While on vacation in Iceland with my friends, we stopped at the Jólagarðurinn, which is the Christmas Garden just outside the city of Akureyri. There, I came across the cutest little craft corner of a shop where there was skeins and skeins of hand-dyed yarn, drop spindles hanging from the ceiling as well as baskets full of carded wool.

I was lucky enough to get to watch Vera use a drop spindle, and I was mesmerized just watching it spin and spin while the wool twisted into yarn. I was so tempted to buy a drop spindle there and then, but I felt like I wouldn’t be able to find enough raw wool at home in Edmonton to make it a worthwhile purchase, so I sadly walked away from that craft corner empty handed.

I couldn’t stop thinking about drop spindles though, and when I was visiting my brother in Vancouver a week later, we stopped at Granville Island, where lo and behold I kept seeing drop spindles everywhere. Between the Fibre Art Studio and Maiwa Handprints Ltd., I walked away with a drop spindle and a Ziploc bag full of roving wool.

So far, I’ve just been watching a lot of YouTube tutorials about spinning, as well as learning more about the process of how yarn is actually made. This has given me a much deeper appreciation for yarn, especially for how it’s made, and I think it’ll make a huge impact on the way I shop for yarn in the future!

At this point, my “yarn” is still really inconsistent in terms of thickness, but I’m loving the journey as I explore this new aspect of crafting with yarn. Honestly, I can’t wait to make something handmade with my homespun yarn. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to show you a skein of spun yarn!