Since Mother Eve in the Garden long ago

The other day I borrowed my stepmother-to-be's mother's Ashford spinning wheel, and tonight I plied my first yarn on it! I honestly do think I could spin crewel wools, if I had better roving (I'm using the Polypay Dad gave me for Christmas, so I can get through it while I'm not as good - it's meat-sheep wool, very coarse and rough). Spinning is so fast compared to using the drop spindle, it's amazing, I can only imagine being a medieval lass using a treadle wheel for the first time. The descriptions of Daughters of Liberty spinning zillions of skeins a day finally make sense to me.

Also: BAMBER ON HOUSE.

Last weekend there was a fiber fest at the local fairgrounds, and it was pretty amazing. Lots of booths from farms both local and (relatively) distant, but I only had eyes for the roving. I meant to get a small amount of some kind of specialty stuff, eventually deciding on a yak/silk blend, only to find that I had no idea where I'd seen it. I wandered around for a bit and then gave up. But I did buy a 4oz bag of blue-dyed Cormo top roving, and I've started spinning it and I love it. Before, I'd only spun with Polypay wool, which is terrible - what is Polypay, you ask, as it sounds like a chemical compound? I have been asking myself the same thing for six months, and I finally googled it. Apparently the Polypay is a four-way cross-breed (ooer) created in the 1970s to be a better meat/lamb producer; "poly" for being made from multiple breeds, "pay" because it's profitable. Not known for its wool. So that is something.

Anyway, now I've become enthralled by the idea of spinning wool embroidery thread. I want a spinning wheel! The trouble is that they're very expensive, so I'm keeping my eyes on eBay to try to catch a bargain on a used one.