In addition to my embroidered work, I spend my evenings tapestry weaving. I find weaving my own project in the evenings so relaxing after a hard day in the studio. Whilst working on my latest piece, I began thinking about how to source suitable yarn (and colours, of course) for my next project. Having studied woven design and always used 100% wool in my weaving, it is natural that I want to continue this. Personally, I don’t like ordering online because I can’t feel the wool or see the colours in daylight (that’s my excuse for wanting to go to a shop) and there aren’t that many specialist wool shops near me. I started thinking and my mind wandered to all the lovely merino wool tops in my studio that is sitting on a shelf. I haven’t done felting in ages and then I thought why not spin my own wool and dye the white with naturally sourced materials.
Spinning wool has always been something that I have wanted to do. Last year a friend of mine showed me how to spin using a drop spindle. With that in mind, I bought a spindle and have spent the last two weeks practising. I know it will take lots of practise and I really admire all the spinners out there.
If there are any spinners who would like to give any advice on technique, please feel free to comment; it will be very much appreciated.
Thank you all for reading. I’m now going to do a lot more practise…
