Speaking of, I’ve been very busy dyeing things since I got back from Colorado earlier this month. I haven’t done this large of a dye batch in a long time.
It stretched over two or three days. The first day was all sorts of fun, ha ha ha. I dyed four batches of various things, and of the four, none of them came out the color I was aiming for. God was so gracious in that they were still usable. They just weren’t coming out as intended. Rather frustrating at the time. I actually found myself not wanting to dye again. Ever. (Scary thought, no?)

But I took a day off from dyeing and tackled the rest with renewed vim, vigor, and some free choice in regards to colorways. In short: I got to play! Well, play with most of it.

I’m contributing to the September Phat Fiber samples, so some of the fibers needed to be inspired by “Farmers Market.” I actually wound up doing four or five different things I could send in samples from, but one of them is this Blackberry Jam superwash fingering weight.

Gorgeous! I dyed two skeins worth. One for the shop and the other to chop up into little 15-20 yard samples.

A couple of other highlights from the dye run, all alpaca laceweights—

And some more big news, I won a batt! It’s pretty and pink, and I have no clue what I’m going to do with it. I have been stalking Ravelry hat and cowl patterns, though. (I figure they’re something I can knit with stashed stuff, wear often as the weather gets cooler, and they won’t take long to knit!) Perhaps I can spin this up and turn it into a nice tam.

Yes, I’m planning to finish it. And its mate. This one will have some queer little lumps and bumps in it. Things like “repeat rows A and B until x amount remains on the needles” should not be listed after “continue.” What do they think I am? A knitting guru? Ahem. Well, anyway, it seems to be turning out despite the difficulties. I can get it on. And off.

I’m enjoying knitting something that small. I like tiny things. Tiny stitches, tiny needles, tiny yarn. I even have a pattern picked out for the next pair! It’ll be a very special pair due to the fiber choice. (More on that later.)

Here’s something I did with the Iowa fleece during a movie. I had a drop spindling urge and some roving handy, so why not?

Two and half hours on the drop spindle made this little skein of a lace weight single. It does have slubs in it. We’ll pretend they’re in there for interest. I want to dye it in some rich jewel tones and knit it into a hair scarf/bandanna thingummy. I think emerald green and royal purple, with hints of gold, copper, and light blue would be nice.

And here’s the dark Lincoln batts all spun into singles. It came up to one spindle full on the Walking Wheel, and I can’t remember if that was one ounce or two. Anyway, it’s a nice amount. Just very very fuzzy. I think I’ll have to scratch the cowl idea. At least with this yarn. It’s gorgeous stuff. I love the color.

I actually got a pretty fair amount of this carded, but the carded got used in another project before I took any pictures of it and is now hanging out to dry. I did decide to break out of my usual “rolag” carding method and turn the carded fluff into these nice little balls of homemade roving. Not quite as smooth and buttery as store bought, but it’s fun to use and spins nicely.

The pink and purple are from cochineal dyed fleece. Yes, I still have that fleece laying around. Two nice chunks of it.

Anyone remember the New Zealand wool I aspired to spin on the drop spindle? The one I was going to spin for an entire sweater’s worth? Well, that kind of fell flat. So I took the singles and plyed them together.
The only kicker was I hadn’t been all that careful with twist amounts, so I wound up with my first ever five ply yarn trying to make it come out even and non-splitty. It’s a heavy worsted and there are three and three quarter ounces of it. I haven’t measured the yardage yet. I think it’s in the fifty to sixty yard range. It’s very soft and strong. I have some special plans for this skein. Something to do with a blue test run.

To my mind, a drop spindle is the cheapest, easiest, and most versatile way of getting into spinning. There is something so cool about being able to make yarn with a piece of carved wood that hovers in midair. But, although I love them to pieces, drop spindles aren’t for everyone. They require the ability to raise your arms until your hands are on a level with your head and hold them out there for longish lengths of time. Sound too strenuous? I’ll cover wheel types in the next post.

But, for those of you who don’t mind a little productive exercise, a drop spindle provides the perfect opportunity to learn how to handle fiber and twist without worrying about bobbin tension, wheel treadling, and the price tag. (Did I mention I love drop spindles?)

Kinds of Drop Spindles

There are two basic kinds of drop spindles. Top whorl and bottom whorl. The “whorl” is that big lumpy thing on the stick (which is called a “shaft”). The whorl is what gives the drop spindle the momentum it needs to keep it spinning around for awhile. If you didn’t have the whorl you’d be there forever. It’d be similar to spinning with your bare fingers. Ho hum. (There is also a “middle” or “center” whorl variety, but I’ve never tried one, so I can’t help you there.)

