{Photo by Stephanie.}
It's only natural that the first question I hear after mentioning to anyone that we have sheep is, "do you spin?" Of course, my answer is, "not yet". I've never spun - not on a wheel, not even on a drop spindle. I love handknits, I can knit, and I love sheep, and seem so far to be able to care for them. So I've got the 'ends' covered of this whole process, but there's a gap there in the middle. Making yarn. From shearing to carding and cleaning to spinning - it's all new to me. I guess you could say that everything thus far is operating on faith - that after all this work and effort and time and money and space for the sheep - I'm going to love spinning. It just seems like the kind of safe bet on myself that I'm willing to make.
I'm generally a read it in a book, try it alone in a quiet room kind of a learner. But I haven't wanted to do that with spinning. I want to learn it slowly, from the women who already love it.
WIthin moments of saying hello to Denny at Squam, she declared, "We're going to get you SPINNING by the end of the week."
And that she did. Clunky me, on a drop spindle, with the funnniest looking "yarn" I've ever seen....but oh, it's lovely (the process, not the result). Holding that fleece in my hand, I'm beginning to get the most basic understanding of how it happens and what it feels like. (Heaven.)
After one last porch sit to be sure I got it, she sent me on my merry way back to Maine with spindles and fleece for my littles and I to play with. And with instruction to visit this little one, Maggie Smith, for inspiration. Love.
I feel giddy with the excitement of a new craft. You know that feeling? The basket of fleece calls out to me from each corner of the room where I last left, and when my hands are idle I just want desperately to touch it. The fiber is working its way into my dreams.
There's a drum carder on order, some calls into my local spinning group to say hello, and I'm thinking Cinnamon is ready for shearing.
I love a good beginning...
