Spinning lessons make happy smiles as well as sumptuous yarn as this photo of my happy pupil shows. She is holding her first spinning which turned out much better than she expected – as I find it always does! First spinning is very important as it is the benchmark upon which to assess progress. Lesson 1 is to learn the technique of long draw: once that is mastered it is possible to spin almost anything – from yak with <1inch staple - to a long curly lock. Lesson 2 is to ply whatever the pupil can get onto two bobbins. On a scale of difficulty 1-10, learning long draw is 9.5, but learning to ply is about 2-3. All the hard work is over by then. And the plyed yarn always comes as a pleasant surprise to the beginner who thinks they have spun rubbish until they see it plyed...