of classmates were so much fun - we talked a blue streak and laughed and laughed and laughed. My Wednesday nights will seem strange, no longer making the trip to Williamsburg.