In the first few episodes of the Give Me A Crown podcast I’ve spoken about the process of spinning this merino fibre and knitting it in to a cowl. This post will go in to more depth about the steps as I took photos along the way (in various lighting conditions so please forgive the quality of the shots), and I’ll explain the moment of clarity that I had about ways to spin gradient yarn for one-skein projects to maintain the gradient. Continue reading
While I was visiting my mum for the Christmas break I dropped in to her local craft shop to say thank you to the owner for the free alpaca fleece she gave me the previous Christmas when I was learning to spin yarn on my DIY drop spindle. I told her how much fun I had been having with my drop spindle and that I was hoping to get a spinning wheel at some point when a lady in the shop piped up to say that she knew where I could get a spinning wheel. It turned out that she had a spare wheel that she was looking to sell! Continue reading
What is it about summertime that I’ve become interested again in spinning yarn? I first gave it a whirl last summer and I’ve played with it randomly through the year but last week I truly got the urge to make use of a big bunch of fibre my mum had given me. Continue reading
Just before Christmas I stumbled on youtube videos about spinning yarn. I’ve thought about making yarn on a spinning wheel but I didn’t realise that you could do it inexpensively with a drop spindle until I watched videos on the technique and found information about making your own drop spindle.
Visiting my mum for a week, we went to a hardware store and picked up a length of dowel and, unable to find a circular piece of wood, bought three coaster pieces which we stuck together. With a cup hook, some glue, and a drill, we made a drop spindle!
I was keen to get spinning but I didn’t have any fibre so we raided my mum’s tapestry wool stash of odds and ends which I spent time plying together. I found out later that I should have been plying in the opposite direction (against the original twist) which might have made my yarn easier to work with, but this is the point of trying… you learn. Continue reading