I just completed probably my best ever spinning. It started life as Fyberspates Sparkle Fibre dyed top, a luxurious blend of merino, silk and glittery stelina, in ‘grey and mauve’. It’s pretty, evenly spun, evenly plied, bouncy and soft, but… I’m not overjoyed with it. First of all, I seem incapable to skinning two skeins [...]
First there was 100 g of strange-looking fibre; a mix of wool, angora, trilobal and my nemesis, mohair. Obtained in a fibre swap, this ugly duckling languished in the cupboard for some time. One day, for reasons mainly of curiosity, it made its way onto the spinning wheel. It was chain plied and came out [...]
Gifts have been gifted and I can now reveal what became of my recently spun yarn. Fingerless mittens turn out to be perfect for accommodating the unevenness of handspun. This pair were knitted from the , they are ridiculously soft. And this pair from the . I’m particularly pleased with the Colinette pair – the [...]
When I saw Fyberspates tweet last week about adding new Sparkle fibre to their shop I was unable to resist. Pretty colours, glitter, merino & silk? Obviously I ordered two batches. It did not disappoint, I have already spun one lot. As usual, I hit no particular gauge, it’s something like a light DK. This is not my best [...]
I’ve had the spinning wheel out again, attempting to spin chunkier yarn. Exactly as I was warned when I , once you can spin fine, it’s near impossible to spin thickly. I’m not even talking particularly thick – aran weight would be great, I’ve got lots of uses for that. I didn’t quite manage it [...]
My spinning wheel has been staring at me from the corner of the room, guilt-tripping me for months. There’s no particular reason why I haven’t been spinning, other pastimes felt more appealing. As time passed, I started to dread that I might have lost the ability and it would be too much like hard work. [...]
When I bought my wheel back in April 2009, although I ordered a range of fibres, I got hooked on spinning dyed merino top because of the amazing range of colours available. With hindsight this wasn’t the easiest thing to learn with – it has a tendency to make a wirey, compacted yarn, even after carding. It’s [...]
A lot can happen in a few days in the business of spinning. I’ve been playing with the bits and bobs I bought following my spinning beginnings at The Handweavers Studio. The fibre is a dream to spin compared with the unwashed fleece used in the workshop, making the carders I bought superfluous, but I’m sure [...]
I’ve wanted to try my hand at spinning for some time – knitting a garment from scratch is pretty cool but knitting something from your own hand-spun yarn is a whole other level. There are the obvious advantages of being able to extend the creative process to yarn, getting the exact colour combination, blend and texture [...]
