I think this spinning thing could get seriously out of hand. No, really. I spent 5 hours yesterday sitting at the wheel and I can't wait to get finished the chores so I can do it some more today. That, my friends, is a sign of a serious addiction.

I have spent the last three days at work (when my work was done. I could do all my work in 3 days each week and still get it all done) browsing spinning groups on ravelry looking for ideas and helpful hints. Lots of people were spinning their singles with embroidery thread or metallic thread. It looked really interesting and I wanted to try. I took a trip to the craft store and bought a huge bobbin of colored cotton thread (very thick thread, tatting thread) and sat and played with some bright purple and turquoise roving that Kate had lying around. I came up with this. Sorry about the photo but it is unrelentingly gray here today and the light is nonexistent. Flash just washes it out. I'm calling it Kate's Carnival because it reminds me of a carnival. It's probably the most evenly I've spun anything and it's so colorful. I can't wait for Kate to get up so I can show it to her. This is what I started with. The thread colors go from yellow/red to red/blue to blue/green to yellow/red. It made for yarn that is never the same color twice. The roving is a deeper purple and brighter turquoise than the photo shows and I tried to mix the colors and keep them separate at spots to enhance the randomness of the yarn.

I still think uploading your stash and needles to ravelry is a weird thing to do, but I will say that browsing the groups and reading the threads has been very educational. Spinners, like knitters, are so willing to share their secrets and help newbies out. It was fun to play with the different textures of fiber and wind them together to come up with something new and totally my own. Somehow, I remembered that while there are techniques, there are no rules. I could do things my way and as long as I like it, it's all good. Sometimes I need to be reminded of things like that. And I also remembered if I wanted perfect, evenly spun yarn? There is a yarn store a few miles away that will happily take my money as I purchase it. I am (slowly) learning to embrace the imperfections and love my handwork. Someone at work asked why you would go to the trouble to spin your yarn when you could buy it (does this sound familiar?). I said "the same reason I spend 2 weeks and 25 dollars to make a pair of socks when I could buy some for a dollar". You can't explain the satisfaction to someone who does not create anything with their hands.

I'm hopelessly addicted, I tell ya.