A little bit of research and taking a leap.

I always like to make do a bit of reading when I am starting something new. I watched a few youtube videos to actually get me spinning but they never really teach you anything more than the basics and I like history and whys and wherefores.

So when I got my wheel I also got a couple of books and, one of them is called “Yarn.I.tec.ture by Jillian Moreno” and it has been a wonderful help to me. At first I was a little worried it would be too advanced for me as it does warn that you should be able to spin but actually it has been great. It really breaks down what happens if you do certain things and why, which is key for making things stick with me. Lots of places tell you to do a certain things to achieve a certain result but they don’t say why and I hate that, I like to know why I am doing something.

Anyway, so far I have managed to achieve a pretty consistent and balanced yarn but it’s not nearly as fine as I want it yet but last night I was sat reading about ratios. I never thought ratios were going to make sense to me, it like weird language or 16:1 or 24:1 and I just nod along and carry on with what I am doing. However after reading about it in Yarn.I.tec.ture I now get it! It also helped me understand why I’m not getting the fine yarn I want: I’m not using a high enough ratio.

My flyer has two ratios and I have been using the larger one as it’s slower, which of course, meant I have more time to concentrate on what I am doing but when I started to go too thin my yarn was snapping as it wasn’t getting enough spin. I needed to be brave and change my ratio to allow the spin to enter more quickly so I showed my most recent yarn to some people who know and received lots of compliments and I decided that maybe I actually can do this. I suffer the same lack of confidence that I think most people do but for once I actually think I may have a natural gift for something! And that’s something I never thought I would say in my whole life!

So after a little bit of fiddling my wheel is adjusted to spin faster and I am really loving the thinner yarn I am achieving. It’s snapped on my once but I’m not expecting miracles, just consistency and that I am getting.

Everyone should feel like there is something in their life that they can do and do well, even if it is a skill of little use in our modern society 😀