Because of the COVID-19 virus I have been staying home as much as possible. I usually go on vacation twice a year, go out to dinner at restaurants, maybe see a movie, go to the mall and other stores. Last year I did none of this. By staying home I was able to save a lot more money and the gas that I would have needed to go to these places.
This year looks like it will be the same so, I decided to treat myself with a few online courses and this monthly spinning box.
The January theme was “Out of this World”. Before opening the box I tried to think what would be in the box. I thought maybe some dark blue wool with white or silver Angelina. Maybe colors to represent the planets like, ocean blues and white for the Earth, reds and oranges for Mars & Venus, browns and beige for Saturn & Jupiter.
It was really exciting to get this mystery box. I am not often surprised with gifts anymore. People either get exactly what I wanted or give me a gift card. So, this was like Christmas and Birthdays when I was a child.
The box is packaged nicely. When I opened it the first thing I saw was outer space tissue paper. After opening this there was a beautiful mix of colors in Merino and Bamboo, most of what I described above. Below that was Polwarth and Silk blend in a beautiful creamy white color. A small package of Mint infused rayon and o
ne ounce of Raw Boarder Leicester wool. It was soft for a long wool and I could tell it would be white once scoured. There were a few other goodies that followed the theme. Over all I am very pleased with everything in the box.
I love to scour and process raw wool so, the first thing I did was wash it with Unicorn Power Scour. It only took one 20 minute soak in the scour and it was bright white. I put it on a rack to dry. The next day I combed it to get the vegetable matter (VM) out of it and prepare it for spinning. I recently got half a pound of Leicester Longwool. After I scour that I will be able to use the two fibers together.
This is the year I want to improve my hand spinning with both drop spindles and my spinning wheel. In addition to subscribing to The Spinning Box I am taking an online course to learn to spin. Mary Egbert, from Camaj Fiber Arts also owns The Spinning Box. Mary is teaching the course. In the first month I learned a lot more about how spinning wheels work and the difference between the whorls.
February courses will be starting to spin. This course is billed monthly and will last all year. There is a private Face Book page to share with and have conversations with other spinners in the class. Mary has guests during the month. January, we saw how a wood turner makes spinning tools and also learned how to spin with a drop spindle. Both guests were very interesting. I am looking forward to February’s content.
