TURN AROUND

Good soup

I wonder how many people actually fall all the way down the rabbit hole from “I’m gonna take up crochet or knitting” to “a drop-spindle is inexpensive; what if I tried spinning some yarn” to “oh look you can get a rigid heddle loom for less than a new gaming console let’s learn to weave” to “fuck it let’s move to the mountains and raise alpacas”

I was just going to listen to some viking metal and how to learn to needlebind, and then I ended up making iron age clothing for a living.

Just last week I was thinking “Well sheep fleece is cheep and if I learned how to turn it in to yarn myself I could knit with 100% wool instead of plastic. Do I need to remove lanolin before or after the spinning process?”

I went the opposite fbdbbdbdbb I don’t knit or crochet but I’m looking at srop spindles as we speak.

What you need to do is learn to spin and then get a girlfriend who knits or crochets, thereby forming a symbiotic relationship.

I started spinning because I looked at linen fabric and in an inspired burst of hyperfixation I decided I was going to learn how to grow flax, and spin and weave linen. I’ve since been distracted by wool and gathered a dozen fleeces through various backwoods deals, I’m building a table loom, and I’m refurbishing an old semi-automated floor loom.

That was literally my progression. I’m on step 3, but I added a proper spinning wheel in-between the rigid heddle loom and the drop spindle. I think my chances of convincing my spouse to move to the mountains and raise alpaca are fairly slim.

I was literally just at a fiber arts festival this fall in my area and someone doing an alpaca demonstration was talking to those of us hanging around and said “well, you know how it goes, you take up spinning and then you realize you might as well keep some sheep and then you look around and you have 60 animals, right?” And at least 2 dozen people nodded in empathy.