16 months ago I took a short workshop on drop spindle spinning at Manchester Yarn Day, taught by Kate from Green Eyed Monsters. Entertaining though it was (mainly due to my knitting buddy's temper tantrum), and as much as the tuition was excellent, the pair of us decided we were rubbish at spinning and should stick to what we're good at. Just for reference (and for entertainment value), I've included a photo of that first yarn. Crap, huh?

The spindle and fibre got put away and forgotten about for some time. Over the last few months, different forms of fibre arts have become more accessible to me, since the opening of Purl City Yarns in Manchester. I watched Vikki from Wild Fire Fibres spinning on her wheel and admired the long-practiced skill which looks so easy, yet is undoubtedly complex. I admired it in the same way I admire someone programming a computer application - it's an incredible skill to have but I can't imagine ever having the time or the desire to learn to do it.

Anyway, one day I came across a blog post where someone was talking about how they didn't 'get' spindling until they saw a particular YouTube video. I clicked the link, watched the video and sure enough I also 'got' the park and draft technique, finally understanding the importance of pinching to keep the twist out of the drafting area. The resulting yarn was reasonably consistent and that was enough to inspire me to do more.


Realising that I wasn't actually that terrible at it, I bought some top to play with and started on some nice, fine merino. Soon the student spindle I had been using became too heavy and that's where the next post comes in...