I strongly recommend getting a drop spindle that can be used as a top and bottom whorl. Why? Physics, of course! Well, sort of. Top whorl spindles spin faster than bottom whorls. Something about having the weight on the top makes them fly. You want a faster spindle if you’re spinning a thin yarn. The speed puts in the large amount of twist thin yarns crave, with a minimum of effort and time lag on your part.

Now, if a top whorl is fast, what do you think a bottom whorl is? Slow. Actually, it’s slower, not “slow.” You still get pretty good momentum, but the bottom whorl is best suited for thicker yarns. Slower means it isn’t yanking the yarn out of your hands, and thicker means that you don’t have to move your fingers quickly. In short, a perfect beginner contraption.

Ways to Get Your Drop Spindle

As I mentioned earlier, this is a great tutorial for a quick and easy way to make your own drop spindle. There are also places all over that have them. Etsy has gorgeous ones; just do a search for “drop spindle” and you’ll see what I mean. Paradise Fibers has a good selection, as does the Woolery. The Bellwether is also very nice. Goldings are just plain gorgeous. Look around, do price comparisons, see what you think.

A Few Buying Tips

There are some things you want to watch for when you buy or make a spindle.

• Does it have a hook?

  A top whorl spindle should have a hook sticking out of the short section of shaft. Rather like this one. This hook gives you added stability while you’re spinning. And up until a little while ago I hadn’t realized it, but apparently some low whorl models have hooks on the long ends. You don’t have to have a hook on a low (a.k.a. bottom) whorl spindle, but you might like having that option.

• How much does it weigh?

  Weight is a factor. My two best spindles weigh one and three-fourths ounces each. They’re a great weight for your everyday yarns. When you get into the one ounce area you’re looking at very feathery light yarns, which means fast rotations, which means not easy. Two ounces, or maybe two and half and you’re getting pretty big and heavy. Not only will you have to spin thick yarns with lots of twist, but they can hurt more if they get away from you and land on your toe. I have a big one that is just over two ounces. I use it strictly for bulky weight yarns.

• How Big Is It?

  Size is also a factor. Although it’s not quite so much of a factor as weight. My smaller spindles are thirteen inches long with two-and-a-quarter inch diameter whorls. My mega one is fourteen inches long with a four-inch whorl. I don’t have any spiffy rules of thumb here. Just don’t get a spindle that looks completely out of whack. If it’s two inches long with a five inch whorl, something is screwy. And if it’s long for its whorl size you’ve gotten into the tahkli or navajo section. Run, unless you want to get drawn into the world of really cool, less common stuff.

• Is It balanced?

  And the last, most important thing, is balance. This is very hard to judge when ordering online or by mail. A balanced drop spindle will rotate without wobbling back and forth. I’m going to go out on a limb and hypothesize that most of your commercial drop spindles will have been checked for imbalance. If you want to go to Etsy, look to see if the buyer says they’ve checked for balance. A wobbly drop spindle is not fun. I know because I have one that occasionally acts up.

Whether you make or buy one, find one that inspires you. I was so excited about my first drop spindle that I didn’t care that it didn’t look like a Golding. It was homemade from unfinished wood, but my dad had made it for me and it was wonderful to me. It still holds a special place in my heart.

This is the drop spindle version of spinning tutorials. The wheel version will be coming soon.

Time To Begin

Alright, you’ve got your spindle, some sort of wool, and a whole lot of excitement. Now you need a piece of pre-made yarn (commercial will do) about two to two-and-a-half feet long. Plain yarn is best. Don’t go for the fancy boucle or eyelash. Just some scrap yarn you have laying around. Alright, got it in your hand? This is your “leader” yarn. It is what makes it possible to easily begin the act of spinning. It’s what you’ll be attaching your fiber to and dangling your spindle from. In short, it’s your friend.

If you happen to be feeling ultra crafty and coordinated today, (or if you simply can’t wait long enough to go find yarn) the first tutorial below shows how to begin without a leader yarn.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Here are my favorite YouTube tutorials for drop spindling.

• First.
  This is one of the first ones I watched. Mrs. Franquemont does a wonderful job demonstrating and explaining.
  She mentions “drafting” the fiber, which is gently pulling the fibers into a longer, thinner, looser strip. I plan to cover this in more detail in a later article. In the meantime, you can pick up a pretty good amount of information from these videos.
• Second.
  This one features spinning on a top whorl version, with roving that has been pre-drafted. She’s spinning quite a thick yarn, which I normally would choose to do on a bottom whorl, but she does it very well using the “park and draft” method. (Mentioned in the first video.)
• Third.
  This third is one that I actually discovered while I was re-watching those first two. It’s quite well put together and gives you some extra information. You may notice that while the lady in the second video rolled the spindle down the inside of her thigh, this lady rolls it down the outside. I much prefer (when I do the roll thing) to roll it down the outside. It’s more comfortable and I can get a good crackling speed up. Especially if I roll from the hip to the knee.
  She also talks about the “sheep’s gate.” That’s a spinner term for the area of fiber that is about to receive the twist from the already spun yarn. It’s vital that you don’t let twist get up past that little area and into the chunk of fiber you’re working from. If it gets up there you’ll have to stop and very carefully get the twist back out, or deal with a huge wad of fiber in the middle of your nice yarn.

