Category Archives: spinning

Wash and Drying

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I managed to finish spinning the singles for my merino/cashmere singles this past week after I got back from my travel. I wound the singles into a cake so that I could ply from the inside and outside. IT…WAS….A….MESS!! I neglected to understand how badly the singles would get tangled. I had to break and and untangle my singles many times. But in the end, I made a skein!

The skein had a little over twist from plying as it didn’t hang completely straight off the plying bobbin. But I had confidence that a bath would fix it right up!

And I was right, a bath and a whack had this skein nicely balanced. Since it is 90+ degrees in Kansas now I set this skein outside in the sun to dry. And boy howdy, it dried in four hours! I need to take the time to weigh and measure this skein to find out what kind of yarn I made.

This finished yarn is SUPER soft and might the thinnest spinning I have made to date. I can’t wait to see what this measure out to be! I really feel the need to find a project to fit this spectacularly yarn….

Happy Spinning!!

It’s CASHMERE!

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My spinning of that farm/rustic lamb roving didn’t last. I just couldn’t find the drive to work with it. And some merino/silk/cashmere from Hipstrings may have show up in my mailbox this week, so the lamb got pulled off my wheel and this heavenly cloud is on!

I have never spun anything this soft or delicious. It’s a joy to work with. I only have four ounces to work with so I will fill a single bobbin. I hope then to be able to wind those single into a center pull ball to ply with.

Happy Spinning!!

Plying On A Hitchhiker

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My targhee singles are sufficiently rested and ready to ply. I decided to be crafty since my Kiwi wheel currently has lamb singles on it and pull out my Hitchhiker wheel. This was my first wheel but I never got the hang of the single treadle. But I’m a little more seasoned now and decided to give it a whirl!

Turns out, a lot easier to use once my brain and body understand the mechanics of spinning! I was able to successfully ply. I did put on the jumbo flyer and jumbo bobbin in order to get all four ounces in one shot.

I ended up with a lovely barber pole yarn. I will let the yarn sit overnight and then give a wash and a thwack. I’m interested to see what kind of twist I created with this wheel since I am less familiar with it. This should be a fun skein!

Happy Spinning!!

Spinning Lamb For The First Time

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I have A TON of some lamb, alpaca and silk farm raised fiber in my stash. This was donated fiber that came with my hitchhiker wheel. It is not a very soft fiber to work. It is spinning very thinly but I feel like there are maybe some guard like hairs worked into this blend? This my first time spinning this fiber so it’s all an adventure for me.

This is the project I chose after my targhee singles were done but I am not sure how I feel about it. The singles have quite the halo as I work it up. And its not super joyfull to spin. I have to pull quite hard to draft the fiber thinly.

I am going to keep working on this to see if it gets better/easier. But this may be a no go for me. Life it too busy to work on project that aren’t fun. Happy Spinning!!

Targhee Singles

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My prediction for these targhee singles was CORRECT, I couldn’t put them down. I have two finished bobbins with 2 ounces of singles each.

This was a delight to spin and was easy to control as I was making singles. I will 1000% spin this fiber again. Now I just need to be patient and let these singles rest before plying. That and decide what to spin next!

Happy Spinning!!

Let’s Spin Some Targhee

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My spinning mojo continues unabated! After finishing a bunch of smaller 4 ounce bats, I decided to try spinning from a braid again. I pulled some Targhee top from Fiber Love Diary from my stash to spin. I even took my wheel outside to take advantage of the cooler spring temperatures.

I undid the braid and split in half by length so I could spin on to two bobbins again for plying. This fiber is soft to the hand but not slippery. I don’t think this spinning will take very long I can feel the sirens call of this project.

Happy Spinning!!

Surprised By The Sparkle

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My white merino yarn came out of its bath beautifully. I was actually surprised to see a pronounced sparkle! I did not notice ANY sparkle as I was spinning and plying. I am wondering if it was dulled by spinning oil? Nevertheless, it was a welcome surprise!

The dyer called this color “Righteousness” so that is what I named this skein. I ended up with a 113 gram skein measuring about 182 yards. So mostly a heavy worsted to aran weight. I can tell my spinning is getting more refined as I am making a more consistent worsted yarn instead of a bulky weight.

I just need to label this skein up and get it into the special handspun stash! Happy Spinning!!

That Was Quick

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I had some merino blend fiber jump on and off my wheel very quickly last week. I had four ounces a merino, bamboo and sparkle blend that I bought from The Shepherds Mill when I took spinning lessons.

I weighed and split the fiber in half so that I could work from two bobbins. This fiber just spun so smooth and quickly. I think the singles rested longer than it took for me to actually spin them. I did my go-to 2-ply and ended up with this skein.

It it is a little overspun and is twisting back on itself. But I think a good bath and a solid thwack should set this just fine. I think this will turn out to be a thick and thin worsted? I’ll do a final weight and measure after its dry.

Happy Spinning!!

Deliciously Chocolate

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My beautiful natural chocolate Romney yarn is complete! This….I’m SUPER proud of!

I ended with two worsted to slightly heavy worsted skeins of 2-ply. After washing it plumped up to be 396 total yards and 213 grams. Roughly half in each skein so not a bad job on my part for the dividing!

After seeing this finished and putting it next to my other natural color Hand-spun…..I might be close to a sweaters lot of heavy worsted if I work stripes. And that excites me! They only caveat is that it’s not all the same fiber content. It’s all non-super wash but many different breeds of sheep. I might have to research my idea before I go to far down the rabbit hole…

Happy Knitting!!

Washed And Thwacked

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I am OBSESSED with this handspun. I gave it a wash and thwack yesterday and set near my dehumidifier to dry. And this morning, these are two gloriously dry skeins.

It is a very well balanced yarn that hangs fairly straight. I have just under 200 grams total in yarn. I need run it through my yardage counter to see what I ended up with. The yarn did plump up quite a bit with washing so this might be a heavy worsted. And I’m still super proud of that! Stay tuned for finished yarn photos 🙂

Happy Spinning!!