Day 3: Learning To Spin.

Today was the big day. My friend Cris and I headed north to Halifax, PA for our drop spindle lesson at Gurdy Run Woolen Mill with Lydia Piper, spinner and fleece specialist extraordinaire.

The first thing Lydia had us do was "pre-draft" the roving. This actually took me a while to get the hang of, and it was something that I didn't even know to do during my pitiful attempts to spin on my own. With that done, the spindles started flying. And again, this took me many attempts to figure out - how long should my drafting zone be, how quickly do I need to work, how much is too much twist and how do you fix it, how thick to spin the yarn (I was everywhere between dental floss and novelty art yarn). But after 2 hours of practicing and lovely fiber-y conversation, I can now say with certainty and great pride: I Am A Beginner Spinner!

So, armed with a spindle full of single ply and a great deal more confidence, I'm off to practice some more. My goal now is to be able to spin relatively evenly as I work through the roving that I have. If I can accomplish that, I will reward myself with a well-deserved trip to The Mannings... Cris, get ready!