Refining The Process

Once you’ve got the basic concept, go play with it. It’ll take some practice and time to teach your hands this new skill, but once your hands get it, yarn will come. One thing that might help you when you’re first starting out is sticking a little piece of masking tape (carefully!) on the whorl where you can see it, and mark it with an arrow pointing the direction you’ll be twisting the spindle. That lets you remember at a glance instead of accidentally spinning it the wrong way.

Spindles will drop; it’s just their nature. I would recommend spinning on a carpeted surface, and possibly wearing shoes. I didn’t bother with shoes, and I did get bonked a couple of times, but nothing serious happened.

Be Happy

You may have noticed that the ladies featured in these videos are very different, and have different styles. That’s fine! Play with things! Make them work for you. The goal of spinning is an enjoyable productivity. If you want to hold your fiber in the right or left hand, prefer park and draft to drafting on the fly, or hey, if you want to spin while hanging upside down, go for it! (I wonder how that would feel. . . )

Let the excitement work for you. You may hit little roadblocks, but think about what you’re learning and have fun.

You can do it.

So you want to learn to spin? Good for you. You’re about to be initiated into the wonderful craft of spinning. Or, to turn it into its most basic process, the art of taking a handful of something and making into gorgeous yarns.

If you’re interested in spinning, chances are you’ve at least seen a spinning wheel before. Maybe you watched someone at a Living History demonstration, or perhaps you have a friend who keeps babbling on about their wonderful wheel, or maybe (like me) you picked up a magazine and got sucked into a world of color and texture. However you developed the interest you want to get started. So now is the time for me to stop telling you how much fun you’ll have and give you some hard facts.

What is spinning?

Spinning is putting twist into something to make it form a new, stronger shape. You can spin with three blades of grass and your fingers. You can spin with long strips of fabric and a heavy rock. You can spin with your hair and a messed up curler. But none of these are the cool ways to do it.

If you want to begin spinning, you’re going to need three things. Something to spin into yarn, something with which to spin that thing into yarn, and something to tell you how to do it.

Drop Spindle vs. Wheel

As for the mode of spinning, I personally recommend starting on a drop spindle. They’re inexpensive when bought, practically free when made, and they teach your hands a lot quicker than a wheel can. I taught myself to use a homemade drop spindle in a long afternoon. If you’re interested in making one, here are some good instructions. If you want to buy one, the cheapest I’ve found is a Louet Drop Spindle. Whatever you buy, try to get one that can do top and bottom whorl. (More on that in another post.) If you think you want to spend more money and get a pretty one, there are some gorgeous ones on Etsy and all over the Internet. In a later post I’ll list some of my favorite fiber websites.

If you choose to begin on a wheel, more power to you. A wheel requires less alertness and is a lot safer on your toes. (They don’t call it a “drop” spindle for nothing.) However, let’s face it, wheels are not cheap. I believe the cheapest one I’ve seen is $100. It works, but if you’re partial to fancier ones you’ll need to shell out big bucks. (Or find the deal of the century like my dad did. Believe me, there are some gorgeous wheels out there waiting to be found.)

I Have The Tool—Now What?

So, once you’ve chosen one of these spinning tools, it’s time to dig up something to spin. I do not advice shaving your dog for your first try. I recommend beginning with a wool roving. What on earth is a roving? A “roving” is a long, long strip of wool that has been combed into submission. All the little hairs lay alongside each other in a glorious state of smoothness. Practically any fiber seller will have roving. (Sometimes it’s called “top,” although the two words are technically not interchangeable.) If you want to start out small, go to your local craft store and look for the needle felting section. They’ll probably have lots of little rolls of “wool roving.” My first fiber was a six-pack from Hobby Lobby in pretty fall colors. It spun very nicely on the drop spindle.

As for types of wool (yes, there are more decisions to be made, but it’s not that hard!) if you plan to order roving online you might want to steer toward a Corriedale or Romney. Fibers like Mohair and Merino are slippery and harder to control. We want easy! We want success! We want, above all, yarn.

So how do you make yarn?

You’ll find out tomorrow.

I took two projects along on the trip in the hope of being semi-productive. One was the drop spindle New Zealand wool that I’ve been hiding in my closet, reluctant to do. And the other was the merino/silk scarf. Only one project got done.
And it was . . .

