Saturday 8 December 2012

In the Pink

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I've been a good girl at practising my spinning (it's no hardship - I love it) and I think I'm improving all the time. Funnily enough it's the expensive merino roving that is giving me the hardest time - either it sticks together like glue and I cannot draft it for love nor money, or it just falls apart and the bobbin spins wildly as the last piece of fluff whizzes round like a big fluffy feather...

8.12.12

Good to be patient - I just join on a new piece and carry on.

I can spin quite thin yarn now, but I am not very consistent.  I still get some very twisty bits, but I just stop, untwist a bit and reel them onto the bobbin again.  Not sure if this is the accepted method.

I get about an hour per lesson, but my teacher is self-taught and doesn't actually explain anything.  She is a bit scornful of my looking things up on the Net, but what else can I do? It was good to have her there when I needed to watch what she did, but she never explained exactly what was going on or even told me the names of the parts of the wheel.  As an adult I think I need a framework to learn on with that kind of thing explained.  She usually teaches children and I think they learn purely by watching and doing.

So far I have had 2 lessons and they are full of interruptions - in the last one a neighbour (slightly mad old French woman) came round with a box of washing powder for Bente and an argument ensued while Bente told her she didn't want the powder and the woman said she should have it because she had helped her with something... 

Old people - I'm never going to be like that :-)

Next week's lesson (Tuesday again) is to be at a shop in Bellac where Bente is taking her turn as a member of the spinning association who have been loaned the premises under the Bellac 'Vitrines en Fete' initiative. This is basically to try and give some life to empty shops in the town and this is the first time it has taken place at Christmas, I think.  I am a bit irritated that I pay for a lesson and my teacher is not giving me one-to-one attention.

Still, this is the last lesson and after this I guess it's just practise, practise, practise...

I'm thinking of plying this bobbin with some thread rather than another bobbin, as I am running out of roving. It's an expensive business!  And I still have no idea what I will do with the finished rather *cough* colourful result.


3 comments:

Annie said...

It's looking good Penny. Think I would just crochet a rug on a really big crochet hook...colours or thickness wouldn't be so important and what pleasure you would have to watch it grow :-)
Hugs,
A x

Floss said...

What an interesting experience! The way you tell it, the irritating 'asides' make it even more colourful, but I can quite see why you feel that you're being short-changed. I've spun on a spindle (badly) but wouldn't dare on a wheel - I await more of your adventures in spinning with interest!

Babajeza said...

You always surprise me! Well done. Enjoy your last lesson. Regula