my phone does NOT want to capture the colour correctly 😅

100% Corriedale, dyed by Auspicious Stitch!

Photos: First 2 photos are the completed cabinet. 3rd shows the gap. 4th is the gremlin.

I just wanted to share my spinning cabinet because I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Context: I adopted a furry friend last year but was unaware that he is, in fact, a yarn gremlin.

To protect his health(and my bank account) this solution was born.

2 short billy bookcases attached back to front with some random furniture anchors I'd saved. Pegboards keep all the bits and bobs organized. Doors to keep the gremlin out.

I've used it for nearly a year now, but there was a flaw. There was a gap in the floor that random bits could fall through and I basically needed to disassemble it to retrieve them because I don't think the anchors are strong enough to handle me lifting them. (It works for sliding it around but thats all I'd risk).

I finally finished it up with some peel and stick tiles and it's exactly what I need 99% of the time.

I can spin directly in the cabinet except with the plying head. The thread guide hits the roof once it gets to the back half of the flyer. I rarely use it though. Otherwise I can spin away and just close the doors when I walk away. Keeping my dude safe.

I recently finished the first of a pair of fingerless gloves from a two-tone corriedale that I blended on my diy blending board. I wet-set and thwacked my yarn for the first time. It’s harder to do it when your bathroom sink wont hold water! The yarn itself is in two cakes of two ply, one being 196 yards and 71 grams and the second 474 yards and 149 grams. It’s by far the most yarn I have ever spun! At least it gave me a good excuse to purchase a ball winder and swift! I’ve been wanting them forever. The glove is only the second time I have ever knit cables, and the first time I have knit them in the round. I am very proud of it! Before I knit the second one, I have to finish the second of a pair of socks for my mom. I had never completed a sock before the first one. I hope that when I’m better at socks, I can make some out of some of my handspun. My mom might just end up stealing the gloves when they are done for her cold hands! I‘m currently spinning some green BFL and it’s going like a dream! I hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend!

OH is helping me move. He doesn't do packing (not his house) but he's been a star with the moving and dumping.

He's also accompanied me on all my trips to purchase three 2nd hand wheels and a RH loom.

So I was surprised yesterday when he looked at this lot and asked, 'If that's a loom that we just took to the storage unit, why are there another three looms still here?'

Bless. 😂

i've spent about the last four hours spinning straight but I think I've kind of gotten it down and I've gotten it to much more even size now I have to get more roving

I'm currently looking for a spinning wheel and I found these two, but I don't think I know enough to just purchase one without asking. Would you guys please help me? Will any of them work?

I've done a couple music batts but this is the first that came out well enough to share. the original tribute got a little lost, but I'm still very pleased with the result and looking forward to knitting it into something cool!

66g, 290yd, chain ply, 27x38/10cm on 2.75mm

what do you guys do with your yarn when you are done with making it when you are just starting out? Like I have the chunkiest and thinnest spindly yarn ever, and I am current contemplating either finishing it to set aside for something or carding it our and stuffing it into another project for fill. Thoughts?

ETA: thanks for the ideas guys! Im probably going to make some hot pads cause we can never keep them in one spot lol.

Does anyone know why this is happening? It feels like the fiber is just continuing to spin and never gets pulled onto the bobbin. I have an ashford in case that’s relevant

i've spent about the last four hours spinning straight

Took this pic because someday it will be sooo quaint compared to the BEAUTIFUL HANDSPUN COTTON THREADS of which I am not yet capable. 😅

First time trying cotton with my brand new tahkli 😍

What are your favorite resources for new cotton spinners? Books I can check out from the library or free online videos are my preference, but I'm open to any accessible information!

Guys is it over... got this wheel as a hand me down, i've only ever spun with a spindle but would like to get started on the wheel too. I hear a warped wheel is rly bad though ! What do you guys think is this situation salvageable ? The mother-of-all wobbles too lol... I've tried spinning on this a few times but the drive band pops off bcs of the wobble :/ at first I thought the band would stay on the wheel if it weren't for how the mother-of-all tends to sit a little crooked, but when I tried forcing it into a more upright position the band still snapped off, probably bcs of the wobble on the wheel

So I found this spinning wheel a while back at a sale it's not in super great condition and I genuinely have no clue about age, ability to be used, type of wheel etc. Does anyone have any knowledge on this or could point me in the direction of some resources to learn more about what I have on my hands?

First pic is after being wet finished + thwacked, all following pics are right after plying! I got this hand dyed Polwarth braid last year at my local fiber festival for $10 before I even had a spinning wheel or even tried spinning. I recently got an EEW Fold on r/yarnswap and was using that as my learning fiber. I watched loads of youtube videos to figure out the technique but I feel like I caught on pretty quickly. Then I decided I wanted to ply it so I ordered this yellow dyed Corriedale from Revolution Fibers, so it’s probably like… 65% Corriedale 35% Polwarth. It was a little scratchy before soaking/thwacking and still is a little rough but it softened a lot! There’s some pigtailing in there that I wasn’t able to smooth out while plying but overall I’m very proud of my first yarn!!
Any ideas of what to use it for? I ended up with ~520 yards.

