Category Archives: spinning

Handmade Batts

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My indie dyer obsession with Moonstone Dyeworks continues. She got a drum carder and now makes batts to sell.

They are unique blends that she decides to pull together from her bulk fiber. I picked out a lovely blue color in a rambioullet/merino/bamboo/nylon mix. The second bat is rambioullet/merino/sari silk/nylon blend. Both bats are 2 ounces and will make cute small skeins of yarn.

I still have my blue BFL on my wheel with lots of spinning to go yet. So I don’t know when either of these will hit the wheel but I feel it won’t take long when my wheel frees up!

Happy Spinning!!

One Of Two Complete

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My blue BFL spinning has been progressing nicely. I have spun through the first four ounces and filled my first bobbin of this spin.

Because of the compacted nature of this fiber I have been having trouble keeping my singles thin and consistent. However, as my current spinning tack is to just let the fiber do what it wants see what kind of yarn I end up with. I am not currently spinning with the end product in mind.

Now I just need to pop open the second bag of this spin and get the second bobbin cooking! Happy Spinning!!

Starting A Solid

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The sun is shining, my children are away for the weekend and my wheel was empty. So of course I needed a new spin!

I pulled eight ounces of blue BFL roving from my stash and started on the wheel. This fiber was vacuum packed and a little felted. So I am having to work a little harder to predraft this fiber to get it to spin nicely.

But for now I leave you all as I plan to spin while the shade and my iced coffee last. Happy Spinning!!

An Ocean Gradient

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My BFL gradient is washed and fully dry. This turned out to be one very happy skein!

This is 100% Blue faced Leicester long wool that I spun from one end of the gradient to the other. Then I chain plied the singles into a three ply to preserve the gradient. The finished skein ended up being 138 grams and roughly 166 yards. I calculated 9 wraps per inch on average so this is a worsted weight yarn with thicker and thinner spot throughout.

This handspun is superbly handsome all skeined up. I have zero ideas or plans on what to do with this skein so into the precious handspun stash it goes. Happy Spinning!!

Singles To A 3-ply

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My blue BFL gradient spinning is ALL DONE. The singles are shown on the left and I ended with the deepest, most navy of the five colors.

I ignored my children and responsibilities for roughly an hour and a half so I could chain ply the results. The singles had rested about three days before plying. The process had a few hiccups and breaks but I managed a pretty decent finished bobbin.

I am going to let that sit for at least a day and then I’ll give the skein a wash and a whack. So excited to get this off the bobbin so I can see how the gradient turned out! Happy Spinning!!

Midway in The Gradient

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My BFL gradient is moving along. I am in the third of three total colors and its a kind of nice solid blue.

The first color was a very bright teal that rubbed off on my fingers and the second was a very light or pale blue. This gradient should develop nicely! I hope to get all these singles spun onto one bobbin and then 3-ply/chain ply the singles to maintain the gradient.

The trick is going to be finding time to spin with the hectic buzz of summer and children’s activities. Happy Spinning!!

Fell Down In The Fiber

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I have been spinning so much this summer that I am rapidly expanding my handspun stash while running out of fiber stash. So I fell down on the internet with my credit card and bought more fiber.

The top two are braids from 316 Dye Studio out of Wichita KS. I picked two braids of each color. The blue/grey on the left is Rambouillet and the blue/white on the right is Polwarth. I am hoping to that with 8 ounces I can end up with more than one skeins.

The bottom two 4 ounce packages from Three Waters Farm. The aqua on the right is a Targhee wool while the brown on the right is more Polwarth. This will most likely end up being smaller skeins for smaller projects.

I have sent all this wool to marinate and cool there heels in my spinning stash. Happy Spinning!!

Mystery Grab Bag

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Back around Christmas time I grabbed some mystery grab bag fiber from Etsy to have for Santa to leave in my stocking. And Santa ended up leaving me some yarn instead of fiber and I kinda forgot about this tucked away in my closet until I did some spring cleaning.

On the left is some mystery fiber that looks to have a blend of silk, nylon and maybe a couple of different kinds of wools based on the wool crimp. I weighed it and it totals 3 ounces. The right is 8.5 ounces of a spinning kit from Melissa’s Yarn Barn. It is a solid merino braid and some locks of multi-colored wool or other fiber.

Both are interesting kits and not something I would usually pick for myself. But it adds nice variety to my spinning stash. Even if I don’t love the colors I will learn new things from the spinning process. Do any of you mystery grab bag?

Happy Spinning!!

Finished Cashmere

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My cashmere skein is completely dry and all measured up! This is my softest and finest spin yet. I am beyond happy with this one.

After finishing I ended up with 223 yards weighing 112 grams. This makes this skein DK in most spots with other sections more of a light worsted. I can tell my plying was tighter on this skein than any of my previous 2-plys. With this having cashmere content I put extra twist in it in order to reduce piling in its future knitted state.

I don’t have any projects in mind yet. I think I’m going to let this one marinate in the handspun stash for a minute. Happy spinning!!

Spinning A Gradient!

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Since my Kiwi wheel is free of a spinning project, I decided ot put something back on it. I pulled some BFL roving from my stash that were a teal to blue gradient. I felt like making a singles that would end up a 3-ply gradient!

This yarn might have an excess of dye…..my fingers were a little blue after working the first part of the gradient. Could be part Smurf??

Pretty happy with the singles I have been creating. I still have half the teal to finish before I start the next color. Not too shabby for an afternoon of outside spinning. It’s really getting warm here in Kansas!!

Happy Spinning!!