Category Archives: spinning

Zoom Knit Night Spinning

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My life has been all about the crochet lately, but I had a KnitGirllls Zoom this past week and I felt like spinning.

I have four ounces of a Polwarth/silk blend on the wheel from a fiber club. It’s the color of very pretty roses. I’m happy to report that my puppy is no longer interested (knock on wood) in my wheel so it is easier to spin.

It’s also getting warmer so I envision lots more spinning on the patio with the kids. I am still on the first half of the fiber. I am going for a easy two ply that looks barber poled. This fiber is just going to do what it wants to do and I’m going to let it.

Happy Spinning!!

Dusting Off The Wheel

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Finally getting back to my spinning wheel after months long hiatus. My last spin was some Spotted Circus and so I am going back to some of the 4 ounce fiber I had from a club.

This is some WoolFiend fiber in a 85/15 Polwarth and Silk blend. It’s name is called Lovin’ Feeling but I am calling it Frosty Roses as it looks like lovely red roses and it’s currently colder than a witches elbow.

    I split my braid in half and I am spinning half on on bobbin and I’ll take the second half and flip the other way and spin. Then take both halves and ply for a lovely barber pole. Again, I’m not a trained spinner. I just do what my fingers and body know how to do and I take the yarn as it comes.

    I was a little rusty at first, but the muscle memory came back quickly. I just need my blanket fever to subside so I have time for all my crafts!

    Happy Spinning!!

    Finished Spotted Circus

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    My Spotted Circus spin is complete!

    The larger skein is my 2-ply intended spin. I got 255 yards to 100 grams so I’m likely in the light worsted arena. I think this was 12 (ish) wraps per inch but I forgot to write it down. Based on the singles I was hoping for a finer yarn but it really plumped during washing. Probably should have suspected based on the alpaca and nylon content. This yarn came out barber poled/marled and its lovely

    The smaller skein was the singles I had leftover chain plied back to them selves. This skein was 18 yards over 17 grams so a worsted/bulky. It’s finish is more self striping since the colors folded back in on themselves.

    These are off to a nice nap in my handspun bin while I plan my next spinning project! Happy Friday!

    Plying and Puppy

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    The singles from my Spotted Circus singles are finished and thoughtfully rested several days. So I sat down a perfectly cold beer and Welcome to Wrexham and got to plying last night.

    The puppy is now half grown and FULL teenager phase. Spinning requires tiring him out before hand and making sure lots of toys are on hand.

    The finished bobbin is resting and I hope to find some time later tonight to wash and whack it. It is a fairly fine 2-ply and has a nice marl in places. There was some more singles left on one bobbin so I chain plied a little mini skein of a 3-ply. But its a wee baby of a skein. I haven’t done any measurements on the 2-ply so I am ballpark guessing at heavy DK?

    I need to pick my next fiber to spin so I don’t lose steam! Happy Spinning!!

    Spotted Circus Finished Bobbin

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    I’m slowly getting back to my spinning. It’s not been as enticing as the knitting. I did manage to finish my first bobbin of singles for my Spotted Circus 2-ply.

    These ended up spinning VERY fine and thin. So this could be very interesting when I ply together. This project I did design to be a 2-ply. All of that depends on me finishing the second bobbin of course.

    For now, I am just going to delight in the pretty!! Happy Spinning!!

    Spinning Sunshine

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    The oppressive heat has finally broke for a brief minute here in Kansas so I broke out my dusty AF wheel. I still have my Spotted Circus fiber on the wheel from this past June.

    I got several hours of peaceful spinning in whilst watching PB splash about and throw reusable water balloons. We literally had to drag her in for bath and bedtime at the end of the day. I managed to get almost all of the first bobbin spun up.

    Duke even got in on the action and got VERY wet by getting too close to PB’s splash zone.

    Nothing beats the last rays of sunshine in the day and some simple family fun. Happy Spinning!!

    Washing Poopy Floof

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    Awhile back my winery friend gave me a shorn fleece. It’s not professionally done and pretty much all short cuts. But I thought it was perfect for practicing washing and other bits.

    I canned some apple jelly earlier this week and had a ton of hot water that I would normally just dump. I had a flash of genius to use this excess water to wash a sample of this fleece!

    I grabbed a few ounces and put in some laundry bags and into a water safe tub. I added the hot water with pour scour wool wash in batches to get all the poop and dirt washed off. It was HOT but cool to see the lanolin release.

    I got a ton of dirt to release and I have fleece left with a TON of veg matter. Was pretty cool to see the change. And I’m not 1,000% sure I did any of these steps correctly.

    I may have felted some parts slightly in this process with too hot of water and a little too much agitation from little miss PB. But I am going to comb a few bits to see if the veg matter comes loose or not. This is all pure experiment with no end goal in mind. Score one for scientific curiousity!

    Happy Spinning!!

    A Bag Of Dirty Floof

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    A friend of mine runs a local winery where they use sheep for natural grass control and fertilizer. They normally only get hair sheep but a wool sheep snuck in as part of a hair sheep lot. They shore the sweet momma before she lambed and gave me the fleece!

    My friend has ZERO clue how to sheer and this bag may all be short cuts and non-spinable fiber. But I think it makes the perfect way to practice fleece washing! I just need a weekend where we aren’t scheduled to hilt!

    Happy Fiber!!

    Finished Purple Floof

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    As promised, I let the fates decide. I had my children roll dice. Even numbers meant I would split the singles and make a 2-ply and the odd numbers meant chain ply. Numbers came up odd so it was chain ply!!

    I don’t have a catchy name for this. I have been calling it purple floof spinning. My brain waves aren’t catching on to the theme here, lol. This skein still needs soaked and thwacked so I measure it. I’m guessing its somewhere between light and heavy worsted?

    Now I just need the executive function to dig out my washing supplies from my disaster of a home office. Happy Spinning!!

    Fresh Air Spinning

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    We had a brief break in the oppressive 90/100 degree days here in Kansas and I took full advantage! After finishing the purple floof singles I pulled out the next fiber that I had on hand and headed for the patio. It’s a de-stashed braid of Spotted Circus. I don’t remember the fiber content (I’ll look it up in my notes in Ravelry here some time soon).

    My sister has been visiting with her standard poodle Greer and I was mean and made the dogs play outside too. It’s shady on the patio and only 88 degrees with a nice breeze. I split this fiber roughly in half and my plan was to spin a two ply. The dogs divided all the sticks they could find into many pieces.

    Did I weigh or measure the fiber? No! I’m winging it because that is all the brain cells I have. If I get any leftover fiber I will chain ply the remainder and make a little mini skein. Happy Spinning!!