I participated in my first Spinzilla! If you are unaware of what Spinzilla is, in a nut shell, Spinzilla is a global event where teams and individuals compete in a friendly challenge to see who can spin the most yarn in a week!…Some of these gals are spinning miles and miles of yarn! It is really amazing!
I decided to spin Alpaca, I spun some mill processed Suri and some hand processed (washed and combed by me) Huacaya – I spun a few hours each night and most of Sunday.
I came away Sunday with a slight backache, but I finished with hours to spare before the midnight cutoff and was happy to sit on the couch!
I spun 2,449 yards, it’s not miles and miles of yarn, but it is more than I thought, so am I quite pleased.
Would I do this again? You bet! A great chance to hone your skills. What would I do differently? I would choose to spin colorful braids instead of all one color. Spinning got a bit boring as I spun bobbin after bobbin of brown. I would buy more bobbins, I worked with 4 (hence the bathroom tissue roll wound with my left over single of suri) and I have 1 year to search for a more comfortable spinning chair!
This is what my goal was.SuriHuacayaSuri 2 plyFinal – 2,449 yards.
The Hubs and Baby Girl and I are waiting for our first cria (baby Alpaca) to be born late next summer, the anticipation is agony! In the meantime, I really wanted to learn to spin with Suri Alapaca before we had our own fleece to spin. I know I have many months of waiting ahead of us, but my Gemini mind needs to prepare in advance!
Since I am a new spinner, I have been gathering roving, and fiber to build a small stash to learn on, I might add they have all been wool…last year I bought some Suri Alpaca roving from a ranch that was as soft as silk, I was excited to buy it, I was nervous to spin with it. I wanted to build up my skill first, so I tucked it away in my closet for another day.
As we have settled into the new year, we have defrocked the house of all Christmas items and I finally get a chance to sit down and spin, it has been far too long…I decided to give the Suri Alpaca a go, I was confident enough with my gained knowledge to plow forth….It was a disaster! The staple length was short, it was full of nibs and it simply would not draft, it was a nightmare, in a matter of 5 minutes my fingers were sore from trying to pull this stuff to draft…ugh! I was disappointed, I wasn’t sure what to do… I also had purchased some Alpaca and Tussah silk blend roving from a Fiber festival directly from a ranch that processed their own Alpaca fleece, this stuff glistened. I pulled off a piece and decided to spin it and compare…. this stuff spun like a dream!! I went back to the Suri Alpaca and pre drafted just a tad and it just really fell apart in my hands…I wadded it back up in a ball, threw it up on the table and decided it was destined to be a dryer balls…
Learning to make dryer balls is in my near future!
It’s been a while sine my last post, I have been busy spinnng! And if I must say so myself…I am pleased with my second go around. I started with an 8oz ball of Misty Mountain potluck roving, spun 5.35 oz . I plied it to a 2 ply, for a total of 388 yards!
It was so much easier this time around!
When I purchased my spinning wheel, the kind lady at the store asked me what type of yarn did I want to spin?…without hesitation I told her I would NOT be spinning thin yarn…so what I am doing without even trying? Spinning thin yarn! AND I am loving it!
I think this would make a lovely knitted hat and scarf set for baby girl.
Last week had been a sweltering week! Our temperatures here in Los Angeles soared into triple digits, our hottest day in my areas of travel topped at 106 degrees Fahrenheit!!! Add a little humidity from Hurricane Odile, and it was just a hot and sticky mess. Very thankful for good air conditioning!
I took to the Spinning wheel in the evenings this past week. I started with some Potluck roving in “Black Crimson”.
Potluck Roving “Black Crimson”
I was told this would be easy for a beginning spinner – I watched video’s after videos until I felt confident I could do it. I was primed and ready to go!
I immediately discovered although I am right handed, I am not a right handed spinner! I prefer to spin left handed. Is it that way for everyone??
There is a definite rhythm to spinning, I didn’t think I did to badly at first, there was a lot of kinking, a lot of very thick slubs of wool, yarn not taking up into the bobbin, but as I moved on, it improved!
1st try with the Potluck roving.
My biggest problem was drawing out a consistent amount of wool consistently, I would get huge areas that were thin like thread. So I made a crazy choice… I decided to spin with my eyes closed for a while! I must say, it was quite eye opening! As I spun and drafted I could feel the wool slipping through my fingers, at times, I could feel it totally slipping away, At first I thought I wasn’t drafting enough wool, but I discovered my hand placement was too far for the staple length of the roving, and the “ends” of the staple length slipping through my fingers resulted in the spun thread. After some adjustments to my hand placement, things improved! I spun two almost full bobbins.
