You might remember that last winter I picked up an old spinning wheel from the local classifieds super cheap. It was really more of an exercise in “someday, I’ll…” than any real drive to begin spinning. I went to a meeting of the local Spinners & Weavers Guild, took one lonely lesson with one of the wonderful ladies, and then found out that I was pregnant with A. For those first couple of months, pretty much ALL of my hobbies went to the wayside and I slept a lot. After that, I was preoccupied with knitting sweet little baby items and my lonely ol’ wheel sat in the corner of a spare bedroom and collected dust.
Spinning is really just an excuse to love colour; to experience colour.
Over the past few months, spinning and I have begun to spend a lot more time together. I haven’t gone for another lesson, but started fumbling my way through with what I remembered from that first lesson, and some great tutorials on YouTube. At that first lesson, the woman who was teaching me recommended a couple of sources for cheap fiber that would be great to learn on. I took her advice, and purchased some.
It was wool, and while I admit that I’m a huge sucker for wool (in fact, I muchmuchmuch prefer wool to acrylic and cotton yarns), when I tried spinning it, I ran into the same problem I ran into when I really started knitting: I’m sort of a snob. Not in the sense that I look down on people for their own choices, but I, myself, much prefer to work with what a lot of people refer to as “snobby” materials. Though I recognize that all fibres have a place in the fibre community, they’re just not all for me.
I’d simply come to the same conclusion regarding spinning fibre that I had regarding my yarn preferences. I shouldn’t have been shocked; when I first branched out into the Wide World of Wool a few years ago, I was pretty shocked to see that “wool” wasn’t really just “wool” at all. In fact, “wool” soon became synonymous with “erin loves”. So, shortly after realizing that I wasn’t a huge fan of the “learning fibre” I’d bought to practice on, I recalled that I had purchased a braid of handpainted roving from an etsy seller I’m fond of that I had been hoarding away for when I was a “good” spinner.
One day, I said to hell with it, and pulled out the good stuff. What a difference that made. Using a fibre that was beautiful, soft, and really just fun made the experience so much more enjoyable that I started buying up beautiful fibres and never looked back. As the woman who owns a local yarn shop told me when I brought her my second skein of handspun to share my excitement “there’s no such thing as an ugly handspun”; they’re simply unique.
Now, I’m sure everyone has a wool experience that is less than stellar. Maybe an old sweater, or a vest from forever-ago, and it made you think that wool = horriblescratchygarmentofdeath. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve got news for you:
Today’s wool ain’t your grandmama’s itchy, scratchy, rustic wool of yesteryear.
(Well, I mean, it isn’t always your grandmama’s wool. Even rustic wools have their place in my heart.) There’s so many varieties that are really quite the opposite; they’re more the strip down and roll in me naked kind of wools. Blend one of those softer wools (like, say, merino) with silk? Delicious. Bamboo? Also delicious! Cashmere? I’m happier than a teenage girl with a shirtless, sparkly vampire. That’s my weakness.
Blend merino with silk AND cashmere? That's my ambrosia - edible or not!
The funny thing? I have an infant. I live in the oilpatch. I spend most of my time in jeans and simple tops, but show me a luxury fibre or yarn and my brain just doesn’t care. That’s my indulgence. I don’t buy expensive coffee all that often, I don’t get my nails done, or spend much on clothes for myself (though, I will admit I’m long overdue for a post-partum shopping trip); I buy inappropriately gorgeous yarn and fiber, love it out of its mailing envelope, photograph it for posterity, and hoard it away in bins wait patiently until the perfect project comes along.
And then, I love it all over again.
These are a pair of shorts for A and also a test knit for Marilyn of 
