Tag Archives: spinning

2024 Adventing

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I decided this year to try a spinning advent calendar and I couldn’t resist the Cozy Knitter annual self striping sock advent.

The fiber advent is from KnitzAndPearls shop. It’s 24 mini fiber packages and a 4 ounce package to open on Christmas. I have not peaked but I did organize this advent into a bag that is roughly in order of days. I did get duplicates of at least two days and missing those other numbers. But I got 24 minis in all so I am going to roll with it.

This was my best attempt to hold back and not open this. Kid and work life in December is HARD so I need to catch up but at least after this photo, I got the mini skein wound and the toes cast on. I am working two socks in tandem on 9 inch circs. The daily time needed really isn’t that much so I should catch up soon.

Happy Adventing!!

Plying Deep & Meaningful

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I knuckled under and spun my heart out. I finished the first bobbin of Deep and Meaningful and then this past weekend evening I watched a long movie and busted out the complete second bobbin.

I was so in the zone, I just crafted and no photos. In fact I was halfway through plying before I grabbed the photo of the two bobbins. It plied fairly well but I was right that my second bobbin was thicker and ran out sooner than my first bobbing. Too much time had passed and my ‘default’ spin has changed.

I’m not precious about my handspun so when I ran out of the first bobbing I just chain plied the rest of the singles at the end of the skein. I will either use it that way or break off the 3-ply from the 2-ply when I went to use it. I just couldn’t be bothered to change my bobbing for such a wee bit of yarn. Now this needs to rest and then a wash/whack.

Happy Spinning!!

Patio Spinning

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I felt the urge to clear my wheel. I had half a bobbin of my Deep and Meaningful singles from early summer. PB wanted me to watch her play in the background so I pulled up a patio chair and spun while I watched an imaginary soccer game. She won, of course!

I still have a wee bit of this half of the braid and I can call this bobbin done. Using short forward draw this fiber is spinning fairly finely. I am hoping the lapse in time between the first part and this part isn’t too long so that my singles are different.

How can I invent more time in the day so I can do all the crafts at once?

All The Pretty Skeins

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I got stalled for a minute, but I washed and dried all the plying that has been hanging around.

The top skein is chain plied long draw. It came out to 14 yards over 40 grams which is a very inconsistent bulky yarn. The middle is some BFL I spun from a batt. This skein came out to 30 yards of yarn over 44 grams which is Aran weight. And the bottom is some lamb that I failed to launch. This was one was 55 yards over 54 grams so its Aran-ish to Worsted-ish.

All of these skeins are headed to the handspun stash to percolate for awhile. And my wheel is down to only one spinning project 🙂

Clearing The Bobbins

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I already plied my batt experiment and my long draw class and while I was looking for bobbins I found some singles from an abandoned spin.

This was some lamb I inherited in a de-stash. It was from a farm stand and very rustic. The staple was pretty long and I was fighting a lot of guard hairs. I really hated spinning it and gave away the rest of the fiber. But these singles were just sitting on a bobbin. So I chain plied them to get them done.

I had a lot more singles than I remembered so this ended up being fairly significant amount of finished yarn. With this one done I need to wash and whack all the plying I have done recently. Then I can turn these in for prizes maybe!

Happy Spinning!!

Woolen Spun Plying

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I have been working on finishing up a ton of partially done spinning projects. I had a bobbin of singles from my long draw class with Maggie Casey. They were ROUGH but I decided they still deserved to be yarn.

I chain plied the singles into a yarn. I have zero clue if you are supposed to chain ply woolen sp111un yarn….but I did anyway. And I got some wonky results that resembled yarn. Very thick and thin all over. I have more plying to get done and then this skein will get a bath with all the others. I may have over spun it but a good bath might help.

Happy Spinning!!!

Ply A Wee Bat

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The wee little bat spun up super quickly!

All the singles fit nicely on a bobbin where I let them rest for 24 hours before plying. I was in a rush to get this finished so I could have a summer spin entry with the Two Ewes Podcast so I chain plied the singles.

This fiber was part of a free event so the BFL is not the best quality but the experience was worth it. The yarn (pre-washing) is pretty crunchy and rustic. And thanks to my impatience, the spinning is pretty thick to thin. I’ll be interested to see what happens after a soak and a whack!

Happy Spinning!!

Spinning A Wee Bat

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Summer is slipping away on me! I really wanted an entry to the Summer Spin In with the Two Ewes podcast so I grabbed a wee bat from my SSK haul and got started.

This is a wee 44 gram batt that I made myself on a drum carder at SSK. I made it using BFL in black and blue with some blue firestar blended in. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Though I nicked my fingers on the blades, ouch.

This is pretty rustic BFL and spinning very thick and thin. I am just going to let the batt do what it wants. I will just chain ply whatever the result is. I highly doubt that I will knit anything close to skin with this. With the bite this has….it might be a weaving or decoration yarn?

But I do like how easy the batt is to spin with! I need to do more of this. Happy Spinning!!

SSK Fiber Mini Swap

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I’ve been home from Super Summer Knitogether (SSK) for several days now and I have SO MUCH to share. For my own sanity I’m going to break all the goodness into a blog series.

I drove 10 hours to Nashville TN and made registration just in time for opening ceremony and the fiber mini swap. This is where you bring fiber and break into minis and make fiber soup. Then you leave with as many ounces as you came with…..just in chaos style.

The pool was hard to mix and I definitely got some of the same braids but I was very happy with the colors I received. Of course I have zero clue what fiber content is but that is okay. I am just looking forward to this spinning!

Dogs Hate Spinning

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I’m trying to work on my spinning for the Summer Spin In and Duke is really not interested in progress. He would prefer that my hands be for head scratches.

And I have managed a few singles on the bobbin of this fiber. It’s a merino/nylon blend from Fondant Fiber. It’s crazy soft and the jewel tones are really shining.

It does feel daunting to look at how much fiber is on the bobbin versus what is in my hand, lol.

Happy Spinning!!