While growing up, my mom had a spinning wheel as a decoration in her living room.  It didn’t have all it’s working parts and was painted black.  I desperately wanted to spin it.  Not actually spin yarn, just to make the wheel turn.  That, however, was forbidden.  As I grew older, the only thing that I thought about when I though about spinning was that it was something little old ladies used to do before commercial yarn became more accessible and they moved on to buying acrylic yarn and knitting toilet paper cozies.

I started knitting scarves when the big fun fur scarf craze was going full force.  After I made those for all my friends and family, it was time to move to something new.  I couldn’t do sweaters because I didn’t want to work with the same color of yarn for the amount of time it takes to make a sweater.   I ended up being a yarn accumulator.  I bought yarn, yarn and more yarn with no particular project in mind, but just because I liked the color or the feel of the yarn.  I realized the yarn I liked the most was yarn with personality such as Colinette Point 5, sari silk yarn and Noro.  It was then I realized that I wanted or maybe even needed to create my own yarn.

The owner of Frog Eye Fibers, Sue Groundwater, not only had the best yarn shop around, but she was also a spinner.   When she showed me her garage full of fiber, I felt positively giddy.  I knew that spinning was for me.  Happily, for Christmas in 2007, my husband bought me my Louet S51 and an all day lesson.  She started me on a plain brown wool.  I understood her reasoning, but it was so boring.  Most of the brown wool I left her store with is still in the bag.   I knew I needed to spin sparkle, color, glitz and happiness.  I also knew I had a lot to learn because spinning art yarn is indeed an “art”.

Until I spent a lot of time on the internet studying what other spinners were doing, I felt like an aberration as spinners go.  I drive a sports car.  I have a tattoo.  I’m not a little old grandma.  I’m not an earthy, back-to-nature kind of person.  I like to intentionally spin yarn that is not “perfect”.  After checking out websites of other spinners, I realized what a wonderful, diverse group of people spinners are.

When I found the book Handspun Revolution, I felt like I experienced my “aha” moment.  I was able to see yarns and techniques that justified my feelings that creating yarn is an art.  It also helped me learn techniques and inspired me to spin outside the lines.  I wasn’t weird.  I was an artist.  There were others out there like me.  When I found Ravelry I discovered still more people who approached spinning the same way I did.  It’s not just the way to make yarn.  It’s a way to create something that is unique that I can knit into something functional, or leave in a bowl on my table to enjoy the yarn just being yarn.

Another holiday came and I received my first drum carder, a Louet Roving Carder Jr.  Carding my own batts gave me the freedom to create the color combinations I saw in my minds eye.  If I am inspired by a turning leaf or thoughts of the beach I can go to my studio and create a batt to spin.  I can’t resist adding in sari silk, glitz, various fibers, ribbons or other things to add texture and personality to my yarn.  A trip to the craft store has me wandering the aisles looking for something different to incorporate as I card or spin.

In spring 2009, I was able to attend Camp Pluckyfluff in MD.  It was humbling to be in the presence of all the fibery greatness.  Not just Lexi, but Stef from Loop, Cindy from Studioloo, Liz from Hobbledehoy, Carissa from Treadle to the Metal just to name a few.  Here unconventional was normal.  People who were unconstrained by what others thought spinning should be.  I was so inspired by what I learned and what I saw others doing.

Since then, I have started selling my batts and yarn at my etsy store, Flying Pig Fibers.  I am awaiting the arrival of my Louet Classic carder and have also started dyeing fiber.  I love the satisfaction that comes from knowing I can take the fiber from fleece to fashion and do it myself.

Editor’s Notes:

You can find more of Stacey at her shop  - http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlyingPigFibers