Just found this group and glad of it too.
I started spinning on 7th June 2010, yes, just a few days ago.
I bought a secondhand wheel and the lovely seller gave me an introductory lesson.
Since then I have spun my way through a fabulous amount of roving and Merino. On Tuesday an unsuspecting teacher is expecting me for a lesson. She lives about twelve miles from me on an Alpaca farm. Hopefully she'll teach me the basics of spinning with Alpaca.
It sounds as if you are really enjoying yourself! Alpaca is a lovely fibre, and you should have no problems spinning with it if you can manage merino! Its a great hobby that leads on to other things, like dyeing, weaving felting etc, as you convert your fleece and tops stash into beautiful yarns. some of us just love looking at and patting our yarns, others like using them, it really doesn't matter which you do.
And you know you are a spinning addict when the family pet runs on the other direction when it sees you with a brush or comb in your hands - cat and dog hair spin up beautifully!
I bought a white merino and a white blue face leicester fleeces yesterday at a small fiber fair.The merino is a little bit tippy, so I am definitely combing the fleece. It is pretty long for merino, about six inch staple, which attracted me, as well as the cleanliness of the fleece and the fine crimp. This will be a nice spin. The BFL has a lovely tight curl. I will probably run this one through my carder, since I can only comb so much wool in my whole life. But the BFL is shiny, too. Both irrisistable.
There is a wonderful world of fleeces out there to spin. Have fun.
Aunt Janet
Thanks for the welcome!
Spinning is addictive and very soothing and enjoyable. I love it a lot already!
I have just washed some of my threads and they came out so soft and cuddly. My problem is that none of the bundles are big enough to knit a garment, socks or hat etc. I'll just have to be content to pat and stroke my yarns at this time.
Sorry, my wools have been Blue Faced Leicester not Merino. The roving was given to me to try on my new spinning wheel. I haven't tried Merino yet. I have a collection of silk threads that worked well with the BFL, giving it strength and a little extra gloss.
Do any of you spinners use water while spinning? If so why and does it make a difference? One of the books I am reading says one should use water with organic thread because it helps to release pectin which makes the thread stronger even after washing and finishing.
You use water to spin flax. I'm pretty sure that is where you get the pectin that makes the thread stronger. Hemp also benifits from using water as you spin. I'm weaving with some hemp yarns now and thinking about wetting them as I weave to see what they do. It is a little backstrap project, so good to experiment. The yarn is really too thick for the project and stiff to work with, so I thought that maybe the wetting will make it bend around the other threads easier. I'll let you know when I get back to it. I'm off to Black Sheep Gathering in a few days, so all projects are put on the back burner for the moment.
Have you tried spinning any cellulose fibers yet? I love spinning cotton. I haven't found good fine linen strick yet. The last batch I got spun up like coarse hemp. It will work for rug warp or weft, so that is probably what I'll use it for. I did find a super nice blend of cotton and linen that I need to get out and finish up. I spun one skein boucle of the blend, just to prove to myself that I could do it.
Since I got my big loom, I have decided that I don't really want to sell my handspun yarns. I want to weave them!
Aunt Janet
I know all about that, hehe! Even the bulky stuff will make nice scarves.
I am impatiently awaiting the arrival of my new baby - the Katie.
I'm spinning much finer now with the intention of spinning warp, but its a slow business as I tend to underspin rather than overspin. One thing with a spindle - it drops when I do that, but it still requires great concentration on what I am doing to get enough twist into it so that its not soft and fluffy once its plied!
Caroline
I also have the problem of underspinning. For me it is because my hands are faster than my wheel. I would love to have a wheel with a 40-1 ratio. My trusty Louet has something like 17 or so with the fastest whorl on the high speed bobbins. I have to wait for the twist to get in there, and I just don't have the patience for that. I bought a very fast charka 115-1 ratio, built by Alden Amos. Nice wheel for cotton and other fine fibers. I haven't used it enough to feel real competent with it, and it still feels just a bit awkward. It isn't the answer to my wool spinning.
One reason I'm sticking to the Louet is the size of the bobbins. I spun a really full bobbin this week of fairly fine alpca yarn, and packed 800 yards on that baby! It is just nice to have uninterrupted spinning, even though I would like it to spin faster. It is also the best wheel for speed spinning competition. New secret weapon is the jumbo flier. Now in competition I can pack more yarn on without having to change bobbins. I've had to put on second bobbin in a 20 minute speed competition in the past. They will never catch me now! Just kidding. I've been beat a few times, though never by my nemesis, Ace. It is one of his goals in life to beat me at the speed spinning competition. Never going to happen.
Caroline, are you spinning a worsted yarn for your warps? You know I've really been enjoying combing and spinning worsted yarns. They make great warp. It is also great for scarves because it creates such a drapey yarn.
