At Stitches West 2006, I watched a demonstration of spindle spinning and I was intrigued.  On the recommendation of the demonstrator, I bought a bottom whorl spindle and some sample roving.

After trying to teach myself how to spin without success for a year, I signed up for the “Spinning For Knitters” class at Stitches West 2007. I decided that if I couldn’t learn how to spin in this class that I would give up spinning and move onto something else.

We learned to spin on top whorl spindles in the class. That’s when I realized that part of my problem was that I didn’t grok the bottom whorl spindle; the top whorl worked for me.

My first attempts actually looked like yarn…not the best yarn on the planet, but definitely yarn. I was hooked!

• On the left is the first yarn we made in class, a brown and white yarn (Coopworth wool).
• In the center is the second yarn we made, a multicolored yarn (Romney wool).
• On the spindle is a Tussah silk yarn that we started in class.
• On the right is a rust yarn (wool type unknown) that I spun on 2/25/2007  to keep in practice.

I bought a roving sampler at the Stitches West Market and worked my way through that.

Then I tried larger pieces of roving…getting better.

I started my first “real” spinning project using the spindle…better still!

I came into a little extra cash, and I bought a spinning wheel. It was love at first sight.

My first spinning on the wheel looked good; I just needed more practice on plying.

My next attempt was so much better! It is another Corriedale handspun, 152 yds., 2-ply.

The rest is history!