My First Skein

I encourage you all to go over to the Yarn Museum, where you will find a picture of my handspun in the 'First Skein' gallery. There are also some fabulous pictures in the other galleries that are really inspiring me to get spinning!


And since every first skein has a story, I am going to share mine with you.

My first small skein of yarn was several years in the making, starting back during my high school years when my mother bought me a drop spindle and some roving. Being a weaver, she was trying to instill in me her love for fiber--something I didn't truly understand until I picked up knitting in college. This summer, bored between knitting projects, I asked my mother to send me my old drop spindle (which had mysteriously made its way into her stash) so I could learn how to spin again. It took me a week or two to spin through the original roving she had given me, and I was hooked. The picture above highlights a few strands of my first skein, with all of its inconsistences and character. I love the close-up shot of the yarn because you can see the color contrast and clearly tell that I was not a very even spinner when I first picked up the spindle.

Since my first skein a few months ago, I have spindle spun several ounces of wool, from a beautiful blue/green BFL worsted weight to a fingering weight Merino Superwash in browns/pinks/purples that I am currently working on. I now have a few more spindles, on loan from my mother, and a refurbished Louet S10 wheel which I received as an early Christmas present. Once the last part for the wheel comes in, I cannot wait to use it!

I am really looking forward to more spinning in my future, and hopefully, some of my next skeins will be good enough to enter into other galleries of the Yarn Museum. Or at least good enough for some enjoyable knitting.