I'm Taking Up Spinning!

Soon, I hope. After I pay rent for September :-D

For the past six months or so I have reeeally wanted to start an alpaca herd. Then I decided I wanted to have a whole huge fiber farm, with merino sheep, angora goats, and angora rabbits. Oh, I'm going to have a fiber farm someday. But I need something related to these gentle creatures to keep me occupied in the meantime, and to keep me motivated. Plus, my Lovely is out of the country until February, and I'm bored.

Thus, my desire to learn spinning. What I'll probably do is purchase roving from other handspinners on Etsy, make a simple treadle, and hop to it! Once I get the hang of it and can make a decent yarn, I'd like to learn how to make natural plant dyes to color my skeins with. I was looking on Etsy and there are so many beautiful, creative skeins out there.

So I'm currently looking for a class or someone in the Bay Area who'd be willing to spend a few hours with me showing me the ropes (hardy har har). If I can't find someone, I'll go the route of Teach Yourself Visually: Handspinning, but when it comes to crafts, I tend to learn by doing instead of reading.

I can't wait to get started!

Photo courtesy of fuzzyfibers1960, an awesome handspinner who sells yarn on Etsy.