This is the first ever spinning on my new Turkish drop spindle bought for me as a ‘special’ birthday present. I am finding the spinning challenging but really a beautiful experience to take the time to learn to work with these fluffy fibres and turn them into yarn to work with for my weaving. I am enjoying getting to know the different fleece structures and the way they spin. Its slow and contemplative, I can’t think of anything else and so quite meditative in experience. I love working with the drop spindle as its a very simple tool and in essence so is the process but I have set myself the task of spinning for 20 minutes every day as I really think the only way to learn is to get on with it and if things go wrong (and they do) then I just have to try and solve the problem. I am trying not to be too hard on myself when I get a thick bit and then a thin piece but I have realised looking at other hand spinners that this is just the way things are even with the very experienced hand spinners. Off to do my 20 minutes now.
