OHS Level I – Small Article and Drop Spindle

I’m a little late with posting this, but this is about the latest assignment I sent off. Of course I forgot to take photos of my setup, but I’ll add that later on if I remember. This is the final spinning assignment for Level I. Now I have a paper and a grading chart left to do before I start Level II in August. I’m so excited!!!

Drop Spindle

I was given this beautiful cherry drop spindle for my birthday. After using this, I love it ALMOST as much as I love my wheel. I really do love how portable it is. Anyway, we are supposed to spin a sample skein on our spindles for one part of our assignment.

My beloved spindle and carded Blue Faced Leicester

We’re still working with woollen, so that means our yarn has to be light and fluffy. What I didn’t know is that when spinning a woollen yarn from roving, it is best to card them into rolags. That helps add more air and keep the yarn light and fluffy.

Andean plying on the drop spindle

The photo above i showing Andean plying. It’s were you wrap the singles you just spun onto your wrist. It then enables you to pull from both ends of the singles in order to ply the yarn.

Small Article

I figured the best way to show my process for the small article I made was to set up a slide show.

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I spun this yarn z/s (which is opposite of most “go-to” traditional yarn). I had read and heard from various sources that spinning this way was better for crochet projects. Even though I’m sure I would have spun a prettier, neater yarn if I went with the go-to method, I wanted to test this theory out. I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity I have now of getting feedback from those who know best. With yarn spun this way, it does not lose its twist when you’re crocheting, unlike yarn spun the other way. While I was working, I did find that my hook didn’t get caught like it normally does. This is a method I want to work with more so I can find out for myself.

The results of the slide show above:

The hat that I made with handspun/dye Corriedale fleece

So now we wait. These assignments have been sent off and I’m awaiting to see what my results are. I’m thrilled with how both projects turned out.

If you would like to make your own hat as picture above, you can get the pattern here, but Thread Softly.

Spindle Assignment – The Process

Continuing on with the assignments, I’m now onto the spindle portion. A year ago this would have scared the bejeepers out of me. Not anymore. I wrote about my drop spindle victory last summer.

I’m far from perfect, but I’ve really come to enjoy it.

I will be spinning some Blue Faced Leicester. I LOVE this wool! It’s so soft. I just hope my spindling can do it justice.

I carded the roving first to add some air to it (thanking my sister from another mister for that suggestion!). I need all the help I can get!

So I’m off to spin some fluffy woollen yarn.

My beloved spindle and carded Blue Faced Leicester

Day 15 – I survived!

First of all, I want to take this chance to thank my Mom for helping me so much. I don’t know if she’ll ever read this, but I’m going to write this just the same. If it wasn’t for her, there is NO WAY I could do this course. She picks little man up from daycare when I have to stay late. She feeds him supper and gets him ready for bed for when I arrive to pick him up. Yesterday when I was so sick, she showed up on my doorstep with some cough syrup and vapor rub on her way to get little man. She told me to call her when I woke up. I called her at 9:45. She ended up keeping little man overnight. As much as I miss little man, I really did need the uninterrupted sleep. Tuesday night when the cough really hit me, I was talking to her on the phone. She asked me if I had any cough syrup, which I did not. Since we’re in a small town, the stores close at 6. She drove 20 minutes to my place around 9:30 at night just to bring me some cough syrup, some pop and cough drops even though I told her I would be okay. So I want to say…

THANK YOU MOM!!!!!

My presentation went as well as could be expected. Actually, I need to raise my expectations because I think it went better than I had expected. My voice was really raspy and I lost it a couple of times due to my cough, but I got through it. Thank goodness!

I have to say that I am VERY grateful that Patricia recognized that I did everything I could do in my power to be there and complete everything. I really do put my all in. A lot of times in the past, that has not been recognized. Normally I don’t care what others think of my effort. As long as I can look myself in the mirror and know I did my best, that’s all that matters. But when it comes to being graded, that is one time that matters. Well, sort of.

A classmate said something to me this week that sat really well with me. She said that when it comes down to it, as long as we pass, our grades don’t matter. She pointed out that when we go out looking for jobs or starting our own businesses, people aren’t going to care what our marks were in Art History or Weaving or Spinning. With that said, that’s not an open invite to slack off. But it was a really valid point and a rather large stress reliever. Thank you, Anneke 🙂