I’ve been busy hand spinning like crazy since January 6. After getting a blizzard that dropped 17 inches of snow, being essentially snowed-in, and not seeing many people for weeks, I’ve finished spinning a few hanks of yarn! I’ve been overzealous putting in effort to make daily spinning a habit, and now “I’m snowed” under, as the British would say.

On the topic of how to form a new habit, I’ve read here and there that if you practice something new every day for 30 days (if you miss a day, don’t miss consecutive days), it will become a habit. There’s also those nebulous rules like “21/90 rule”, where it takes 21 days to make a habit and 90 days to make it a lifestyle change. Apparently there are also the 4 stages of building a habit! Whatever, I’ve built a habit my own way, mixed in with a little addiction.

Forming the Habit

Between Hubby, the blizzard, my spinning mentor, Liese, and the Jillian Eve YouTube channel, I managed to finally learn to spin. Forming the daily habit of spinning was made easier because Hubby brought my spinning wheel into our dining room, which is near to the kitchen, for easy access. I think the location of the wheel itself is a game changer. (It was up a flight of stairs before and I would have to be super intentional to go sit in front of it to try to spin.)

Hand spinning is somehow cathartic and very soothing for me, which makes it a great coping mechanism. I also quickly got addicted. As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt like I had discovered fire! It became a goal to see how small of a yarn weight I could spin. Several ladies on social media warned I might never be able to spin a fat, floofy yarn ever again and to enjoy my “art yarn” era!

I’ve missed a day or two over the past few weeks, but I just try to spin as much as I can each day, even if it’s just for 20 minutes or only plying yarn. I’ve been putting tags on each hank, cataloging the yarns in Ravelry, and watching a million YouTube videos. I went back through the first few failed rovings/combed top that I tried to spin and fixed the tangles into yarn. I have tried to learn something new about spinning each day. Each new yarn I attempted was a lesson in trying to make a smaller weight yarn, increase the twist, ply better, try a different breed of wool, create a certain type of yarn, etc.

I’ve Spun Most of the Roving/Combed Top In My Stash

In the beginning, I spun the practice merino combed top included with the spinning wheel. My first yarn, a barber pole motif, was made from half of that merino combed top and half dyed Gulf Coast roving/locks I had laying around. I then rounded up all of the different colored dyed Gulf Coast combed top that I could find (I scoured the house) to make a second barber pole yarn. Then I attempted, and conquered, spinning my arch nemesis, the Shepherd’s Cross roving, which I had hand-dyed in a virtual class years ago. That roving that I kept trying to learn to spin on, which I had slightly felted during the dyeing process. The roving that kept tripping me up and making me quit trying to learn to spin in disgust! What a road block that fiber was! All of a sudden, I was out of roving/combed top.

When I Realized I Was Out of Combed Top…

When I realized I was out of combed top/roving, I almost panicked! I told myself, “To the combs, Wench!” I was also out of dyed locks. Time to wash and dye locks so I could design a yarn.

I decided to wash a pound of wool and dye a colorway I was infatuated with back in my teens; emerald green, maroon, and goldenrod, all in the same crockpot at the same time. As I laid all the dyed wool out to dry, I felt like I was creating abstract art and that I need not even spin a yarn out of the wool; it was beautiful as-is! So many new colors in between had been created. I couldn’t wait to get started combing!

Getting From Dyed Locks To Combed Top

Most spinners purchase these thick commercial braided combed top colorways from festivals, fiber shows, hand dyers, yarn stores, etc. I don’t have that luxury. If I want a braid, I have to make it out of the wool off the back of one of my sheep! Not only does it take a lot of work to get the wool off the sheep, washed/scoured, and dried, it takes a while to get from dyed locks to combed top! I feel like spinning takes the least amount of time. Combing wool is the most labor intensive step for me. (Next, I need to try combing undyed wool, making it into combed top, and then dyeing the braid.)

Spinning My First Fractal/Variegated Yarn

Initially, I made the braid above, but then I realized I needed to make each color into smaller amounts, but repeat them. So, I put it back on the hackle, split it into smaller portions of each color, and dizzed the combed top off again. I spun that into single ply on one bobbin.

Then I combed a lot of solid goldenrod, maroon, and green wool locks into single colored roving/combed top. I then spun that into single ply on a separate bobbin. Maroon, green, goldenrod, over and over, until I had roughly the same amount of single ply as the first bobbin.

I can’t split my roving/combed top down the middle easily like a commercial braid. Instead, I ended up using the hackle to load the dyed fiber in a certain pattern and dizzing a narrow piece of roving or I end up using a lot of small pieces of different solid-color rovings and making a lot of joins while spinning. I’m sure there are other ways to accomplish this, but this is how I randomly made the goldenrod, maroon, and green yarn below. I sort of winged it and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t recreate this if I tried. It also didn’t turn out how I envisioned it at all! Ha! Too much orange. (I think I forgot how much orange and yellow was in the braid originally…) It was a huge learning experience for me. It’s my first 100% Gulf Coast yarn!

Am I Addicted To Making Yarn?

It was in between spinning my third and fourth yarn that I started not being able to sleep because I was thinking so hard about wool, locks, dyeing, and yarn. I was dreaming about making yarn. All I thought about was making yarn! I’m not as intense now. I am more calm and collected now, but I’m just as addicted to making yarn. My next yarn will be all about length. I need to make many, many yards…