Tag Archives: spinning

Drop Spindle Class: Meagan Condon

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At Knitting in The Heartland KC, I took a drop spindle class from Meagan Condon.

I chose this class for two reasons. One: I never properly learned how to drop spindle and only ever dabbled. Two: it didn’t require any homework….

Meagan was GREAT and the class was light and informative. A great mix of information and background with hands on spinning. I made a neat barber poled blue and white yarn. As part of the price I got a bag, notes, 3D printed spindle, extra bobbins and fiber.

I am not sure I will ever become a major drop spindle but it’s nice to have names and techniques for things I tried to learn years ago. I consolidated all this kit into the black bag and I’m going to put in my spinning area so I can pull out when I need a portable project.

Happy Spinning!!

Finally Past The Orange

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I have been a little low energy lately and my crafting has been….intermittent. I did however finally force myself to finish spinning the dang orange singles on my advent spin.

I am not sure this next bag is any better as it is full of stellina. The wool fiber mixed in is nice but I am getting glitter everywhere. This is spinning finer and faster than the orange. It’s kinda weird to not know/remember what fiber this was supposed to be.

This spin is just a “let go and it will be something” kind of project. Definitely one where done is better than perfect!

Happy Spinning!!

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!!

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!!

A Package Of Cheer

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Apparently Late Night Insomnia Rachelle did a little shopping a couple of weeks ago. She ordered some stuff from 316 Dye Studio. 🙂

Honestly, I remember seeing her on a social media doom scroll but I don’t remember buying anything. So this is a surprise to today Rachelle. I picked up some cute Midwest themed stickers, two bottles of flatter which is a Soak product that is used to scent your woolens or help steam/iron them. And finally I got a mixed fiber batt in Pumpkin Spike Latte. It’s a cormo, silk, stellina blend.

But I think I picked up some good treasures!

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!!

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!!

Plying The Crazy

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I decided to break out my Hitchhiker spinning wheel to ply my 2025 Pigskin Party spinning project.

I got all three bobbins situated on my lazy kate under small but of tension. I chose my Hitchhiker because it came with a jumbo flyer and bobbin.

I rarely use this wheel as it is single treadle and not as intuitive for me to use. And this go around I ended up needing to replace the tension spring before I could go very far. Eventually I got going and consistently in the correct direction.

I am pretty sure I have enough fiber I will need to fill this jumbo bobbin and let it rest to take off the first skein before I can do the second. I am confident 12 ounces is too much for this.

Happy Spinning!!

Three Finished Bobbins

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I succeeded and all the minis from my 2025 Pigksin Party KAL spinning are DONE!

I finished the pink singles over the weekend and they are now resting. I should rewind the bobbins since I have spun some of the first two bobbins multiple weekends ago. But I probably will not, lol.

I need to make a plying plan and set aside some time and I should have a finished yarn. I am very excited to score this for some KAL points for the current Down Cellar Studio KAL and blitz points. I hope this yarn turns out somewhat pretty…I have some crazy colors going here. It’s all about experimentation!

Happy Spinning!!