For Christmas, Marilyn got me a gorgeous Kundert spindle. I love it, and it spins just beautifully. I think it was just what I needed to get back into the spinning groove. It's been a couple years since I've spun regularly, but I definitely think this was a well needed push back into it. :o)
I glanced through my stash and found a super ancient Abstract Fibers merino roving that I have had for... well, probably 8 years! While merino fiber is not my favorite to spin, I decided to break into the bump anyways. I mean, look at those colors!! ;o) It's a vibrant sunset that is a nice reminder of sunnier days. It's been raining and very gray here, as of late, so this is just the pop of brightness that I needed.
I have gotten good at spinning finely, but have noticed that it is so much harder to spin a bulky or even worsted weight yarn as consistently as a finer gauge yarn. I decided to try spinning this fiber at a thicker gauge to practice. I'm not as consistent as I'd like, but it's fun to keep trying. This will eventually be worked up as a 2 ply yarn, and I'm hoping for a worsted to aran weight once it's all said and done.
I'm still not as consistent as I'd like to be, but then again, that's what handspun is for. It's not meant to be perfect... which is something that can be hard to convince myself about, sometimes. Hehe. It is interesting, however, because once the yarn is all done and has had it's wash, I always love it, commonly because of the imperfections!
One of my favorite things about spinning is how every person makes a different yarn out of the same fiber. It was my favorite thing about fiber clubs (when I was a part of them), to see how differently everyone's yarns came out. The lumpy, bumpy art yarns, navajo plied, 2-ply, 3-ply, etc... and at various skill levels, they all were (and still are, I just haven't been a part of a club to watch in awhile) amazing to see and equally beautiful.
The only difficult part about spinning is that it's not as easy to do when little miss Izi decides that it's nap time in my lap. :o/ Knitting is possible when there's a cat invading my space, but spinning becomes very limited like this. Le sigh.
I'm thinking of joining the 15 minutes of spinning club (not a real club, but I know a number of people who advocate this), and seeing if I can get through this 4 oz of merino in a reasonable amount of time!