Once upon a time there was a Snowdrop – patient and responsible with no desire to dive head first into each and every fiber-crafty activity this world has to offer
This was not me.
In my last post I shared all about my first time spinning yarn using a turkish drop spindle. I ended up making a messy little 20g mini-skein of yarn. However, I also learned that the way spinning like this works, is not very sustainable for me.
Furthermore, I found it to be too slow of a process to actually make as much yarn as I wanted.
Long story short: I am the proud owner of a spinning wheel now!
How It All Started
When my lovely partner handed me my drop spindle and saw me spinning away on it on christmas day last year, listening to me go on and on about how much fun it is and how natural it feels for days, he soon told me he gives me about a year till I’ll be upgrading to a wheel.
I was quick to tell him he’s totally mistaken and wheels are way to expensive and there’s no way I’ll invest that much into any new hobby this quickly.
To my credit: He was indeed wrong about it.
It took less than half a year.
It was a gloomy day sometime in march when my boyfriend teased me (yet again) about probably having a spinning wheel soon. A lot of the yarny podcasters I like to watch had picked up spinning over the last few years and after looking up one specific wheel that one of them mentioned, which had a four digit price tag, I felt a bit deflated about it all, assuming they’re all this much. Trying to prove him wrong, I went on Google, typed in “spinning wheel” and showed him that… they’re not that bad?
Wait I could actually do this?
Wow look how gorgeous this one is!
“This one” Is the Kromski Fantasia ECO.
It is perfect in every way imaginable!
Now, while I do love to jump right into things and learn while I do, allowing for mistakes to happen, I find it important to be responsible as a consumer.
I don’t like to get or have a lot of stuff and a spinning wheel is a pretty big thing and in my eyes way to precious of a tool to be collecting dust in a corner.
I spent a few weeks thinking about it and I did try to consider other options but when I fall in love with something, it’s hard to get me to choose something else.
I knew nothing about spinning wheels at that point and probably should’ve done more research but I’m so happy with the wheel I ended up getting!
I believe I found the perfect fit for me as a person, considering construction, function and aesthetic!
The Spinners Tale:
Diary Of A New Spinstress
Day 1 – The Spinners First Dance
Promised days before, now long awaited – it arrived.
In pieces. The nice lady in the introduction video of this wheel said that assembly was easy, even when you do it alone. Now it dawned on me: she might have only said that, to sell it to the viewer.
She was successful and my mind was as scattered as the oddly shaped pieces of wood and metal all over my bed and floor.
The instructions were wonderfully designed and very clear, with coloured photographs on each and every step and the pieces were all nicely packed and in perfect condition. I just get overwhelmed extremely easily and the nature of a spinning wheel is not as simple as that of a basic ikea shelff.
To summarize the assembly:
I got halfway through before wanting to cry in a corner realizing I work with soft materials for a reason.
So I did… Only to get back up to my wonderful boyfriend having fully built it for me.
I’m almost certain I cried again – this time from happiness!
Time to get to know my wheel and learn the twists and turns!
And turn it did! I had no idea how fast a spinning wheel really is, especially compaired to a handheld spindle.
I started on the larger whorl this wheel comes with, providing a translation rate of 1:5 and used the same fiber I had previously spun on my drop spindle.
Me being very familiar with the fiber at this point probably helped a lot to get started.
I spent the whole rest of the day behind the wheel, messily but joyfully spinning up about 25g of roving – more than I was able to do in four months on my drop spindle!
I think I overdid it though… That night, I had a hard time falling asleep, finding it hard to lay still after hours of treading the pedals.
Day 2 – Stumbling On
The whole world of beginner tutorials is warning me about overspinning… But yesterday my fiber fell appart on me a thousand times because I didn’t have enough spin in it!
The end would twist around the spool one last time and be so frayed and thin, that I could barely find it again, to attach back to my roving.
Today, on my second spool, I tried to add just a little more spin than I thought I’d need and my fiber fell off just once the whole day!
I think I might still not have enough spin though…
Day 3 – From Singles To Doubles
Having filled two spools with what was left of the fiber I used, the day has come to ply.
I was pretty nervous about this.
Just like with spinning the singles, I heard and read so many mentions of adding too much twist. Trying as hard as I could not to do that, I ended up not giving it enough.
Also, I should’ve probably watched a tutorial on this but I just did it before thinking about whether I might be doing something wrong and it seems to have worked!
My first skein of yarn was born!
To the displeasure of my perfectionism, I’m not aiming for perfection here.
To me, half the fun of learning things, when I allow myself to make mistakes and aim for fun in the process instead of perfection in the product, is trying to figure things out.
When crafting, I like to daydream myself into a calm, whimsical world.
Going online for every little confusion there is, kills the mood a bit and puts standards in my head, that I have to meet.
As anyone who knows a bit about yarn can probably tell: This one is terribly underspun!
Unspun yarn is a thing as far as I know (though I never tried it) so I think this still counts as yarn? Therefore it is – in my head – a good start!
Treading On
My first experience spinning on this wheel was so much fun, I immediately took out another braid of fiber I had and started spinning it up!
This gorgeous merino wool is much more slippery than the hank I worked with before. It fell apart on me a lot
On this skein I’m making, I’m practicing even drafting and controlling the thickness of my singles.
Since this yarn is so slippery and I already struggled to add enough twist to the more grippy fiber I used for the first skein, I switched to a smaller whorl, meaning I have a higher translation rate.
I thought the increased speed at the same rate of treading would be too much, but it made things easier instead!
Where The Whirling Wind Will Take Me
The rythmic treading, drafting, twisting daydreams together with fiber – there wouldn’t be a better name for my wheel than fantasia.
I have a hard time being in silence and spinning is perfect for doing in front of the TV, on the phone or while talking with someone who’s present, doing their own hobby.
But it also enables me to actually sit in silence without my adhd-brain going crazy.
It’s sitting without sitting still, doing something without having to think about it at all. It’s perfect!
It does get me into hyperfocus very easily.
If you tend to get lost in activities like that, make sure to have some water nearby, even if you immediately forget about it till after you’re done crafting for hours without a break.
(Advice from someone who doesn’t listen to their own advice and regularly has involuntary meetings with the floor ^^’)
I guess this means I’m a full on spinner now!
I’m so excited to learn and improve enough to spin for a project!
I already have some roving here and a pattern in mind that I want to spin for and then knit one day.
Am I too ambitious to think about that this early on?
Thank you so much for listening to my rambling!
May your days be filled with comfort and fantastical dreams
Have a wonderful week!
Snowdrop