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A project 19 years in the making

Just how does an obsession start? Sometimes even an offhand mention can cast an inextinguishable spark.


I just finished one of the coolest projects. Ever! The Icicle Hat, knit from yarn I spun myself. The goal was to utilize a plying technique to produce well defined cables, and it seems to have worked. Exciting!

The wool for this project was purchased in January, but it's origins go back a little further than that.

An elementary school friend of mine lived on a farm. In second or third grade, her mom spoke to our class about farm life, and she brought with her a drop spindle. It was huge! A couple feet long with a whorl 6-8 inches across.

While she knew what it was for, it was clear hand spinning was not this woman's passion. She probably had more important things to worry about. Like, raising her kids and running the farm, for instance. Most likely, she wanted some type of visual aid and the spindle was easier to manage than a goat or some other livestock.

I remember wishing she had brought some wool with her. I wanted to see how that thing worked! My little eight-year-old mind just could not comprehend it. From that point on there would be times when I would stop to wonder about the mechanics of a drop spindle.

After my kids were born, and watching TV became ancient history, I took a turn for the nerdy – okay, nerdier – and began listening to knitting podcasts, which sometimes mentioned the glory of hand spinning.  Wondering turned to mentioning aloud, which must have been really annoying, because Darren bought a drop spindle and my first ball of wool for Mother's Day last year.

I learned to spin (and ply and block) via Internet articles and YouTube, and have been obsessed ever since.
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