I’ve been spinning too
Like Leonor, I have been spinning. Unlike Leonor, all I ever make are small skeins. I like to use my drop spindles and make little bits for in my felting.
I’ve been spinning some of World of Wool’s peacock fibre. It is in the process of being played. I think the sparkle shows. It is 87.5% Corriedale Wool and 12.5% rainbow trilobal Nylon.
It has a lovely sparkle and I really like it. Which is a good thing because I have 500 grams of it. I split a kg with Jan but she doesn’t like it, so may have to buy it back from her. Or maybe she will sell it at the upcoming Guild sale. Then she could use the money to buy different wool.
I do most of my spinning these days at guild socials. As long as Jan doesn’t have a giant pile of books for me to put away. This is one I finished plying last Monday. I used the ball winder at the guild and then plyed it and made it into a ball again. It is much faster than doing it by hand but not as zen. Jan made a video of me using the ball winder. I don’t like this one it made a lopsided ball.
I can’t remember what fibre this is, merino and silk I think but I am not sure.
I have a zip lock freezer bag I keep in my basket that I put the finished balls in. This is what else was already in there. You may have seen them before but I can’t remember.
This is one I got at a festival. I think I showed you the fibre but not the spinning. It has lots of bits and bobs in it and some sparkle.
This one is from a World of Wool Bambino sample pack. It is 85% Merino Wool and 15% Bamboo. I think it is called Hickory Dickory It spins very nicely.
Now I have to decide what to spin next. Maybe I will card myself some rolags.
18 thoughts on “I’ve been spinning too”
Maybe stick to balling up your wool by hand Ann? You don’t seem to be enjoying the mechanical process much and the result isn’t so good – your hand winding is always very neat 🙂
The colours of the wool you’ve spun are lovely and small quantities of wool should sell well at shows – we often buy very small skeins, when we can find them, for inclusion in felting.
Thanks ladies. I don’t really like ball winders. They never wind smoothly so the ball isn’t tensioned the same all the way through.
I have old small skeins before. they sold alright. They may sell better now with more people felting.
You do make lovely yarn balls on the nostabin by hand no wonder the ball winders are having trubble liveing up to your expectations!!
Monday you did a book shuffle, put away a big pile of books (sorry) and got some spinning, plying and ball winding done! i will try to have less large piles of books to put away for at least a few weeks!
Thanks Jan. I enjoy making the balls. The work has to get done one way or another.
That peacock fibre looks lovely spun up. What will you do with it I wonder? I also like the brown ball with bits and sparkle in it. I must admit I do like fibres with trilobal in them. I’ve got lots of trilobal and mix it in when making up carded batts if I think I can get away with it.
Ann
I like sparkle too and tribal nylon is nice and soft. some sparkle fibres are scratchy. the brown is quit orange really but a nice burnt orange
Your wool is beautiful. Such lovely colours, all are, but I think the peacock colour is especially so.
Thanks Marie, It is a lovely colour.
They look very nice. I hope you post pictures of how you use them in your felting.
Thank you, eventually they will get used but I am not sure when.
I love the neatness of your yarn balls. I’m not a big fan of the nylon because I am not really a shiny person but your mixtures are pretty.
Thanks Ruth, I like sparkly things but am not a sparkly person if that makes sense?
Lovely to see someone using a spindle! I can’t manage them, try as I may… Those skeins look lovely, looking forward to seeing them incorporated into your felting.
(As an aside, since you mention freezer bags – do you freeze your fibre before working with it? I hear it’s a great idea to kill moth eggs and I wonder if you’ve ever tried it…)
Thanks. I like my spindles. My wheel was nice but I just don’t want to spin that much of one thing. the nice think about spindles Is I have at least a doz and I still haven’t bought a spinning wheels worth yet.
I just use a zip lock freezer bag because its bigger and sturdier than a regular sandwich bag. I have frozen wool but you need to do a freeze thaw, freeze thaw cycle a couple of times to make sure. The eggs can survive freezing. I have used the parasitic wasps when I found some in my studio and they work great. if you search I posted on here about it with a video of the wasps.
Ann, you know that synthetic sparkle gives me a bad case of the whim-whams, but your spinning is really top notch!
LOL Thanks, I know it gives you the heebie jeebies and there is always the fear of sparkle spread.
Ann, can you remember what your post about using parasitic wasps to get rid of clothes moths was called? I’ve done a couple of searches as you suggest, but I can’t find the post.
Ann
They all look beautiful Ann. Any of these balls would be whipped up at a fibre sale.
Not sure if it is the time of year but I love the autumnal mix.