Spinsterhood

Day 69: From the first time I sat down at my great-grandmother's wheel at four years of age, I knew I was destined to be a spinster. It wasn't until I entered my teens that I realized the second meaning of the word was also likely to apply, and of course by then, the first was no longer relevant. My great-grandma was long gone, and my grandmother who had taught me the art was in a rest home and her wheel had been sold. I forgot all about spinning, except to admire the craftspeople who put on demonstrations, but gradually, a desire to take it up was growing in the back of my mind. When I mentioned to my mother that I'd learned to spin from her mother, she told me, "Grandma didn't know how to spin. She can't have taught you," but I remembered clearly Gma turning the crank by hand as I manipulated what little fiber we'd found caught in the carders into a short piece of yarn. When I finally decided to purchase a wheel, my mother went with me, and to her utter amazement, I sat down in the shop and began to spin. "I told you Gma taught me how," I said. "And I haven't forgotten." That wheel (the Louët I bought that day) is now my "ply wheel." I spin singles on a Kromski Minstrel, and when I have two bobbins full, I set them aside to rest for at least 24 hours. This frees up the Minstrel to spin more singles. I cycle through the process, plying a little, spinning a little, and I've been known to run myself short of bobbins when I'm in "production" mode. Here's just a bit of what I've spun over the last six weeks or so. There's more off camera. The two skeins of Green Chaos and two skeins of Salt & Pepper are done. The orange 8-Ball is plied and ready to be stretched on the warping board, as is the huge bobbin loaded with Raspberry Yogurt. The two bobbins of red 8-Ball are ready to be plied, and the "purple" (a blend of red and blue) 8-Ball is a single waiting for its partner to be spun. Stretched on the warping board in the Loom Room, you'd find yellow 8-Ball and the last skein of Salt & Pepper, now waiting to be soaked and weighted to set the twist. Spinsterhood suits me well.