Dear readers, could I please ask you to bear with me?
I do know blog overload when I see it, and so do you of course - so do just passed on by when it all gets too much. I won’t mind at all.
The one thing I have never had difficulty in learning, is how to learn. Information gathering is second nature, and analysis and reflection come as easily to me as breathing. Often when I’m learning, I stop to think out loud. When I was doing my degree and my Masters, I always learned far more from the assessment writing than I ever did in doing the structured learning prior to the assessment. Frequently I take the trouble to document my thoughts or discoveries. I have insights when I write my thoughts down. Better quality thoughts arise from the act of writing, if you like (though not always evident in public, I’ll admit) Or I will ask questions, test theories, talk it though with somebody - usually my long-suffering partner - who may well know nothing about the subject but still helps enormously by being my sounding board. I find that when thoughts are articulated, they bring more thoughts from hidden places, scurrying after them into the daylight. In short, blogging my progress is entirely natural to me as part of this process of reflection. I am, have always been, will always be… a reflective practitioner.
For a long time, I thought this was the way that everybody learned; when I had to teach reflective learning to students I very quickly learned that this process does not come easily to everybody and can in fact be completely alien to some individuals’ natures. So I do know that while I am doing what comes entirely naturally to me, some readers may find me completely, totally, barking mad. Some may even find me obsessive. Sorry about that. I’m not changing now. You can always read a less verbose blog 
And now to business
I have completed the spinning of the first bag of Cheviot and I now need to open a second bag in order to have two bobbins with equal amounts for plying. Here’s a few thoughts:
- I still have problems getting the hands, the foot, and the brain all to work independently: if I want my hands to work faster, I find my foot is working faster too.
- I am much more relaxed now: spinning is easier when relaxed
- I have already developed some instinct/empathy with the fibre in hand
- Commercially prepared fibre smells somewhat prettier than raw fleece
- And faster, much faster, (and cleaner!) to work with
- But I find spinning raw fleece to be essentially more rewarding, more grounded… more in touch with past ages.
- There is room for both raw and prepared fibre in my life - rather like needing both a mindless piece of stocking stitch in my knitting bag, alongside a more cerebral piece of lace knitting.
The Draw
When I was first shown how to spin, I concluded that the left-hand both pinched the thread and drew the fibre: I was forward drawing. Once I had done enough spinning to be able to apply some analysis to it, I picked up a couple of books to read. In these books I read that in fact, the right hand should be drawing the fibre back, using the left-hand pinch as an anchor. I worked quite hard at getting the hang of this, having by now done enough spinning to get in the habit of a forward draw. I reached the stage where I was consistently using a backwards draw. Hurrah! And then…
…when I tried spinning the Merino roving, I found the backward draw was nigh impossible - and I very quickly re-adapted to the forward draw, finding this a far more successful process. It was all very conscious.
With the Cheviot, it has been far less conscious and much more instinctive, but I see that I’ve adopted a backwards and forwards simultaneous draw. So I tried forwards, and that made a slight mess. Then I tried backwards, and made a little less mess. When I returned to a simultaneous backwards and forwards draw, I still made a bit of a mess. When I became distracted, and was talking to somebody while I was spinning, then things evened up again. I deduce from this that the act of spinning is becoming unconscious and ingrained, and that I am also instinctively adapting to the individual fibre. This is all very positive and hopeful!
Conclusion: there isn’t a right way, a wrong way, or any one way to do it and adaptation to the task in hand seems to be the preferred mode of operation.
Shopping
I’ve ordered a niddy noddy off eBay. It’s just to put me on: one day, I will have the handmade cherrywood brass-fitted marvel that I dream of. For the time being, it’s a Kromski.
Ashford bobbins are a whacking £6.20 each, for not very much of anything at all. The current challenge is to work out a method of DIY bobbin production. If anybody knows of an Ashford-compatible bobbin sold at reasonable prices in multi-pack lots, maybe - please do let me know. I’m up for 6, at least
