Katie Learns to Spin

When Ari and I took a road trip last summer, we acquired a spinning wheel along the way, which Ari's stepmom generously gave to me when I told her that I've always wanted to get into spinning. It's hard to be a knitter/fiber artist without wanting to get into it. 

Isn't she beautiful?? Since we dragged her across the country however, her main function has been to sit in the corner of the living room looking handsome and gathering dust, since I have been unable to find the time to devote to it in the craziness that is full time school. Finally, this weekend I had my first informal spinning lesson, and took off from there in an excited frenzy. I'm not a master yet, but I'm getting the hang of it! My yarn is still pretty lumpy and inconsistent, but I'm still learning. 

 

Not long after I had produced a few small balls of yarn did I proceed to figure out how to dye them. The internet told me that a fun way to dye wool is with Kool-Aid. So that's what I did! I followed this tutorial.

Essentially, you just put the Kool-Aid in a pot of water (I learned that the water to dye ratio isn't what's important, it's the dye to yarn ratio. The yarn will soak up the same amount of dye no matter the amount of water) and heat it until it almost boils, and then turn it off and let it sit covered in the hot water for at least half an hour. Then you rinse it (in hot water gently so as not to felt it) and squeeze it out and hang it to dry. Easy!

Presto! Permanently colorful, fruit-smelling, uneven, homespun yarn! I'm sure I'll think of something to make with it. Stay tuned for further spinning experiments, and more details about the spinning process. Also, did I mention that I'm having SO much fun with this???