My head is spinning!

Ever since my learn to spin kit arrived I've been obsessed.

Such a simple concept, but there is a trick to it. My first hand spun yarns are quite thick. I was scared to draft the fibers too thin.

And my twist was all over the place. Some places very tight, other places barely a twist at all. But this helped me learn exactly how much spin is required to keep the fibers in a yarn. Not much.

But I had so much fun learning. Finally I stopped being so scared and really drafted the fibers, playing with just how thin to draw the fibers to make a thin yarn that I could ply. Plying is when you take two strands of hand spun and spin them together to make a thicker yarn. But if your strands are thick to start with you end up with super super bulky yarn.

So I grabbed more fiber and concentrated on getting it as thin as I could. That yarn is hanging to dry right now.

My spin is still inconsistent but the thickness is much better. I'm excited to crochet this up when it's done drying. But in the meantime, I received a delivery...Kid Mohair Sliver. Sliver is animal fiber that has been cleaned, combed and carded and in this case dyed, all ready to be spun. I ordered fiber from my favorite company, Fleece Artist/Handmaiden Yarns. I just love their colors.

Look at those colors! Makes me do the happy dance.

Each hank is silky soft with such a beautiful sheen and halo. I had heard that because it's so silky it can be harder to spin but far be it from me to avoid things just because I'm new at it. I like jumping in with both feet. So I grabbed the blue and got to work.

This is the hank untwisted so you can see the color changes and I can start working with it. First I drafted off a chunk of fibers.

That's the leader on my drop spindle and the chunk of fiber. You'd be surprised how much fiber is in that little piece.

I didn't add any fiber. This is that one little piece drafted out to start spinning. And I personally didn't find the Kid Mohair any harder to work with than the regular wool. The hardest part is pre-drafting the fibers.

 

 

So away I went. I'm still building my stamina for drop spinning so I can't spin as long as I want to ( which is just about forever :) ) but I gave it a good go and here's my results for the evening.

The color in that shot is atrocious. This early pic shows the glowing blues much better, though it also shows how rough my hands are right now. This is not the fault of the fiber but of my nasty psoriasis. I find acrylic fibers aggravate my condition and I have been working with acrylics quite a bit lately.

So tonight I'll spin some more. I should soon have enough to ball. I may make a second strand and ply the two so that the subtle color changes in this yarn will really stand out. Or I might leave it a single ply and just keep spinning until I have enough to make myself a shawl. I'm so excited at the possibilities!

Is there something you do that makes you anticipate the future when you'll have time just to play?

Hello!!!!!

So I disappeared for a bit. Between battling the plague and spring rush at work I haven't had a minute to do anything but crochet. :) I did however find a minute to order a drop spindle spinning kit on Etsy.

 

It came with everything I need to try spinning yarn and I was so excited to get started! 

First thing I learned...you could use a third hand when starting. And don't let your cat help. But I persisted and made my first handspun by me yarn!!!!

 

Okay, not bad for a first attempt. Found out I don't have muscles where I should though. Who knew spinning could be a workout? Bonus!!!

So before my second attempt, I learned more about drafting your fibers BEFORE starting to spin so that they're the thickness you want. Duh. That made sense. I also learned don't take the tension off your spun yarn until after you've soaked it. The soaking sets the twist otherwise it just unravels.

So armed with new information...take two...

Here's the little ball of spun fiber. I love how it shines in the sun. Okay I think I'm getting this now so I go for a big batch since I've now figured out how to join fibers although not completely smoothly yet, at least I can do it. So I spin until my shoulder gives out, put it away for the next day, do the same thing again for four days and here's what I got...

 This is my handspun yarn on the spindle. Took it off and put it to soak for fifteen, then hung to dry. When I checked it this morning it still wasn't quite dry but here's a picture of what it looks like.

Next step will be to use the yarn in a project. This is just a single ply and I have every intention of making a fat ply of colored yarn wrapped with a skinny ply of the natural wool. But since I'm not an expert yet that could take awhile....

Having such a good time learning though. Did you ever take a notion to just LEARN something? Just for the fun of learning? Or am I the only learning geek out there? :)

The journey of discovery

So much of what I've learned started with a thought. So lately my thought has been spinning because of course I'm obsessed with yarn. So let's start with a basic Google search...

This seems like a good place to start.

www.instructables.com/id/spinning-yarn/

OMG! That is so awesome. Alright now I want to spin with a drop spindle. Let's see if I can make one at home. Hello Google...

This is perfect! It will allow me to try it out without buying a thing!

oneinchworld.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/how-to-make-a-drop-spindle/

Now I'm thinking of all the perle cotton thread I have that I can blend together to make thicker, multicolored thread. I'm so excited!

I have images of this dancing in my head:

www.copperandbirch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/drop-spindle.jpg

And now I see my favorite yarn company, Fleece Artist, has roving dyed in their colors! Oh I so know what I'm doing tonight. Time to make a drop spindle and learn how to use it.

See this is why I have such a hard time staying on task. My brain is always leaping to the next exciting thing. Do you ever have problems focusing because there's just SO MUCH you want to try?