My year in review

It hardly seems possible that it is New Year's Eve already. Where did the year go? I thought I would take this opportunity to look back on what I accomplished this year and how it fit into my goals.

A year ago my goal was to learn the skills I needed to complete a replica of the triangular Mammen artifacts. The new skill I needed to learn was brocade tablet weaving. I didn't reach that goal, but that doesn't mean I did not grow during the year.

I began the year completing 3 projects for King & Queen's A&S competition. You can see them if you look back in this blog. The embroidery project highlighted the level of my skill in this craft, but didn't push me to learn new stitches or history. I enjoy embroidery, but I am not passionate about it. The most fun was spinning the thread. With the nalbinding project I began to learn how to tease out new information from an artifact. While the period weaving project was really more about testing my hypotheses about spun thread, I also began to learn about the relationship between the weaving and the thread, and what that means for the finished cloth.

Much of my time during the year was spent spinning and knitting my mother's cashmere scarf. That was a joy to create. I increased my skill at spinning short staple fiber, and greatly improved my knitting skill.

I spent the year seeking new fibers to spin, and to date have played with 25 animal fibers, plus silk. This taught me a lot about how the different characteristics of the breeds impact how they are spun. My skill as a spinner improved as I learned to confidently manipulate different staples lengths, crimpiness, slipperiness, etc. I no longer have a "favorite breed" - I like them all.

In the summer, I was invited to present my period spinning research at the 2013 International Congress on Medieval Studies, at Western Michigan University. (It's a bit scary, but I'm excited, too.) Much of my time in the fall was spent spinning to fill in gaps in my research, and beginning to re-write my paper for an academic audience. I am looking forward to meeting Gail Owen Crocker (the moderator for my session), and I hope to have an opportunity to talk to her about the Mammen artifacts.

The one thing I did this year toward my original goal was to take a brocade tablet weaving class at Hrim Schola. While this class taught me the basics of what I need to know, perhaps the most important thing I learned was that there are many people in the SCA who are passionate about tablet weaving, and I am not one of them. I suppose I can console myself with the fact that in period it would have been highly unlikely that the same person completed the nalbinding portion of the artifact as completed the tablet weaving part.

Sometimes the path life takes is different than the one expected. That doesn't mean one shouldn't set a destination. There is a reason why I called this blog "the meandering drop spinner." I always set myself a goal, but my curiosity takes me in many directions along the way. It may take me longer to get there, but I generally find I am a better person for having wandered.

Merry Christmas

I love this time of calm - all the presents have been made and distributed. Joyous time spent with family that I don't get to see often enough is now a happy memory. I knit a few more gifts over the past two months, and learned a couple of new techniques...

brioche knitting

and double knitting.

And I made some mittens, a hat and a dog sweater...

 (handspun Jacob & BFL)

The most complex gift was a scarf I made for my mother, at the request of my Dad. It is handspun cashmere, and a challenging lace pattern (the reason why I was learning to knit lace). It took me 6 months to spin and knit.

I think everyone liked their gifts as much as I enjoyed making them.

Now I've started a new spinning project. But more about that in the new year. To anyone who reads my blog, I wish you peace.

Drop spinning

When I was first learning to spin on a drop spindle, I was told that once I was able to control my drafting, I would find my natural gauge - the size of yarn my hand would tend to naturally make. Instead, I found the key to making any size thread or yarn I needed.

That "natural gauge" is more a matter of the optimum gauge for the spindle in use than it is the natural gauge for the spinner. Some people only like to make one thing, and they have found a spindle and spinning technique that fits their need. I have a friend who's favorite thing is to knit gossamer weight lace shawls. She has no need to spin anything but an extremely fine thread. Her spindles are small and light, which makes the spinning easy. If she had a heavy spindle, it would be much more difficult for her to make those gossamer threads.

I prefer variety. Some days I want to spin a fine thread to try my hand at weaving or lace knitting or embroidery. Some days I want to spin a thicker yarn to nalbind a warm hat. I choose my spindle accordingly - light and compact for a fine thread; a heavier rim-weighted spindle for a bulky yarn. A few of my spindles are versatile enough to make a wide range of gauges.

I learned to spin on a modern mid-weight (just under an ounce) rim-weighted spindle. It's perfect for making a DK weight yarn, and will spin a nice sock yarn or even a heavier worsted yarn. I spun happily, making scarves and mittens with my yarn, until the day I got an antique whorl. Suddenly, everything I thought I knew about spinning went out the window.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not make a thread. That "natural gauge" was gone. In fact, I was trying too hard. What was required to spin with that whorl was a gentle touch and finer drafting. Spinning a thread of 28 wraps per inch instead of 17 wraps per inch, that spindle would hum. I could efficiently make thread all day long. And it was a thread perfectly suited to making cloth. What could be more natural?

So, don't get stuck in a rut - play with your spindles and see what they are capable of. Push your spindle to its limits. For me, that play time opened up a whole new world of possibilities.