Crafting in Colorado

One of the stops on my big trip was a visit to my hometown of Boulder, Colorado. I got to spend time with my family, eat lots of my Mom's delicious cooking and see my best pal who recently returned from a Foreign Service tour in Sudan.

And I got to try something new! My mom, who is a crafter extraordinaire, had her spinning wheel out and I got to spend some time with it. (Do you know how hard it was to not type, "take it for a spin"?)

I've always been fascinated by spinning wheels. I remember watching Disney's Sleeping Beauty with rapt attention when she was inexorably drawn toward her slumbering fate but I was much more interested in the spinning wheel than the princess. And spinning wheels have such lovely anatomical names like "maidens" and "mother-of-all" and "the footman." So after finally figuring out the scotch tensioner, I sat down to spin. It was quite tricky and an awful lot like learning to drive a stick shift (although I didn't crash into a gas pump my first time out alone-TRUE STORY!)

Here's my results:


Definitely what on author diplomatically called "novelty yarn". I'm not sure it is knit-able but it was delightful to spin. I think I need to practice more with my drop spindle before my next trip to Colorado.