I’ve been asked, what do the sock batts spin up like? Here’s an example using one batt of the Crown Jewels Luxury Sock Blend (superwash merino and tussah silk). Top: the batts. Middle: the single. Bottom: the 2-ply sock yarn after washing. This is a 2-ply yarn; the skein came to 145 yards, and weighs […]

On learning to weave and spin

Someone asked me the other day whether or not I ever spin non-traditional yarns. Why yes, in fact, I do. But the thing is, I don’t use a lot of novelty yarn; it just doesn’t serve any real purpose for me. For the most part, I spin to produce yarn that I want to use. […]

Here’s one good way to start winding yarn onto a low whorl or bottom whorl spindle, shown with a dowel-and-a-drawer-pull make-it-yourself spindle: With spindle on its side so it’s easy to control, just wrap the end of your yarn or leader around it in one direction: Go several wraps up, tightly. You can hold the […]

As published in Fiber Femmes, January 2007

Louet’s new unbelievably tiny portable powerhouse is also finally a flyer lead scotch tension wheel, robust enough to fit almost every need! Read the details in my real-world test report.

The Basics of Spinning Wheel Drive Ratios Spinning wheels are pulley systems. Changing ratios is basically the same principle as changing gears on a bicycle, except instead of sprockets and chains, you’ve got pulleys and drive bands. Simply put, a ratio of 5:1 means that the drive wheel’s circumference is 5 times that of the […]

Leslie’s sweater yarn is now complete, and shipped off to her! I’m left with three partly-full bobbins of single-ply yarn, which I’ll finish up and keep for myself, and two batts that I expect I’ll spin very fine, again, for myself. By completion, about 45 hours total were spent on the yarn, from dyeing and […]

A few weeks back, I embarked on an exciting custom spinning project for a longtime friend, who wrote me to say she was ready to start knitting the sweater of her dreams, and did I have the right yarn for it by any chance? I wrote her back immediately telling her I insisted she let […]

One of the questions I hear often these days is “I have a spindle with no hook or notch to hold the yarn — how do I work this half-hitch thing I’ve heard about?” I grew up spinning this way, on Peruvian low whorl spindles which are as simple a spindle as you can get: […]