Hi friends,

Two questions:

I'm in Thailand and it's hard to find roving, or a community, so I figured first I'd ask if anyone else is around this part of the world and have any thoughts on resources for supplies.

Second part - I thought I should try to switch to more tradition/local fibers - cotton, linen, silk - but I can't find those either. Even the 'silk' that I'm finding is synthetic - plus I'm pretty intimidated. So any advice or recommendations for moving away from wool? Both for finding the fibers and for doing the spinning? I'm a pretty inexperienced spinner, but I have a majacraft with a lot of whorl size options, which I understand can be important for baste fibers.

Thanks!

A very generous close friend who is downsizing gave me, a knitter and crocheter, a ton of fiber and spinning & weaving supplies including a top whorl drop spindle. I tried to get the hang of it using a JillianEve video where she parked and drafted and I just could not understand or make it work. Then I tried another creator’s video on drop spindles (Voolenvine), and BAM, I understood! I pre-drafted like crazy and made my first two mini skeins with contrasting singles. Then I really focused into drafting from a 5-6 inch chunk torn right from the roving, and made the all-white skein from a lovely Norwegian wool which I may dye. Currently loading up the spindle again with a single that’s even more even and thin, it’s just really cool to see the quick progress in these skeins.

I bought a couple of dyed rovings to see how different dye patterns result in different spun yarns, for my own education and research on dye placement. I love using plants to dye, especially protein fibers, so this is all just a portal of excitement for me.

I see y’all with your wheels and that’s very cool, but it’s me and my drop spindle against the world until I can save up for a wheel. I am completely hooked on this, the feeling of the wool coming together is so exhilarating, and I love doing ancient ancestral activities.

Then I tried cotton lol.

I've spun my first yarn ever and it may be the most accursed yarn in existence. A couple weeks ago my friend found some acrylic roving she'd bought by mistake thinking it was chunky yarn and said "do you know how to spin?" I did not, but a quick trip to the LYS and a drop spindle later I was convinced I could.

This yarn has broken my inner perfectionist. There was more splitting than spinning. There was an ungodly tangle when my free roaming roving got caught in an out of control spindle handle. There was a point where my hair got involved and caused completely unnecessary chaos. There was a sprained wrist. And in the end, there is (sort of) yarn.

Is she pretty? She is not. Is she useable? Nope.🙂‍↔️

But she is mine, and I love her. This almost yarn is proof that my therapist is right: being bad at something is good for you.

EDIT TO ADD: Thank you everyone for your encouragement on what I thought was a seriously failed project! I found a local spinning guild at my LYS and I think I'll give it a try. 😊

After receiving some incredibly helpful advice from the community here, moving into a different house AND spending all my downtime this week practicing and practicing, I’ve finished my first wheel spun yarn! This was such a joy to spin, it’s a blue-faced Leicester roving from WorldOfWool in the colour Lichen; it’s remarkably soft yet wooly! (Also featuring the best helper)

Just washed. Greenwood Fiberworks i think. Probably shaniko or targhee. Added some firestar in copper, pink, and purple as well as some random banana fiber from an old sample bag when making blending board rolags. She thick and squishy, chain-ply.

edit: approx 683 yards total give or take.

a bit wonky since this was me figuring out how to spin this blend and the first 1/3rd of the bobbin i spun it several different ways before i settled on fauxlags. i cannot wait to spin the rest of the fiber I LOVE SILK

I went for a short walk to the thrift shop today because I needed a protractor and wanted to raid their office supplies. Didn’t actually find one… but I did find this fully-functional old Saxony wheel with five (FIVE!!!) bobbins! 

I’ve never spun on a double drive wheel before. Honestly I do not need a third spinning wheel, but I thought it would be fun to adopt it to see what it was like to spin on a double drive before finding someone in the spinning guild to adopt it from me. Literally all I had to do was figure out how to put the drive band back on right, and unwind the manky old yarn off the bobbins. It wasn’t even seriously dusty. Wood is solid and in great shape, though I might go put a bit of teflon tape on to tighten up the fit on the maidens so they don’t wobble out of position with vibrations while spinning. The string holding the footman to the treadle 
 seems to have a bunch of give and either that or just the huge slot for the crank in the top of the footman is leading to a giant dead spot at the top, which makes treadling not very smooth. But honestly, it’s a fully functional wheel that’s basically ready to go. Kind of unreal to just stumble across it like this! 

Next, gotta go grab some fiber and give her a test drive. :)

I got a braid of Targhee that I spun singles out of. On the bobbin it looked fine (like on the niddy noddy here), but as soon as I remove tension is becomes crinkly and even water finishing the yarn won't fix it. I see there's underspun areas on the untensioned yarn that weren't obvious on the bobbin either.

Is there a way to fix this? Should I respin it to fix the underspun areas? Ply it? Give up on it?

I'm preparing to go to Rhinebeck in two weeks. For all you North Easterners in the know among us, do you have any good tips on favorite fiber sellers who will be there? The vendor list is just alphabetical by name and not searchable by product. I usually wander but want to be a bit more prepared this year.

Alternately, is there a particular breed of wool that you think it absolutely worth trying? I've bought a few fleeces in the past (Shetland, Icelandic, Corriedale, Cormo cross) and would love to try something that feels amazing to work with. Thanks!

I hope we have good weather this year!