Spinning (wool)

[SaraR]

I've been having fun spinning recently. I got my drop spindles out and the Ashford Traditional spinning wheel that I bought after seeing it on a basket weaving course 2 years ago.

Despite being 35-40 years old, the Traditional is in a great condition and lovely to spin on. It's fairly small, but not that portable, so I've picked up a little Louet Victoria that weighs half as much and folds up flat.

Today I got the Victoria out for a first go and spent a very enjoyable hour spinning some wool.

I'm not a very proficient spinner, but it's fun and relaxing and hopefully I'll get better at it with practice.

 

[Toddy]

I find spinning to be one of those totally restful, chill out, handcrafts. Himself says he likes the sound of the wheel while I work, and he sits nearby just reading peacefully.

I too have an Ashford (and a craftsman made Hebridean and a 'very' old flax wheel) and it's a lovely wheel to use. Very adaptable too if one wants a heavier or finer yarn. It's always reliable, and needs very little care or adjustment, I find.

What do you do with your yarn ? and do you dye it ?

I knit and weave with mine, and I do a fair bit of natural dyeing.

Do you spin flax too ?

 

[SaraR]

I find spinning to be one of those totally restful, chill out, handcrafts. Himself says he likes the sound of the wheel while I work, and he sits nearby just reading peacefully.

I too have an Ashford (and a craftsman made Hebridean and a 'very' old flax wheel) and it's a lovely wheel to use. Very adaptable too if one wants a heavier or finer yarn. It's always reliable, and needs very little care or adjustment, I find.

What do you do with your yarn ? and do you dye it ?

I knit and weave with mine, and I do a fair bit of natural dyeing.

Do you spin flax too ?

So far, I'm just spinning to practise spinning and then picking a knitting or crochet pattern that suits the yarn, really. I've made some really soft, slubby yarn that I'm going to turn into a knitted cowl. The blue yarn on the spindle might be enough for a small shawl (will have to see what it looks like once plied), or I might combine it with some of the white yarn. We'll see.

I've also bought some hand-dyed fibre, for when I feel like I can be trusted with prettier (and more expensive fibre) and then I have a number of fleeces of various breeds that I am planning to spin up and make something suitable out of. Some of it is slightly rougher, so perhaps better suited for sturdier projects or outer garments. I've washed some of them, but some are still unwashed, waiting for some stable dry weather and for me to get myself in gear. Maybe I should just do the bigger ones in smaller batches...

If it turns out a yarn isn't suitable for knitting or crochet, I can always try nålbindning. It doesn't seem to matter at all if the yarn is a bit uneven or loosely plied, it all works up beautifully anyway and, because you are stitching the yarn through itself, it will never unravel like knitting might if the yarn is too fragile in one spot. I've been toying with the idea of doing new cushions for the settees in the kitchen in nålbindning, but it would probably be a really dumb idea as it would take absolutely ages.

I've only tried spinning flax once when I was little and although I loved working with flax fibres, I've not really had the chance as an adult. I'd love to do some weaving too (wool or linen), but I think that's a rabbit hole best avoided! I do love the repetitiveness of weaving; the warping of the loom, not so much.

What weight finished yarn do you usually spin @Toddy?

 

[Toddy]

I have a theory about nålbindning, I reckon it was originally a good way to use up the thrums, the left over short bits of cut off warp, from weaving cloth. I think in time folks realised that the pieces they made from it were so sound that it kind of took on a life beyond using up scrap stuff. Previously we find sprang much used, but that needs full length yarns, which isn't the case for the nålbindning.

The ladies who taught me to spin were traditional spinners, and they spun fine, even yarns intended for weaving cloth like tweed or tartan and linen for shirts. On the whole they spun worsted style.
So, that's my default spinning, but, that said, you know yourself a decent spinner will spin the yarn thickness and style she chooses, and knitting yarn these days is usually light and fluffy rather than the worsted yarns used more by our grandmothers. Their yarns didn't go bobbly in wear, they were long lasting for things like socks, etc., but they took a lot more knitting than modern yarns do. Three and four ply pullover patterns were common then.

These days I generally spin singles yarn that I Navajo ply up into a double knitting weight.
Occasionally heavier for Aran. Unplyed the yarns are a good weight for weaving or tablet braid.

