After the urge to spin had set in, I actually went and bought myself an Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. Then I promptly freaked out because I'd spent that much money on something that was basically a gamble - a gamble that I'd
a) Pick up spinning on a wheel faster than on a drop spindle, and
b) Learn to spin well enough to start selling my own yarns.
Fortunately, I know my limits pretty well. Some things, like precalculus and basic chemistry, I just could not "get" and probably never will, no matter how hard I try (and believe me, I did try). Textiles are one area in which I "get" things very quickly; just give me a decent teacher or book to go on, and with a few days of practice, I'll have the basics down. Which is why I'm hoping to make a living as a textile artist rather than something more lucrative that I would be terrible at.
At any rate, I have found a new passion! I spun a couple of practice yarns (the dark blue and red-orange skeins) and now have my first art yarn in my shop (the green one, here). As we speak, I have a similar skein in shades of blue hanging up to dry, and I can't wait to get started on my next yarn, whatever it may be.
