Spinning

I am a total newbie to spinning. I was interested in it for about a week when I had DH make me a spindle (actually, I had him make me 2, one top and one bottom whorl spindle; see link here for directions on a DIY spindle). Still, that is really good for me. I usually decide I am into something, and have to get all the gear straight away!

The spindle is basically a length of wooden dowel, with a wooden toy car wheel as the weight (bought from local hobby craft store), then a small cup hook in the top. For the 2 spindles it cost a total of £1.60. Even DH can't complain at that!

Best thing, they seem to work great. I don't have the experience to compare them to any other spindles, but they seem to do the job great. In the image below, the yarn on the right was some I spun a few weeks ago. I haven't picked it up since then, but you can see the yarn on the spindle (which I spun last night) is a lot thinner, which is what I had wanted. I was really pleased with the result.

The fibre is Shetland fleece, in a fawn colour, which I bought while at Woolfest back in June. I bought it as a practice fibre, as it was washed and carded, and only cost £5 for 250g. 250g was a huge bag! I thought it seemed cheap, although as I am a newbie I have no idea what the going rates are for fibre yet!

I also bought a bag of beautiful Alpaca fibre in a gorgeous golden colour. I haven't taken any pictures of that yet, but will do soon and post them. I did however get a picture of the cutie alpaca who generously donated the fleece:

I bought the fleece at Woolfest, from a stallholder representing the Alpaca Centre. I looked it up after we got home, and we went for a visit. It was a great, we saw the alpacas and had a lovely coffee and scones in the tearoom. They also have a shop selling alpaca fibre clothing etc. If you are into fibre and around Penrith, England at all, I would recommend stopping by. Plus they were all lovely friendly people! And how cute is this alpaca!!!!!!