Spinning Tuesdays

Popular Posts: How much Fiber Do I Need?

This was the most popular spinning post of 2018. Everybody wants to shop! Originally posted in October 2018. Rhinebeck is this weekend, I can feel the shopping fever mounting! I get asked “how much fiber should I buy?” in most of my spinning classes. The urgency ramps up when I’m teaching at a fiber show or there’s a big show coming up. Do you know what you’re going to buy yet? I usually make a shopping map. Here are my quick and dirty shopping amounts for commercial fiber: 4oz – socks, hats, small cowls 8 oz – infinity scarves, big cowls, small shawls 12oz – big ...

Popular Posts: Is Rigid Heddle Weaving for You?

This was the second most popular post of 2018. I’m curious, how many of you have bought a rigid heddle loom in the past year? Do you use it with your handspun? Originally posted in August 2018. Weaving. I know you’ve thought about it, maybe even looked at classes or looms. It seems like everyone has started weaving. It’s such a good way to use up stash! Rigid heddle weaving seems like a good starting point, but you’re not sure if it’s really for you. Liz Gipson is a genius at teaching rigid heddle weaving and she used to write a great weaving column, Get Warped for Knitty. She has just ...

Popular Posts: Handspun Summer Sachet

I’m still crazy for these little sachets. I’ve made some for gifts, but have this original one on my desk where I can pet it and smell it everyday. Originally posted in August 2018. This summer I challenged myself to make a quick handspun project that I could make while traveling, something portable, something useful. I made a Summer Sachet. It needs two Schacht Zoom Loom squares, a bit of yarn for embroidering and sewing and a little dried lavender. Zoom Loom squares only need 8 yards of yarn, quick to spin on a spindle. The stitching yarn uses even less yardage. I used a braid of Lisa Souza’s ...

Popular Posts: What to Do with Fiber Slush

My favorite thing to do with fiber slush now is to wind it into .25 ounce balls, and use them to randomly blend colors at the wheel. I can’t get enough of those little babies. Originally posted in September 2018. Fiber slush is what I call all of the leftovers from spinning, the bits or lengths of unspun fiber that I can’t bring myself to just throw away. Using fiber slush is a great opportunity to just play with fiber. It’s not fiber I’ve bought with anything specific in mind, so what I use it for is to stretch my creative spinning and color muscles. I use it to make batts. Fiber slush is the ...

August is for Filling My Bucket and Revisiting Popular Posts

In August I’ve planned to do more making work and less writing work. I’ll be at my wheel, needles, and loom experimenting and just filling my self up with making. I’ll also be studying the statistics from the KnittyBlog. I’m looking for what posts were popular in 2017 and 2018, so I can give you more of that in upcoming posts. Here on the KnittyBlog on Spinning Tuesdays in August, I’m going to be reposting the four most popular posts of 2018, that aren’t giveaways. Those, by far, are our most popular posts! If you know what you’d like to see more of here on the blog, please ...

Spinzilla Is No More

The news has been creeping out slowly, and if you’ve heard the rumor, it’s true. Spinzilla is no more. For a variety of reasons The National Needlework Association has decided to discontinue Spinzilla.  Here’s the official announcement from TNNA. I’ve participated many years, it’s always been fun to spin and just as fun to watch everyone else spin on the years I couldn’t squeeze it in. I do appreciate that TNNA recognized that it hasn’t been running as smoothly as it should. What will you and your spinners do instead of Spinzilla?         How is your Tour ...

Latest Addition to My Spinning Kit: Light

Am I getting older or are the rooms we take classes in getting darker? Probably a little of both. The more I teach in rooms with few (or any) windows the more I crave light. Instead of complaining about it, I’ve decided to combat it with an addition to my spinning kit. A headlamp. So simple and easy. We have a bunch kicking around my house. We use them for camping. We’ve had them since the kids were little, they would wear them for various games of pretend and reading in bed. They are available lots of places, outdoor stores, on-line and the camping aisle of big box stores. I don’t leave it turned ...

Knittyspin First Fall 2019: Combos Cross Pollinated

Have you been spinning combos after reading my Knittyspin Column? Which combo intrigues you right now, combo spin or combo draft? I’m just happy to finally see the difference between the two up close and swatched! Of course, as soon as I finished swatching the two combos I wanted to know what yarn and cloth would look like if I combined one-ply of combo spun yarn and one-ply of combo drafted yarn.         Luckily, I had leftover singles on both bobbins. I plied them together and knit a swatch. It’s exactly a combination of the two yarns. There are speckles of color from the combo ...

Knittyspin First Fall 2019: Bremen Library Bag

  When the Bremen Library Bag came ins as a submission for First Fall Knittyspin, I knew I would publish it. The Bremen Town Musicians was one of my favorite folk tales when I was little, I even have a set of stuffed animals that stack. Then I read the pattern. The fibers used in the bag are all were all gifted to the designer, Stefanie Johnson, which gives the bag instant happy thoughts every time she uses it. The spinning and the construction are so smart. She uses black alpaca spun worsted for strength and smoothness. It also showcases the multicolored yarn. The multicolored fiber is a batt, that she plied to ...

Getting Ready for Tour de Fleece

This year I won’t be spinning for the Tour de Fleece. I’ll be be between teaching gigs, unpacking and repacking. I will be spinning, but not at a TdF level or with much focus. I love the massive amount of spinning, or just focused spinning I can do in three weeks. I like to not stress about it, including not watching actual bike racing. Some years I spin pounds, some (most) years I spin a skein of yarn. Last year I spun one skein of thick-ish sock yarn for a pair of shorty socks. I am always happy with what I get done, and I always learn something.     Here are some suggestions for a smooth and ...
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