Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Tiny Turk

I know, I know. Bad blogger, no cookie. It's truly sad that I have gone almost 5 months without a post. It's sad that I've had a couple of comments awaiting moderation since June. But then, they came in three months after the post, so I'm not alone in my tardiness.

Sometimes I just get out of the habit of public self-reflection. Sometimes I get busy. And sometimes I spend my free time doing other stuff.

This month, I have been spinning. You know, yarn. Spinners have taken to adopting the time of the Tour de France as their own Tour de Fleece. Participants strive to spin every day that the Tour rides.

I decided it was time to put up or shut up about learning to spin. I "learned" several years ago, but my progress has been sporadic. Just like many things, you need to practice regularly in order to improve. What a concept.

I jumped in with with abandon this time, and finally, something clicked. I finished my yarn from last year (at left, below). I tried some new fibers and new techniques. I made some mistakes, and I learned some things. I got comfortable enough that I have kept spinning even after the event is done.

Tour de Fleece 7/36/2010 - Final day

As my own personal reward, I ordered a tiny Turkish spindle on from Threads Thru Time on Etsy. It arrived today, and oh my, is it cute!



You can see in the first two photos on the left how it is in three pieces. That is interesting because once the yarn is spun and wound onto it (center photo), you can just remove the arms and have a nice little center-pull ball of yarn.