I've been daydreaming about learning to spin on a drop spindle for literally years--since just a few months after I started knitting.
Yesterday, it finally all came together. Clay made me a spindle. (It's handy to have a woodworker for a stepdad. In return, I made him a beanie cap with a brim, which I failed to photograph.) I ordered 4 oz. of undyed Corriedale roving from undyedyarn on Etsy.
I made that last night. It's about 19 yards of mostly bulky weight singles. In the skein, it looks very nice (if a bit 'rustic').
It's actually pretty typically flawed and inconsistent, as I expected my first yarn to be.
I'm looking forward to getting it thinner and more consistent, mainly because I'm shocked at how fast I'm blowing through my roving. That little skein there is a full ounce of wool, and it's less than twenty yards. So, the first thing I learned is that 4 oz. is not nearly enough wool for me to spin as much as I'd like.
I've predrafted the remaining three ounces slightly thinner than I did the first, and I'm rationing them out. I've ordered a full pound of Blue-faced Leicester roving (which ought to be a lot of wool!), but I need to make what's left of the Corriedale last until it gets here, and I'd really like to be able to spin every day, to build up my skill.
Meanwhile, I'm just going to keep working on getting my yarn better . . . I really want at least enough out of the Corriedale to make myself a hat. (I will probably leave it undyed, although I've been experimenting with dyeing lately--I still need to photograph the results to blog about it. I have also not blogged about the PVC pipe niddynoddy I made for myself . . .)
