I knit. I sew. I can crochet. I'm crafty. I can do Origami. I read. I do just about all the needle arts. I walk and hike and rock climb. I cook.

However, until two weeks ago "I toil not, neither do I spin."

Well, now I spin.

It all started at my knitting group. Almost all of them spin, and my LYS specializes in spinning fibers. But I was able to convince myself that there was plenty of yarn out there and the last thing I needed was another hobby.

Until I watched the store owner spin some fiber. It was mostly pale blue, with some yellow and pink. As fiber, it looked a little bit like a tie-dyed sheep gone bad. As yarn, it was beautiful.

The yellow would spiral around the blue and hint at green, then it would change to a soft pink with a hint of lavender spiraling around it. Just gorgeous.

The next week I got a drop spindle (if you get a spindle, make it--it's easy and cheap) and I let my 3yo chose a color (Red merino with accents of yellow silk and orange camel).

And I was off. Once I managed to get a fairly even, slub-free yarn, I started to look for a pattern that could utilize my handspun. I found one in Vogue Knitting (really, do I look at any other knitting mags?)

I haven't figured out why, but I naturally spin a lace-sock weight yarn. When I try to make it thicker it get very slubby. I found out a week later that people can spend years trying to acheive an even laceweight yarn, which leads me to believe that were I to try a spinning wheel, I would have no problem achieving sport or worsted. I may have a spark of natural talent, but I don't think I could produce professional quality in a week on a drop spindle.

And no, I will not buy a spinning wheel. I have sources I can borrow from and if I were to buy one now, the only way to advance is to buy sheep. Which means I would need a llama to keep out coyotes, which means I might as well have alpaca, and an angora goat...

No no no, I do not need a spinning wheel.