I thought I would be at the park and draft stage of spindle spinning forever. There I would sit forever, spinning the spindle to build twist, then catching the spindle between my knees, or under one leg, or arm, and only then letting the twist run into my fiber as I drafted. Managing both spin and drafting seemed unattainable. I was actually OK with it, except for the lure of an idea. The idea to spin and walk.

So I grabbed my Turkish spindle and some prepared merino roving and tried again. The spindle seemed too heavy, so I took off the arms and slid a light wood whorl down the shaft to make a bottom whorl spindle. (With park and draft I preferred a top whorl.) Oh my goodness, something clicked. Yes, I dropped the spindle a few times as I figured out which direction I was spinning (I couldn’t think S or Z, I had to think counterclockwise or clockwise). I tried using my distaff, but kept getting the fibers wrapped tight around it, so instead wrapped some roving around my arm. The fiber was bunching up, so I divided the roving in half. That seemed to do the trick! I was spinning while standing! Missy the pup helped me with the next step because when I am standing that means I can kick her ball, right? And if I can kick her ball, maybe I can walk and spin. For now, spinning will continue indoors, as it is cold outside. But when it warms up, it will be time to try to walk!