Hmm, just found this post saved in the drafts. I learned to spin in 2011, therefore it must have been written 2 years ago. here it is for your edification whilst I frantically finish a presentation.
I am a n00b spinner, a newbie, a novitiate. I got a drop spindle as a holiday gift in January and have been making little bumps of fibre into little bumps of yarn since then. I don't know if I'll ever be as into spinning as I am into knitting, but it is very interesting and transformative, and frankly the learning process of it is a lot more mechanical. That is, I am coming to understand in a very experimental, hands on way, what happens when I do X, Y, or Z with my spindle and with the yarn.
I am a n00b spinner, a newbie, a novitiate. I got a drop spindle as a holiday gift in January and have been making little bumps of fibre into little bumps of yarn since then. I don't know if I'll ever be as into spinning as I am into knitting, but it is very interesting and transformative, and frankly the learning process of it is a lot more mechanical. That is, I am coming to understand in a very experimental, hands on way, what happens when I do X, Y, or Z with my spindle and with the yarn.
So this weekend I had a bit of time to myself (only a bit. Busy, busy. Actually I had to steal it from my potential sleep hours but it was worth it), and I spun.
I made another wee bit of yarn. I think this is 2 to 5 yards--really need to get a niddy noddy .It’s from a Lorna’s Laces sampler package from my LYS that cost only $5.50.
A couple of things for newb spinners that I learned from this one:
1) pre-spinning prep makes a big difference.
2) you want your prepped fibre to be as even as possible if you want an even yarn
3) Navajo plying is fun and relatively easy and requires spinning in the opposite direction of the singles
1) pre-spinning prep makes a big difference.
2) you want your prepped fibre to be as even as possible if you want an even yarn
3) Navajo plying is fun and relatively easy and requires spinning in the opposite direction of the singles
Things I still need to figure out:
1) This leader yarn thing. What type should I use? how much? how should it attach to the shaft? how do I attach the yarn to it for spinning? for plying? do I cut it off when I am done or leave it be?
2) how to not overspin the singles/keep them fluffy (worsted?), without having the spindle unspin them all or having the whole thing fall apart. This one was good practice, though, and has some non-razor-wire-like bits.
3) how to reattach the damned fiber if it’s become separated.
4) What to do when there are still more singles to be spun but the spindle is getting too heavy and they keep breaking; similarly when plying, how to ply if my singles fill the spindle and at halfway through plying them I therefore have a full spindle again?
1) This leader yarn thing. What type should I use? how much? how should it attach to the shaft? how do I attach the yarn to it for spinning? for plying? do I cut it off when I am done or leave it be?
2) how to not overspin the singles/keep them fluffy (worsted?), without having the spindle unspin them all or having the whole thing fall apart. This one was good practice, though, and has some non-razor-wire-like bits.
3) how to reattach the damned fiber if it’s become separated.
4) What to do when there are still more singles to be spun but the spindle is getting too heavy and they keep breaking; similarly when plying, how to ply if my singles fill the spindle and at halfway through plying them I therefore have a full spindle again?
Oddly enough this is my 4th or 5th bit of yarn (some of them an order of magnitude more than this) and the first one that’s truly unbalanced. Just a bit. I think I overplied it, or simply applied as much ply as I have before but the singles weren’t so overspun this time.
I'll try to snag some pictures--the webcam is really not sufficient.
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