My sister taught me how to knit sometime around my fifth year of life. I learned to crochet when I was maybe ten. I still remember the vest I made. It was orange and didn't fit very well. I have always enjoyed needlework. The satisfaction of creating a useful object with my own hands is sometimes more than I can bear.
We started making hats and whatnots a couple of years ago. I was using purchased yarn from Bartlett's Yarns in Harmony, Maine. Everything was going along fine but I wanted my product to be different. I started working on my own patterns. I work in a stream of conscience fashion. I make a start and see where my needles will take me. The more I follow the stream the more interesting a creation will become.
I don't know about the rest of the world but, I find purchased yarns to be incredibly boring. The same all the time, each round not very interesting.
About two years ago we went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine. This fair is dedicated to all things organic, animals, handcrafts etc. I happened upon a woman who was giving a demonstration with a drop spindle. I guess she changed my life. The next thing I knew I was spinning little balls of yarn. Drop spindles are quite slow and I like to produce mass quantities. Peter sent away for a spinning wheel kit, put it together, and a spinner was born. Of course, my first yarns were way less than perfect. I still have a ball of my very first hand spun yarn. I like to see how much I've improved.
Needless to say, I no longer am bored by my fiber. If nothing else, I feel intense satisfaction using my own hand spun yarns.
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