My near-as daughter in law wants to learn to spin, and to weave tablet braid So, maybe that old spinning wheel will go onto yet another generation instead of heading to a museum I'd like that

I have an entire kist full of naturally dyed wool. I had intended to make two felted wall hangings for the hallway, and the designs are drafted, etc., but RA hit hard and my hands, wrists and elbows just weren't up to the work
I'm one of the lucky ones and I do still heal, never completely, but enough to work again, for a bit. Felting is hard work on hands and wrists. It used to be so easy, but I'm kind of itching to do some again, so, maybe. We'll see

It's lovely to hear of and see someone else's work

 

[SaraR]

The ladies who taught me to spin were traditional spinners, and they spun fine, even yarns intended for weaving cloth like tweed or tartan and linen for shirts. On the whole they spun worsted style.
So, that's my default spinning, but, that said, you know yourself a decent spinner will spin the yarn thickness and style she chooses, and knitting yarn these days is usually light and fluffy rather than the worsted yarns used more by our grandmothers. Their yarns didn't go bobbly in wear, they were long lasting for things like socks, etc., but they took a lot more knitting than modern yarns do. Three and four ply pullover patterns were common then.

I initially got (back) into spinning because I wanted to make Z-plied yarn for twined knitting, which uses thin yarn to make a sturdy, windproof fabric, but obviously takes much longer to knit than ordinary knitting. I think the denser, more hardwearing yarn that you often end up with as a spinner would be perfect for these, but you do need a more consistent yarn than I can produce at the moment.

I too love felting, but it is hard work, especially on the hands! I hope you manage to make your planned wall hangings eventually, but don't over do it!

 

[Ray Smears]

Very nice.
As a child I lived on a farm near a woodland.
My father kept sheep on our small holding.My mother had a spinning wheel as a birthday present one year.
My father used to shear the sheep in the summer,and we used to collect it all up to wash some of the oils out of it. She used to dye it with natural colours from plants from hedgerows. I used to ‘card’ the wool for my mother who then span it into balls and then knit my dad,my brother and myself jumpers for xmas.
She is 88, and still knits.
Regards
Ray

 

[SaraR]

Very nice.
As a child I lived on a farm near a woodland.
My father kept sheep on our small holding.My mother had a spinning wheel as a birthday present one year.
My father used to shear the sheep in the summer,and we used to collect it all up to wash some of the oils out of it. She used to dye it with natural colours from plants from hedgerows. I used to ‘card’ the wool for my mother who then span it into balls and then knit my dad,my brother and myself jumpers for xmas.
She is 88, and still knits.
Regards
Ray

My mom experimented a lot with dyeing wool using various plants and mushrooms when my brother was little. I remember helping her collect various plants and the awful, yet strangely compelling smell when it was cooking away on the hob.

 

[swyn]

My wife is a weaver and sometimes makes felted items when she’s not so busy in her sewing workshop. She has compiled a sample book of how natural dyes colour wool. Beetroot, parsnip are in there alongside many others.
Her once upon specialty was kilim restoration so colouring wool to match was important.
Yes SaraR some things do smell interesting!

 

[SaraR]

Not wool this time, but silk. The last two nights, I've attended two online workshops run by Katie of Hilltop Cloud on how to spin various types of silk. I had a lot of fun and learnt a lot, even if some of them definitely will take some work to get the hang of.

On the first night, we did Tussah silk (easy) using two different drafting techinques and then Mulberry silk (hard). I had clearly forgotten how to do an Andean plying bracelet so really struggled with the plying of the tussah silk. It looked a lot nicer as a single, honest! ;D


On the second night, we did 4 different types of silk/silk preparations, namely Peduncle silk (easy and a pretty natural grey/brown colour), Red Eri silk (harder but gorgeous natural golden colour), silk hankies (fun, easy, sooo soft, but very different to prep), and sari silk (leftovers from the production of saris), which had really short fibres and was quite stressful to spin but resulted in a suprisingly nice yarn.



I had reminded myself how to make Andean plying bracelets before the second session, so the plying was a doddle, which shows how much I was struggling with the red eri silk. I'm sure a bit of time in front of the wheel without distractions will sort that out though.