Corrupting the Minors
I have taught a lot of people to knit over the years. I am quite comfortable knitting wherever I am….café, bus, train, desert, felucca, knitters anonymous meetings, waiting at at the dentist….you get the idea. I usually have knitting with me, so I knit. It stops me from fidgeting, and I can feel like I’m making good use of my time.
Earlier this week, I headed to the Sleepless Goat Café with Candra and Nicole (who blogs here). Our plan was not to knit, but to spin. Spinning in public is not something that you see regularly.
delicious hot chocolate and cranberry scone from the Sleepless Goat
Fortified by hot chocolate, and armed with drop spindles and rovings that Santa brought them for Christmas, these two young ladies were eager to learn a new skill, and I was eager to try my hand at teaching them.
my drop spindle, given to me by my Auntie Meg several years ago
It’s amazing how simple spinning technology can be. If you are at all interested in creating fantastic, unique yarns, a drop spindle is a tool that you might want to try out. Wool-Tyme sells them in Kingston. I’m sure they are also available from many online distributors. Ask at your local wool store, they may have ideas about where to find them.
The nice thing about using a drop spindle is that it is portable. all you need is a bit of roving, and you can spin it while you are sitting down, or even standing up!
look at her go!
I haven’t tried bringing my spindle with me to waiting rooms, or on the bus…but I have so much fleece to deal with, I might think about it! I did take my spindle to camp with me, and in one week I had spun enough fleece to make this unique hat…but that will be another story for another day.
spindle spun wool, dyed with kool-aid and food colouring
After just two hours Nicole and Candra were able to spin fairly consistent singles (one ply), and then they learned to ply them to make a lovely two-ply yarn. This roving was dyed with kool-aid and food colouring, a rather fun process. I wonder what they will make from it.
We were quite a sight to see I suppose…not many café tables end up looking like this! The lovely people at the Sleepless Goat were very interested in what we were doing, and asked us all about knitting and spinning. I think they are a very fiber friendly establishment!
a bit of a mess!
I have since heard that the big ball of purple roving is almost gone, so I’m going to card some of my big bag of fleece for them. This is part of my scheme of stash reduction–spread the spinning addiction, and give them all some fleece!
