At one stage I thought finishing my yarn was when I reached the end of the plying. I didn’t appreciate that ‘finishing’ had another meaning altogether. I suspect I was not alone. I spun fibre, plied two singles together, made a skein and it hung straight. Great. Only later did I realise that if it hung… Continue reading Finishing hand spun yarn
Category: spinning
Troubleshooting tips for beginner spinners
Over-twisted yarn I had a lovely time at Yarnfest in Hull recently. Fabulous stalls, friendly stallholders and interested customers. It was good to put faces to names and meet old friends. Thanks to Jean and Karen and East Yorkshire Yarns for organising. I took my double treadle Ashford traditional with a jumbo flyer. It’s perfect… Continue reading Troubleshooting tips for beginner spinners
Spinning Silk Hankies
The other day I talked about how much I enjoy spinning silk. Today I’d share some ideas on spinning silk hankies These are my favourite form of silk. The fibres in hankies tend to be long so it holds together with little twist. In fact, you can knit with pre-drafted hankie without spinning it. The yarn can… Continue reading Spinning Silk Hankies
Spinning cotton outside in the sunshine
Testing cotton today. We spun tops, punis, raw cotton cloud and from seed, using Ashford traditional, Lendrum with a quill, Ashford charka and book charka. For me the secret of cotton spinning is to practice spinning wool long draw, either English long draw for punis or American long draw for tops. Once you can do… Continue reading Spinning cotton outside in the sunshine
Spinning tips Sunday Wolf Yarn
Wolf yarn is a core-less core-spun yarn, named by Judith Mackenzie because it kept the wolf from the door. It is technically challenging but once mastered it is fairly quick and looks impressive so sells well. Spinning Wolf Yarn For a wolf yarn you need a cloud of fairly long fibre, more than 3 inches,… Continue reading Spinning tips Sunday Wolf Yarn
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