Just Spin me Up....

This past weekend DH and I took a little trip up to the John C. Campbell Folk School where I had signed us up back in May for a couple of fun classes. DH got to hike the Appalachian Trail with a guide for his class and I learned to spin wool to yarn on a drop spindle and on the wheel.

Over the weekend I produced around 50 yards from the drop spindle and more than 50 yards on the Majacraft spinning wheel (picture below). From this I plied the two single spun yarns together into a 50 yard finished product. Now it just needs to have the fibers set and I can choose to dye it or just go ahead and knit with it.

Also during this class we learned to select wool freshly shorn from a dealer, how to tell what is not useable at all and should be discarded, and then how to wash and dry the yarn so it is ready to be picked and carded. The gray ball of fiber in the previous photo is what we picked and processed the final two steps of getting the wool ready to spin. The other is picture of the others in the class spinning on their wheels.

This is where the spinning classes were held.

This is from one of the trails you could hike at the school.

Over all, this was a very productive and fun weekend. I would highly recommend this place to learn a new craft and to be honest the glass beads done in another class over this weekend were to die for. Too bad the camera was in the car by then. :)