Since my wheel was empty after finishing my teal singles I decided to put some more singles on before plying, just to keep my hands and feet practicing going in the same direction. This time I grabbed the Jakira Farms BFL I had tried to spin over a year ago to absolutely no success.
Safe to say I am making better progress this time! I am starting to notice that I can maintain a more even single with fewer thick and thin spots. Don’t get me wrong there are a ton of them in there! There are just fewer than last time, lol.
Today is my birthday! I am celebrating by NOT being at work and treating myself to spa evening at a local spa. I have 60 minute tub soak finished with a 60 minute massage. I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!
And to celebrate even more I thought I would share my finished handspun skeins I finally got around to counting and skeining. First up is my Blueberry Chick “Tequila Sunrise Experiment”.
I spun the singles on my drop spindle and then chain plied them on my Kiwi 3. But I discovered that because I left months inbetween these steps that I accidently plied in the same direction that I spun. So I got a very “artsy” skein, lol. Oh well, it was fun and I learned something. I got a 20 yard skein that weighed 117 grams so bulky/super bulky for sure.
Next up with my Spinning Class Sample skein. This is just a hodge podge of fiber I used to learn with at spinning class.
This is skein was much more successful and looks like traditional yarn. I wound the singles into a cake and plied from the inside and outside. This skein ended up with roughly 35 yards and 78 grams so a pretty solid bulky weight. It is a mishmash and total barber poled and I LOVE it!
Safe to say I have been successfully bitten by the spinning bug! Happy Spinning!!
I’ve had a steal spinning project on my wheel ever since I finished my purple singles. I had second 4 oz bag of merino blend roving from The Shepherd’s Mill where I took my lessons, this time in teal with rainbow flecks.
I admit I struggled in the very beginning with this fiber. I was trying to spin WAY to thin for my skill level so I was breaking every couple of minutes. Once I calmed down and consciously spun thicker then I really started cooking with gas.
Over the course of the past couple of week I managed to get all four ounces on one bobbin. I will likely ply this yarn with another single but it hasn’t told me what it wants to be when it grows up. So I am going to let it rest and start another batch of singles. I think I might be hooked!
Based on a suggestion from my spinning teacher I wound off my singles from class into a center pull ball. With the ultimate idea of plying them back on to themselves to create a finished yarn
Took a minute but I got it wound and then since my wheel was empty after finishing my purple singles I decided to ply before adding new fiber on my wheel. I used my Ashford Kiwi 3 and made sure to ply in the OPPOSITE direction that I spun. And I got a pretty respectable bobbin filled!
Now I just need to recover enough energy from Halloween crash to wash and finish this skein to see what kind of yarn I ended up with!
Huzzah! I have been try to dedicate some of my precious free time to my spinning wheel. And that has paid off as I have finished the 4 ounces of merino blend that I was spinning.
All four ounces fit on one bobbin and I managed to get some fairly thin parts. Don’t get me wrong it has the normal newbie amount of thick and thin parts. I have big fluffy sections and some sections that could function as thread.
I’m going to let these rest and spin another bit of fiber before I decide what to do with them. They are inconsistent enough that they need plied either back with themselves or with another single. But I need time to ponder that!
Fall is in full swing and we have had our first frost. The kids are LOVING the temperatures and have been spending every minute we can outside. So this weekend I lugged my wheel out to the patio and spun while my kids played.
I am still spinning the 4 ounces of merino blend in the purple color from The Shepherd’s Mill. I am still very much learning. I break my singles A LOT and have to rethread. I am also spinning very thick and thin but for the most part I am getting a single spun that holds together. I am about 4 hours in to this spin.
Giving myself permission to go slow, make mistakes and just learn along the way. Haven’t quite got to the “zen” spinning but my fingers get a little less stressed as I go.
I couldn’t let my wheel sit with no fiber on it after my spinning lessons now could I? So I grabbed the purple roving I purchased and set off.
This roving is a merino, bamboo and nylon blend. My teacher told me that spinners should never be intimidated by any fiber. Anything can be spun by any spinner, it just may take some extra time and adjustments. So I am going to be fearless (maybe clueless) and take off!
While I was taking spinning lessons I took some stretch breaks to wonder around the yarn store and some goodies might have jumped in my cart 🙂
I snagged three skeins of yarn. From left to right I grabbed two skeins of 3 ply sport in an aqua and light yellow. These are my alma mater colors and I am envisioning some sort of striped or colorwork hat or cowl. And the last skein is a 2 ply DK called “baby blend”. It is superwash merino and faux cashmere. This skein was tooooooo soft to leave in the store. It needs to be a hat for my head!
I also grabbed some fiber to work with given my new spinning skills. The Shepherd’s Mill used to be a spinning mill in addition to a yarn shop so they had a large selection of roving. I grabbed some merino blends in teal, white and purple to play with.
The icing on the cake is that the owner gave me a super cool tote bag from her store as a bonus. It’s going to be the perfect spinning bag to hold my fiber next to my wheel. And it zips closed to keep small fingers out of my stuff!
I have been piddling around for over a year with both drop spindle and spinning wheels. I watched YouTube after YouTube video and nothing clicked. I read all the manuals on my wheel even! So I made some calls and found a yarn shop in Phillipsburg KS that I had been to with my mom and lo and behold they taught spinning!
So I arranged for the grandparents to watch the kiddos and I grabbed a cup of coffee at the crack of dawn and took off for my adventure.
The store was lovely and my spinning lessons went REALLY well. Having someone to correct my hand and feet was just the thing I needed. And she provided some reasons why I needed to do certain things and some super helpful background info. She was also super Zen about things and just made me feel so relaxed.
I managed to almost fill an entire bobbin and learn to correct some of the mistakes/hurdles I had been experiencing. Safe to say I’m hooked now 🙂
Here I am jumping both feet in to my first ever attempt at chain ply. I have my Tequila Sunrise Singles all rested up and in my homemade lazy kate (aka box with knitting needle poked through). And I clearly have no idea what I’m doing…but that is what the internet is for!
I watched roughly 10 videos on chain plying a three ply and just jumped right in. I started with my all yellow singles and moved to the orange/yellow next and finally added the pink. My hands understood the motion pretty well but my feet wanted to add a lot of twist. This may end up being a very ropey yarn. But my brain was happy being challenged with new movements and new skills.
For now, I have the finished yarn resting on a bobbin and when I have the gumption, I will wash and whack it to se what I ended up with.
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 