Spinning is a Slippery Slope

I wish I had more than just this photo to share with you from our Urban Farmgirls gathering last night because there were spindles and fleece flying everywhere. Knittymama taught us to spin using a drop-spindle and we had so much fun.

(Note to self: Digital camera. Don't leave home without it.)

I was a bit slow with the actually spinning part, as you can see by the miniscule amount of yarn on my spindle (any Knitter will recognize that that's not even the thumb on a mitten). I was too caught up in asking questions:

"So...what does single-ply mean?"

"How do you ply two colors together?"

"What happens if I yank on this fleece?...oh. That's not what I wanted to have happen."

"What animal did this come from and how long was its hair?"

"How was this dyed?"

And then pulling together the connections between this feeble attempt at spinning and all of the hours I've spent with yarn on the other end:

"OH! So this is why my Lamb's Pride Bulky will fall apart when weaving in your ends if pulled too tightly..."

And on, and on.

This Knitter cannot legitimately be called a Spinner yet, but the seed was definitely planted. I told Dan when I left the house last night that I would either come home pissed off that I sucked at it or in love with a new craft that would require a spinning wheel and a new house. I reasoned that I would need a new craft room devoted to spinning should my love be that intense and we don't have room to spare at this address. I would also need a sheep. Maybe an alpaca too.

We are not moving...yet.

There must be something going around with all of the fiber fanatics lately to inspire the Spinning Love because the Purl Bee was even spouting its glory today. I have to go back and re-read this post and click on all of the links for (way too much) information on this fascinating craft. Seriously? A Yarn Museum?
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Future Post:

How Catherine of yogurt & granola, formerly a Museum Professional/Geek, got sucked back into the museum-y world upon hearing about one devoted to yarn. Talk about dream job...