Spinning Class

I attended a spinning class. No not cycle, but yarn. Barb, my instructor, used to be a shepherd in Quebec, then moved with her husband, who is in the aerospace industry, to Tempe. Way too hot here to raise any animals that have wool, so she became a spinning instructor.

Spinning is not difficult but does take time to master. I spent an hour and a half with Barb learning how to spin using the drop spindle. I didn't feel very successful but she said I was doing well.

Barb is very good at using the drop spindle and spins silk yarn that she then plies in with other wool yarn. These two ply yarns are very beautiful together. The natural wool yarns are dark browns to tans. The silks are beautifully dyed. She made a shawl out of dark brown wool with a ply of teal blue silk wrapped around the wool. Gorgeous.

Once I learn to use the drop spindle a bit better Barb will teach me to use the spinning wheel. Today I practiced again for about an hour on the drop spindle. I am getting better, but still need more practice before I attempt wheel.

The shop, the Fiber Factory is right downtown in Mesa and is run and staffed by unique folks. There always seems to be interesting characters sitting in the shop knitting and visiting too. A great place to be a fly on the wall (or a spinner in the corner!).

The Fibre Factory sells yarns and other knitting and crocheting supplies, but is unique in that it also has spinning wheels and looms to learn spinning and weaving. Not sure how many people in a desert are interested in working with wool? Can't say I expected to find a shop like this in Mesa!

Barb is spinning a blue silk thread.  The individual fibre length of silk is very long, perhaps one foot.  You can see how far she has to hold her hands apart to separate the threads.

Barb's beautifully inlaid drop spindle.

The looms that are for use by weaving students.

A sample of a section on weaving by one of the students.

The Fibre Factory has a pink chair statue right outside the door so it is easy to spot.

Here I am spinning the spindle off my hip, to create the spin that twists the roving into a yarn.

Here I am drawing out the roving into a thin enough piece of wool roving to create a useable sized yarn.  As you can see, wool has a much shorter staple (length of fibre), I only have to hold my two hands about four inches apart to draw the threads before they get spun into yarn.