Tag Archives: handspun

That’s ORANGE….

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I am really not on a good roll with the advent spinning. I am moving from super sparkly and hard to spin green to blaze orange. I am feeling very Oregon Ducks over here.

I guess the upside is that the orange fiber is a high micron fiber count of some origin. It is very soft and spinning fairly easily. I am trying to spin this fiber in the order it came in the calendar. Some of my bags have lost there stickers and so I am guessing on some of them. Though I do know this orange is day 16.

Just going to keep spinning along.

I Hate This One

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Okay this third advent mini on my 2024 Advent Spinning #2 project is AWFUL. I hate spinning it.

This is some sort of long wool fiber mixed with a metric poop ton of stellina. It sheds everywhere and feels awful moving through my fingers. And it’s terrible to keep a consistent single size. 10 out of 10 would never do again.

I have most of it spun and I’m going to make a second cup of coffee and power through so I can pull the next skein and move the heck on!

Happy Spinning!!

Finished: 2026 Comfort Blanket

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That Handspun Pull was very effective as was the stomach bug that kept us home for a couple of days. The 2026 Comfort Blanket is completed and frosty in the snow.

I ended up adding four of the six skeins I pulled. I ended up fully using my Frosty Roses handspun for the mini skein, Moonstone Dyeworks Purple 3-ply, Cotton Candy yarn, and Woolfiend Fiber Super Fine Merino.

This blanket started with 150 chains and I just worked a granny stitch. It’s mostly square and I think I managed to keep my stitch count pretty even. All the yarn I used was handspun and varied WIDELY. But all mixed together it blends nicely. I alternated three skeins at a time to help break up the color blocks.

The finished blanket was 1,649 yards of yarn so it consumed a TON. It is roughly a finished lap quilt that goes from toes to armpit. After a good wash and freshening, I will add this to household blanket pile. And I’m super happy to actually use some the first handspun I made and it be useful.

Happy Crochet!!

A Wee Bit Of Spinning

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Plodding along with my desk spinning. I am onto the second mini fiber bump of my 2024 spinning advent calendar.

I CANNOT explain how soft this fiber is. It’s like melted butter meets baby kitten. I am loving spinning this fiber. I am having to concentrate to not let this get too thin as it will break due to the softness. Therefore I am concentrating on thickness and adding twist to keep it together during plying.

I think some dedicated blocks at my desk will get me moving to get this fiber onto the wheel and out of stash. Happy Spinning!!

Fireside Blanket

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This is going to be short. Jellybean and I got a stomach virus so we are spending a lot of time horizontal this week.

The healthy two made us a fire and brought us ramen. So I’m working on adding the extra handspun I pulled to add to my 2026 Comfort Blanket. I think I will have PLENTY enough to make a decent sized, albeit small, throw. And now I have the dedicated time to work on it.

Stay warm and wash your hands!!

Handspun Pull

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After looking honestly at my blanket yesterday I pulled my handspun tub upstairs and did a good dive into it.

I am finding a new things that might work. Except for the two marled skeins in the middle, these are VERY early handspun. It’s honestly thicker and bulkier than what is in my blanket now. I am for sure going to use the blue, pink and dark brown. I am less sure about the pink/yellow mix. And I’d like to save the two marled skeins for last in case I don’t need them.

It is a nice silver lining to finally use some this handspun in a project. With a unique and bulky as this is, I don’t know what else I would have done with it anyway.

Happy Crochet!!

Going To Need More Handspun

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I am still trying to work fairly consistently on this Comfort Blanket. And I’m running low on the handspun I have originally pulled for this project.

The alternating the different skeins is really breaking up the colors nicely. It can get a little tangly when I am turning the blanket back and forth. I am just concerned that this isn’t very big with what I have left. I need to do some stash diving and see what I have would have that could be added to this project.

Happy Crochet

Cleaning Fiber Bags

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The Christmas before last I got a spinning advent calendar. And I only half succeeded with spinning the first 12 days.

In my stash clean I found the bag I had the rest of the days in and moved upstairs next to my Sparrow. I have lots of long zoom meetings in my future so I think I will set my intention to spin on this project during those instead of disassociating or doom scrolling.

The only slight hiccup is that the numbers fell off several of the bags therefore I am no longer certain which day is which. But given that this has set for over a year I think done is better than perfect. The spinning or advent police won’t come after me.

Happy Spinning!!

Cast On: 2026 Comfort Blanket

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2026 has started out ROUGH. Add that to short, dark and cold days and I have been needing comfort more than usual lately. I decided to work with some of my handspun.

I have had my 2025 Pigskin Party handspun on my desk since the fall and this scrappy spin in a glass jar calling my name. None of this is a consistent weight or grist. And the colors are crazy so I decided to make a granny stripe blanket using a 5.0MM hook.

I chained 150 stitches and set to work. I very quickly noted that I needed to alternate skeins to help hide the variation in yarn and break up the crazy colors. So I have three skeins attached. One actively working across and one each on each side. I pick up the new color when I reach a side and drop the active one. I think this is making it look more purposefully crazy.

And when I work on this I try to stay centered and let go of the chaos. Many vibes are being worked into this blanket!

Final Yardage Count on Pigskin Party 2025 Spin

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Alright the Pigskin Party 2025 Spin is done and dusted!

I am not going to lie, but the finishing of this yarn almost broke me. These skeins were so large that they didn’t fit on my ball winder. So I was forced to hand wind them as I ran it through my yardage counter. It was less than ideal.

So my finished measurements were:

  • Skein #1 on the left – 181 grams and 307 yards of mostly DK weight 3-ply
  • Skein #2 on the right – 145 grams and 270 yards of DK ish. I ran out of singles on this one so the end is 2ply and thinner.

I am pretty happy with this yarn of almost 600 yards of finished yarn. I thought perhaps I would make a blanket out of this yarn but I would have enough yarn to make a cropped sweater? I may need to marinate on this one.

Happy Spinning!!