Spinning - The Story of my Dangerous New Addiction

Sunday, 10:30am. At my local knitting circle that I went to for the first time on a lark I learned about spinning on a hand spindle. I learned that they're not all called "drop spindles"-- some are "high whorl" and some are "low whorl." Who knew? Not me.

2:00pm. After some research, I learned that I would prefer the high whorl kind. So then I looked on the internet for how to make one. I knew I had some bamboo straight needles at home that I'll never use again, so I went straight from the knitting circle to Home Depot.

3:00pm. Compiled Materials.


3:05pm. (Seriously). High whorl spindle assembled. (In a later post, I will give detailed directions for how I did this. I made up my own design using materials I had on hand. It was stupid easy.)


3:06pm. Pulled out balls of yarn I'd recycled from two thrift-store sweaters, watched some demo videos on YouTube (search "ply spindle" keywords) and spun some yarn while watching the movie "Stand By Me" on TiVo.

(Ace: "What are you gonna do, shoot us all?" Gordie: "No Ace, I'm just going to shoot you.")


4:00pm. Read Knitty.com article on dying wool with food coloring, then got out the food coloring I had on hand and a small bottle of vinegar and heated up some water. Dyed first skein of wool. Meanwhile, still spinning.

8:00pm. Spun four 25oz-ish skeins of yarn, set in hot water, dyed, and hung up to dry.


I'm using the yarn to make Quant.

Knit Shrug Photos

Here are some pics of my first knit project, a shrug I made out of the World's Cheapest Yarn. (Total cost, including tax: $1.86.)


I started with a pattern for an idea, but I am cognitively unable to follow a pattern all the way through without adjusting it to make me happy. (See previous post.)


I added a crocheted ruffle around the collar and trim at the sleeves. Otherwise it appears I am a knitter. It took me about 14 hours, including the car ride to D.C. from down here in the south and then back again. Easy as pie!