Tag: handspun

Electric Eel Mini Spinner 2 Kickstarter

Here’s a Kickstarter I backed as soon as I saw it, the Electric Eel Mini Spinner 2!I was a little late to the party, so I’ll be waiting for mine a bit. This Kickstarter closes December 20th, so if you want to be in the first round click over and sign up. The Kickstarter packages start at $60. The first Electric Eel Mini Spinner, was really popular. I know a lot of people who bought one, some liked it some weren’t so happy with it, but that’s the way all wheels are. A student brought the first version to a class I taught in Florida, so I got to put my hands on it, and I liked it more than I ...

Thanksgiving is for Zen Spinning

In the U.S. it will soon be Thanksgiving. It’s a day for family, friends and food, and frankly trying to do too much. I see so many of my friends put too much pressure on themselves to have perfect houses, perfect tables, perfect food, and end up exhausted and stressed. When they take time to spin on Thanksgiving, the pressure is on to spin for holiday gifts. I am here to ask all of you spinners to take some time for Zen spinning on Thanksgiving. Spin with no project or outcome in mind. Take some time for yourself. Spin your favorite fiber with your favorite draft, and bask in the beauty of spinning with those ...

Combo Spin vs. Combo Draft

I’ve had a bunch of emails lately asking about Combo Draft and Comb Spin. The word Combo has become like the word Worsted, one word many meanings and applications, and it can be confusing! A Combo Spin is a way to select, divide and ply enough braids to make a sweater. It typically uses braids that are in the same color family, divides them into smallish sections (16 per braid). The sections are spun randomly, and then plied. The first time I heard about it was through this episode of the PassioKnit Spinner’s podcast. It really caught on with spinners and there have been several  Combo SAL/ KALs using ...

Labeling Handspun; PLY Away 4 Registration is Open

One of the things I do to get ready for winter spinning, knitting and weaving is label my miscellaneous skeins of handspun. I’m pretty good at labeling my yarn, but a few still get through.  I’m not always thorough at labeling either. I tag my just-to-spin skeins with a tyvek wristband and the basics of the yarn – fiber, company, yardage (before finishing), and that’s pretty much it. I like to go back and add a little detail to these skeins.       I do this so when I want to knit or weave with my handspun that’s wasn’t specifically spun for the project I know what ...

How Much Fiber Do I Need? Rhinebeck Edition

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 shawls, vests 16oz-32oz+ – sweaters. I make an x-large sweater; I always buy 2 pounds. Here are some of the ...

Spinning at WEBS

WEBS had their second Spinning Summit this past weekend and I was lucky and grateful to teach. It was a mighty gang that gathered to spin with Amy King, Beth Smith and me. We taught three classes each. The attendees somehow picked three out of the nine classes. I taught Fractal Frolic, Successive Plying, and premiered a new class – Match Game. It’s all about learning to match, project, intention and yarn for a knitting project. I’m teaching this next in a couple of weeks at SAFF. My students were dedicated and really fast spinners. They had a ton of questions and burned through all of the material ...

Handspun Summer Sachet

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 gorgeous (and so soft) Superfine Merino in her South Pacific colorway. I spun and wove it as it came into a almost-worsted weight 2-ply for the square. For the embroidery, I broke out purple and ...

What Do You Make with Your Handspun?

I’ve been excited and curious about many crafts lately besides knitting, I want to learn everything about them, and if they have anything to do with fiber or cloth I want to spin for them. The two that are big on my radar are embroidery and weaving. Other crafts that are jumping up and down trying to get my attention are sewing, punch needle, and watercolor. I want to be more methodical about some more than others. With embroidery I’m just jumping in, buying some gorgeous preprinted patterns to stitch, and every once in a while I’ll spin some yarn and stitch with it for part of the pattern. Weaving ...