So, what am I the furthest behind on for January? Sock batts, which I’m actually behind on since December. I blame the whole Tooth Saga, which I am not going to get into in detail for fear of causing other dentistophobes to squick to death. Here’s a little bit of what will be coming up […]

The most Abby’s put on a top whorl yet.

Here’s an 8-minute video showing the very basics of drop spindle spinning, using a low whorl spindle made from hardware store materials (a dowel and a drawer pull) and some midgrade commercial wool fiber. Multiple angles, closer view of hand actions, hopefully functional descriptions of the process! This is aimed at helping out anybody who […]

On learning to weave and spin

Oh, my poor poor productivity, such as it is this month! Last week it was ravaged by oral surgery, and today that continues as in about an hour I head out to have all my wisdom teeth removed. I’m afraid my family has also suffered, as I’ve been pretty cranky about stuff like my mouth […]

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. […]

So help me, yesterday I hardly did anything. Why? I was hammered by oral surgery. Er, literally hammered, even — turns out that’s part of getting an implant into your jaw. Ugh. But the worst is over, I think. Today, too, will be lean on productivity, since I’m going to a different dentist as well. […]

Well, yesterday I turned 35, which seems somehow implausible, but there it is. It was a very pleasant birthday. I seamed toes of a few autoknitter socks, and tried some to-be-seamed ones on after that to see if I really felt like grafting the toes, or if I would rather rip and reknit them. This, […]

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 […]

I spent the weekend largely on the autoknitter, and have been rewarded with this: In case it’s hard to tell, that’s a grand total of 5 pairs of socks. Now, frankly, I think I’m going to get 3 pairs for real, and end up ripping the other 2. I have another pair mid-rip — some […]