2nd Bobbin, See the improvement!
I let the singles sit on the bobbin over night and then I plied! Plying was much easier than I had anticipated, it was so pleased on how the end result looked for the 2 ply. There was left over singles on one bobbin, so I decided I would try Navajo Plying. Can I say HAHAHAHAHAHA! I can see this is going to need some work to perfect! I could not coordinate my hands fast enough! Everything was over twisting, breaking off and it was just a hot mess!
Navajo Plied – Sorry for the lousy photo32 yards 2 ply2 ply
I will save one skein to remind myself where I started! And find a nice small pattern for the remaining. Onward and Forward to the next!
Last night I was able to spend some time at my new spinning wheel. I had some sheep wool of unknown type stashed away for a few years now..I decided to try the wheel out on this wool instead of the Potluck bags of roving I purchased….I am SO glad I made that decision!
The result was…well…not so pretty!
I realize that this is my first bobbin of yarn, and I guess I was expecting something a little prettier! I will ply it, set it, and maybe frame or weave it for nostalgia sake…but it is mine, 100% made by me! And that feels good!
Our day trip out to Solvang was fruitful! We are now the proud owner of a beautiful Kromski Minstrel Spinning Wheel!
The final decision was down to two Kromski wheels, the Minstrel and the Sonata. Although, the Sonata was a tad less effort to treadle, it really came down to the position of the orifice. The Minstrels orifice sits in front of the wheel by a few good inches, and easier for me to see!
I am very happy with the decision, the Hubs likes it as well, and as for Baby Girl, well, its like a car, she will learn on whatever Mom and Dad have.
I have been wanting to learn how to spin yarn for ever! The rhythmic movement of a spinning wheel is mesmerizing. I have always been in “awe” of those who can spin a lovely hand spun. So after visiting an Alpaca farm up in Oregon during our family vacation really but the wheels in motion for a lot of things, so I decided it was time to learn to spin! And it would hopefully become a family affair, and perhaps a place of “zen” from the busy corporate day.
But where to start? Living in the Los Angeles area isn’t a place that screams “Spinning” or “Raw Fiber”, or anything knit or crochet for that matter….so where do I start I asked myself? I found Village Spinning and Weaving in the city of Solvang a friendly dutch community nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley and wine tasting galore!
Since Solvang is only a 2.5 hour drive from where we live, The Hubs and I planned a day trip with Baby Girl. I became excited as the days grew near, I started reading on the different spinning wheels, and visually choosing the one I wanted the most. I had my heart set on looking at the Kromski Minstrel wheel, I was attracted to their old world charm.
Kromski Minstrel
The day arrived of our trip, we found the shop, we walked right in, I blurted out that I wanted to look at spinning wheels! There was a pause in the air, and then the questions came…Double treadle or Single? Scotch Tension or Double Tension? Castle style or the “Saxony “fairy tale” style? Do you want to travel with it? What type of yarn do you want to spin? Art Yarn? Worsted? Lace? I stammered… and thought to myself..I have no clue!
Thankfully Marsha the shop owner was willing to sit with me and show me wheels, We had a crash course in Spinning Wheel anatomy, she asked me questions as I sat and treadled…how do your hips feel? How is the height of the Orifice? Feel the difference between the double tension to scotch tension? Feel the difference between the larger wheel compared to a smaller wheel? Can you feel how this one may be more work to your legs? Listen to this wheel, it is whisper quite compared to this one that hums! They did not have the Kromski Minstrel assembled that day to try out, I tried every double treadle wheel they had that day…I was overwhelmed! But grateful that Marsha spent over 2 hours with us in the spinning wheel room!
We did not buy a Spinning wheel that day BUT, I now knew what I liked mostly in a wheel! Which was very important! It helped to dwindle down my choices! A spinning wheel is an investment so the wheel should be aesthetically pleasing to you and should feel good to your legs and hips when you treadle! I discovered I preferred double tension, I preferred that the bobbin sat in front of the wheel, I preferred that the treadles were farther apart, the hum of the hemp driving the wheel didn’t bother me, but I did like how the poly band made no sound on the wheel at all. So the day trip wasn’t a total loss, we left the store with allot to think about…mainly our next trip back!
Adventures in Fiber 