Round 'n Round She Goes

I didn't get the Go Live Minimalist cardigan finished in February.  This is as far as I got.  Work was a bit hectic this week and one of the kids was sick.  Just not a good week for knitting.

Last summer I bought myself a drop spindle and gave it a whirl.   I had a book that guided me but I just didn't feel like I got the hang of it.  The resulting fiber was inconsistent and broke often.  It was very frustrating.  Here is what I had managed to make.  I wound it off onto a pencil to empty the spindle.



This past Tuesday I took a spinning class at a LYS.  I was the only student so I got personalized attention and learned a tremendous amount.  Since I had my own drop spindle, the teacher focused mostly on that instead of the wheels.  Toward the end of the class she let me test drive a couple wheels.  They were very fun to play with but I'm just not in the market for a wheel right now.  I had so much fun with the spindle that I came home and spent 3 more hours spinning while watching television.  Below is my work after the class.  What do you think?

I'm going to ply this into lace weight yarn.



Here is the before and after picture.  Dramatic improvement if I say so myself!!



This is the first fiber that the teacher had me spin.  It was 5-ply pencil roving.  She used this to teach me about Z and S wraps and fiber management.

The fiber management lesson continued with this fiber.  This was Corriedale roving.  I practiced drafting and not holding the fiber with a death grip.  The resulting fiber, as you can see, varied in width.  Since I wound this into a ball to get it off the spindle, what you see on the outside of the ball is beginning of the lesson.  The fiber inside the ball is more consistent and thinner.



After the class was over, I bought a bag of Corriedale from the teacher and rushed home to practice some more.  The purple/pink on the left if the top I purchased when I bought the spindle.  Even though the teacher explained that top is not the easiest to spin with because the fibers are parallel to each other and makes it easier to break, I am going to finish practicing with it before moving on to the Corriedale.    I can't tell you how excited this makes me!!   I can't wait to try other fibers.