Cashmere and silk yarn

Some more of the spinning fiber that I got for my birthday.  Again this was one that I was uncertain how much I was going to like it as a yarn, but was blown away when I finished! 

I guess I'm a little used to clay.  Sometimes in ceramics, a piece will never look any better than it does when it's still wet clay.  As soon as you see it fired it's turned into something else entirely, and it's not always good.

This yarn is by far the most soft that I've made so far, cashmere is so good x)

Alpaca and Silk

This was my second spinning project, I picked the fiber that I deemed 'least pretty' since I still wasn't sure if I was going to improve on the wheel yet!  Shockingly, once it was all spun I LOVED it, it's so soft and shiny.  I would consider buying more of this fiber!

I just love how the silk adds that sine to it, and even though it's not perfect that's just fine with me, it's not like it's unusable, it just has lots of character!

More yarn!

This was the first thing that I spun on my wheel, it was a fairly small and cheap batt that I thought would be good for a first go.

It doesn't look it but it's actually two ply, I hadn't gotten the hang of the amount of twist yet (I'm still not sure that I have it...)!

Spinning Wheel

My parents, in an incredible show of generosity, bought me a spinning wheel for my birthday!  I had been looking for months for a deal on one off of craigslist, but every time I was too late and was getting really bummed every time I missed one.

I picked one out and they got me a Kromski Minstrel unfinished.  So I stained and sealed it, then assembled and here it is!  I absolutely love it, I don't think I could ever go back to a drop spindle.

All white

Here's some of the hand spun angora that showed up a little bit in my post about drop spindles!  It took kind of a long time, but I have about 400 yards of it.  It's so fluffy and soft, I love it!  I think angora might be my favorite fiber, I just love the halo it gives.

I think instead of dyeing all the white yarn that I have, I want to try making an all white scarf, I'm not sure how well I think the colors will go, since they're not all exactly the same?  I'm not sure how much it will matter when they're all woven together though.

I still have a whole other warp to get through before I can work on this one though!

More yarn

Here's some yarn that I spun from leicester wool that I got off of ebay.  It was $20 for 1/2 lb of raw fur, so it ended up a little bit lighter after all the washing.  It wasn't a terrible amount of work to wash either, just a little patience is needed, and a big tub!

I dyed it blue, since for some reason I'm incredibly attracted to blue yarns?  I spun it straight from the locks to give it the chunky wavy thick look too!

This is what I got from a little less than half of the 1/2lb, and it's actually 65 yards, since it's so thick!

Hand Spun Yarns!

Since I posted about my spindles last time, here's some of the yarn I've made with them!

This one was my first go at it!  I made it just out of some merino, I had 1oz each of a white and a chocolate brown, so I spun them both, and plied them!

Sadly it only made around 100 yards, which isn't enough to weave much of anything.  I'll hold onto it anyways, since I still like it, maybe I'll find some use for it!

Next I had a lot more bright colors in merino, so I mixed a few of them to make this yarn.  I just kept it as a single though, so again it's not all that useful to me for weaving!

I'll share more yarn that I've made tomorrow, of different materials besides wool!

Spinning

A while ago I decided I was going to try spinning on a whim.  Since I am very much a person that constantly says "If I can make it I'm not going to buy it", I looked up on making a drop spindle and found a tutorial on instructables for making a top whorl spindle.

It was easy and I had all the supplies so I went to town.  Instead of using a chopstick like the tutorial I used a paintbrush handle.  I actually prefer it, since it was a bit larger, and was nicely curved and rounded already.  I just removed the brush part and the metal with some pliers first.  You can paint over top of it too, if you don't like the way the brush looks.

Not going to win any awards for craftsmanship on this one, but it was also before I even knew if I liked spinning.  Turns out that I do though!  Learning was exceptionally easy, after an hour or so I felt pretty confident spinning.

After spending a few days spinning on this one and ordering myself some spiffy new fibers, I started to stare longingly at some of the artfully made drop spindles on Etsy.  I knew that I had a perfectly functional spindle, and there was no reason for me to drop $40 on a new one.  But I just kept going back and looking at them.

Finally I came to the conclusion that I could make a nicer spindle too!  So I went off searching on the net for stone donuts as they call them, to use for the whorl.  I ordered some cheaper ones for about $3 each, from 21CN Beads.  They have a lot of sizes, but I got one 50mm Lacy Agate, and one 45mm Flower Turquoise, I think it was around $11 with shipping?


So I got to work and made myself some nicer spindles, they're also lighter than the one I made first, but still good for making thinner yarns.  I also used some silver wire I had for the hooks, I think it looks nicer, but really isn't as sturdy.

With some spun angora.

I'm still looking into getting a spinning wheel, but they're just so expensive.  It seems like it's difficult to get a respectable one for less than $200.  I'm keeping an eye on Craigslist though!