OT: I crashed my browser today trying to upgrade, so I'm using DH's computer for this post. Fortunately my computer is still under warranty with great customer service. See ya all when I get this fixed, and after BSG.
Janet
Yes, I'm spinning worsted. I'm lucky to be able to get fibres I can pull from the bag and spin, so the most prep anything gets is a little flick from my fingers, or the dog comb, and away I go. I also spin worsted on my Babe charkha. The Babe is a lot slower than your Alden Amos, but I have larger quills to compensate, and I can use almost any fibre I choose on it. Its perfect for warp yarn. For several years it was my only wheel and is still my favourite. I used some of my early spun Romney singles in a warp and was surprised at how strong it was! I also had very little problem with it twisting out of control as I warped up.
I've never done a speed competition - Adelaide is a bit of a backwater, but I want to have another go at the Bothwell longest thread on a spindle next year. I have my spindle chosen, and the yarn as well, a very fine Merino English Leicester cross, that I can spin so fine I cannot see it. The alternative is a fine merino fleece from a beast that went AWOL for a couple of years. Its also very fine, and long. I ended up entering a dark brown merino thread last time, spun up in a hurry, and it wasn't as fine as I know I can do it. It was a very short fibre and I was not happy with it, but it will make a lovely weft yarn when spun woollen style.
Caroline,
I was wondering about the "longest thread" competition that you enter. Do you spin your yarn at home, then enter the skein of a certain weight? What is the weight? Are there any requirements o the fiber type?
We compete on site here at our local fairs. I would like to enter one that I can spin at home. I don't have a good wheel for fine spinning, so I always spin on a tiny spindle. I've won this competition a couple of times, but I think it would be a better competition if we could spin a larger weight than the 2/10 gram they give us.
Just wondering.
Janet
Its the Bothwell Longest Thread competition, held every other year. We pick our own wool fleece, breed is not important - well it is but we do not have to use Merino exclusively, and spin the finest and longest 2 ply yarn we can from 10 grams of washed fleece. The world record on both spindle and wheel is way in excess of 1 Km, in fact its over a mile - of 2 ply! I'm nowhere near approaching any sort of attack on the world record, but managed a creditable 4th place, not bad for a first effort.
The website for the competition is here:
www.bothwellspinin.com/spinin/
Its an international competition so everyone is welcome to try in the various classes!
Very cool! I know I'm not world record worthy, but this looks like a fun competition to me. I printed out the 2011 competition form. I'm definitely going to enter.
Thanks for the link.
Janet
Great! Happy spinning! I'll have to get out my very fine fleece and see what I can do!
Caroline,
I don't really know where to find wool fine enough to use for this competition. Do you have any suggestions?
Janet
Janet, can you get hold of any Merino or Rambouillet? It needs to be fine, and reasonably long because its spun worsted. I have used Merino/English Leicester cross, because a friend of mine is breeding that cross, and the fibres are as fine as Merino. Sue McNiven made the world record with a 15 micron merino fleece she purchased in Tasmania and took back to Scotland. If you find her website she actually wrote about spinning for the Bothwell on a wheel.
Friends have suggested to use the neck or chest fibres, as that is where the finest fibres are. I gently washed the locks, because you have to save one to send in, and then I used a dog comb to align them, and spun from that. I shall do the same this year. The other tip is not to wash the skein after you have plied it, otherwise it might shrink! My spindle is a toy Barbie bike wheel on the end of a plastic paint brush with the hair pulled out, and weighs 7 grams when I take the tyre off and spins like a tornado.
I use the black tyre on it for plying. Your yarn needs to be pretty robust and has to stand going through something like one of those wheels they use for measuring roads - they had it specially made.
Its a good challenge and drove me nits for months trying to spin finer and finer!
Well, i browsed the internet last evening and found a couple of sources that sell by the pound. I really don't need a whole fleece of super fine Merino. I have a Merino fleece that I'm combing on my Peter Teal combs. It isn't super fine, but lovely. One fleece will hold me for the season.
I'll probably comb the super fine also. If it is too short for the Teal combs, I have Vikings and mini combs which will do the job. I'm getting excited about this competition. Yes, I know it will be tedious when I get going, but a cool challenge.
Your Barbie spindle is cute! I make my little spindles from a wooden knitting needle, size 2 03 three, and a bead. I have a nice little disk bead that I got on Etsy, and a wooden one I bought at BSG a few years ago. Either of these will make a very fine thread for me.
I'm determined, and resolved to spin a super fine thread at our spin-off in August as a warm-up. In this local competition we don't ply. That is going to be quite a challenge with these thin singles. Well, I have some time to practice. I guess I'll be carrying my tiny spindles and super fine wool around with me the next few months.
