I never intended to learn to spin. It’s always been a craft that I’ve admired, but with so many projects I want to knit, I didn’t think that I needed another reason to keep me away from my needles. But over the past year, Diane and then Kai have first suggested, then poked, cajoled and finally demanded that I give it a go. I’ve been subjected to email after email with links to pretty fibre, been given gifts of handspun yarn and then fibre - PURPLE fibre - to show what I was missing and eventually something had to give. And it was either learn to spin or move house.

So when Sam had a spindle, fibre and a copy of Spin to Knit up for swaps, I decided I had nothing to lose. I went to Diane’s today for Inside Loop related stuff and she got me started on my first baby spinning steps.

It’s horrible being a beginner. I hate feeling like a complete ignoramus and producing lumpy, unattractive yarn. My arms ache, and I’m still picking bits of purple fluff from my clothes. But I shall persevere and soon have a tiny skein of my first ever handmade yarn.