perendale | Good Witch Knits

After the frustration over my first two spinning attempts (which were totally unsuccessful), I brought home my wheel and let it sit there, all packed up, for more than a week. Every time I thought about unpacking it I decided I didn’t have the time or energy to devote to being totally flummoxed by my spinning wheel.

Finally, Sunday night I decided to try it anyway. I set the wheel up and pulled out the giant bag of Perendale-Romney I purchased. I threaded on my leader, drafting the heck out of my fiber, and started treadling…

It worked! It was like magic. Yes I was making lumpy, wool, ugly rope, but I was spinning! Yarn was actually forming and being pulled onto the bobbin (which never happened at my lesson). I was so happy I spent several hours spinning away and even plied a bit.

I had to wonder though, what was so different than the last time I tried? The fiber. So I took out the fiber I was given with my wheel (that I had been practicing on) and attempted to spin it. Yet again, it wouldn’t do anything that I wanted. I compared this fiber with the Perendale-Romney and there were some marked differences. First of all, the mystery fiber was dense and stiff. I could not get it to draft well at all. Even pre-drafting it was a challenge. The Romney is light, airy and drafts like a breeze. I think I’m going to take the mystery fiber to my knitting group to see if anyone can clarify why it is giving me such trouble.

So in my excitement to learn to spin and my anticipation of my wheel arriving, I went ahead and ordered some fiber. After a little Googling, I saw that several people suggesting Romney as a nice, easy drafting fiber for beginners. Lucky for me, Paradise Fibers had a Perendale-Romney blend for sale. So the discount increased with the more you bought. 32 ounces was the cheapest quantity to buy. So, I thought, that doesn’t sound like too much. After all, I’m going to be basically wasting it at first while I get the hang of spinning. The more cheap fiber to practice on, the better, right?

Well, the shipment came in yesterday and, I have to say, I was pretty surprised by how much 32 ounces of fiber really is.

I totally thought I knew what two pounds was…