The scarf. Now I just have to block it. I got rather good at carefully “un-knitting” after I had to bother my sister five or six times. But eventually I mastered the pattern or didn’t notice my mistakes anymore. Oh, I also had the thrilling experience of having the scarf half pulled off the needles a couple of times. And once completely. (That last time I ran to my sister. Positively ran. Well, it was more of a shame-faced shuffle. Next time I’ll be more careful when I pull a project out of its bag.)

And, on the drive home, I made a cotton washrag to scrub out my dye pots. It’s a modified scatter stitch, which seems to have turned in to a random broken rib stitch. Oh well. It works. I’m assuming you don’t need to block a wash rag.

Electric Blue

The New Zealand has been officially retired. The original idea was to spin up the whole pound of it on the drop spindle, dye it with indigo, and then crochet it into a specific sweater pattern. Well, it’s a crochet pattern, so it’ll take a lot of yarn, I don’t really like the pattern any more (too many holes in it), and drop spindling takes a long time. I’ll ply up the four balls of single that I have and use it for something. And I’ll put the roving to some other use. For instance . . .

I am now seriously considering selling hand-dyed roving, yarn, and handspun online. If I use the white roving I already have it’ll keep the start-up “out of pocket” cost down.

Selling is something I’ve thought about for awhile, but always backed away from for two reasons. One, I thought I had to be able to make a big profit right away. Two, there are so many yarn and fiber dealers out there, why would someone want my creations? The first one is obviously incorrect. I don’t have to make a big profit. Just preferably meet expenses with a little left over. As for the second, well, I can try to keep cost (thus prices) down while still delivering great products. If they like the yarn, they like the yarn. I’d really appreciate prayer for wisdom and guidance on this.

Silk Hankie on a Pillow

I’m really curious to see if it’s cheaper to raise the silkworms yourself (assuming you have a ready supply of mulberry leaves) or just buy the preprocessed hankies.

I dyed this hankie in the oven quite easily in three shades of green and now it’s all dry and ready to be spun. The first question is, what do you do to get this spin-able? It’s quite simple, actually. On the edges of the hankie you will see little mini-edges. Grab one and start peeling.

Separating the Hankie

The single layer (or double, as this one was) will peel away from the rest of the silk, leaving you with a very light, beautiful web of silk.

A Layer or Two

But setting that aside, you now have a gorgeous wisp of silk.

Then you do the unthinkable. You plunge your fingers right into the middle of that soft, lacy square and start tugging.

The Neat Part

And as you pull, wonder of wonders, it turns into roving! No carding, no brushing, no nothing. Just pull and it does it for you.

A Baby Roving

Continue until it’s the thickness you want it to be. You can draft on the fly while spinning if you really want to, but I much prefer this, especially because I’m spinning it on the drop spindle.

The really strange thing about this stuff is that it looks so dainty, but it takes a very strong tug to draft. It’s quite surprising. And amazing how God created an insect that could make such neat stuff!

Pre-Drafted

Ta-da! The finished, pre-drafted roving, ready to go.

Spin Away!

The hardest part about spinning all this is keeping the roving from catching on anything and everything—arms, clothes, spindle, and spun silk included! If you’ve pre-drafted everything evenly, all you really have to do is keep the spindle spinning and feed it fiber. It’s almost easier than working with wool.

Spun Silk

And once you’ve got enough on the spindle, stop and admire it. Then go run out and try to find some more hankies.

This is the Bunny Yarn.

Soft and Squishy

So I took what was left of the pink roving, slapped it (gently) onto the Saxony wheel and spun it up thick. Then I plyed it with some of the leftover thin single. That gave me the Bubblegum Silk Yarn.

Even Softer

Put a big check mark next to it, my friends; the pink silk roving is history!

Now it’s just a matter of seeing how much New Zealand I can spin before midnight. Which won’t be a lot because I’ll be busy for quite a bit of today. But, I’ll show you the enormous pile of yarn I finished up during these last . . . what? . . . eight days? I’ve got enough to open a small store. A very small store. But anyway, I’m rather happy.

The Completed Rebecca Yarn

So, that was the good news. Now for the . . . well, not really bad news, just mildly depressing. I’m still working away on the drop spindle projects. I can practically guarantee that the New Zealand will not be done before New Years, but I’m not sure about the pink silk. I just reeled off a spindle full and started plying it with a thick Wensleydale single I had stored away for that purpose. It’s rather fun looking. I can’t decide whether it reminds me of a little pink and white bunny (angora!), or peppermints. I’ll get some pictures up once it’s done.

But, in the meantime, the Jester batt keeps calling my name and the alpaca is batting its little eyelashes at me. Must . . . resist . . .

And that reminds me, in a round-a-bout way, that I got an email from Paradise Fibers saying that my box isn’t scheduled to arrive until January 7th. (Oops, did I sigh out loud?)