Spin Me Right Around

I don’t know whether it’s the influence of the spinning book and DVD recently reviewed on the site, or the Eastside Spinnersguild, but I’ve become obsessed with spinning again.  Specifically, on my charka.

It’s a Bosworth book charka, and I haven’t spun on it in about four years.  But when I was picking a wheel to take to the spin-in this past Saturday, it was the one I grabbed.

It’s ultra-portable, and since Kai was going with me (part of a plan to give Eric extra writing time to finish up his latest novel) I figured the less gear I was taking with me, the better.

I had forgotten how fun it is to spin cotton.  You cradle the fiber as gently as you would a newborn baby bird, pull back and let the twist pull the fibers into a line, then pinch the end and pull to attenuate, putting in tons of twist.

Watching the yarn even out in this last step of the long draw is somewhat magical: lumps and bumps drift apart and become smooth.  At the end (if you do it right) you have an even and super-fine yarn.

Living out in the boonies, I don’t often get the chance to socialize live and in-person with fiber folk.  So it was a treat to hang out with a lively and interesting group of spinners.  (That’s only half of them, the whole group is twice as fabulous.)

Kai eventually got bored with helping turn the charka’s wheel, and so I gave him my cell phone and he wandered around taking pictures of things he found interesting.  Which is why this post has pictures (I was too busy spinning to take any) and why they’re all from a four-foot-tall perspective, in case you were wondering…

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His definition of what was interesting at the coffee shop went beyond mere fiber.

And speaking of things that spin right around (say at about 1000 miles per hour) Happy Earth Day!

I’m off to celebrate by spinning some lovely organic cotton.

Please share your thoughts: I enjoy your comments and feedback!