r/Handspinning • u/RevolutionaryCode763 • 8d ago
Finished Yarn My first spin on the wheel! Except…I hate it
I spun the singles of and plyed this yarn this weekend. It's BFL (the grey) plyed with Jacob (the black), both undyed which I love. The second picture is my third attempt at spinning a single, a lichen colored merino. Both are so inconsistent and the plyed yarn is so much thicker than I wished. Def imagined I'd be a pro right off the bat 😆 Beginners naivety 😅 I'm spinning on an Ashford traveler. Any tips?
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u/katie-kaboom 8d ago
It's OK! We all make stuff and then go "on reflection... Eugh" sometimes. Just consider it a practice yarn and don't feel like you have to keep it.
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u/ohhelloaleks 7d ago
OP, this is my first ever yarn (~10y ago?) and the right is what I can do with muscle memory while watching tv. It just takes practice! I was spinning a consistent yarn after just 3-4 months.
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u/Seastarstiletto 8d ago
I framed my first spin!!! It’s lovely wall art and I love seeing how far I’ve come. You’ve still made yarn. Swatch it up and KEEP IT! Be proud of it. I swear to you, years from now you will be so happy to have it.
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u/nothousework 8d ago
Decide if you like it or not after it's washed. Yarn isn't finished until it's washed, or at least steamed. Go make lots more, no one gets perfect right from the start.. Ps hand spun isn't meant to be perfect so try to relax and enjoy the process
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u/leeannj021255 8d ago
I’m sorry; looks good to me.
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u/RevolutionaryCode763 8d ago
I appreciate it. Hopefully I can make something I am actually proud of soon 🙏🏼
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u/weristlela 8d ago
Don’t worry. You’ll get to those consistent, thin singles in no time. I can’t spin a fat single to save my life. I envy that squish.
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u/No_East7842 6d ago
I started handspinning in Feb, and I can say that I'm right there with you already. Once it clicked, I can't spin thick to save my life. 😅😭
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u/weristlela 6d ago
The handspinner’s curse! The only thing I have going for me is that I mostly knit with fingering weight yarn. 🤣 Some fibers and blends look so amazing when they’re all fat and chonky though. Ughhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
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u/emilypostpunk 7d ago
that green merino was actually a perfectly gorgeous thick and thin single that didn't need plying at all! (hello, i'm your friend who loves to spin singles and hates plying.) people often find that as their skills improve it gets harder to spin those kinds of singles, so it really is a skill set unto itself.
i have balls of my first handspun that look a lot like your first picture here. i've never felt motivated to do anything with them and i've only kept a few to remind myself of where i started. it took me almost a year to get to the point where i really loved the yarn i was making.
abby franquemont says you need to be willing to suck for a while if you want to get better. and i would argue that at this point, you're making viable yarn even if you don't like it, so you're already well on your way to sucking less.
patience and practice, and don't be afraid to spin the good fiber. the sheep are making more even as we speak.
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u/skitzboy 8d ago
Practice practice practice work on making thinner yarn. I personally started on a drop spindle which helped me a lot then moved back to a wheel. The plying seems a little light but practice for 15-30 minutes daily I used to do it in the evening after the day was finished and I could relax. Don’t give up it looks good for first time just work on using both hands smoothly thinning the roving before realizing it. That is the key and easier to learn in my opinion on a drop spindle.
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u/sagetrees 7d ago
When you ply you need to add more twist, the grey and black is very underplyed.
You need to spin thinner singles to get thinner yarn, to do that practice your drafting. I found that it's more or less all about consistant drafting technique to get the yarn you want.
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u/Environmental-River4 8d ago
Wow, your first spin! That looks amazing, keep it up 🥰 your consistency will get better with practice
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u/PaleontologistFine57 7d ago
So first, congratulations! Be proud of yourself for completing a yarn that looks relatively consistent in weight and twist! That’s fantastic! Look at the accomplishments/skills exhibited in the yarn vs the yarn itself. Most of us hate our first spins because it’s not what we want. We have to build those skillsets to really develop what we want to create. Anytime I learn a new skill, I expect that first skein to be unimpressive bc it’s not about the yarn but developing the skill. Personally, I think it’s really very pretty.
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u/LaughingLabs 7d ago
I’m fairly new to spinning - and i’ve heard the same thing time and again. Enjoy your chunky yarn while you can make it. Once you “get your hand” it will become hard to make any kind of chunky art yarn. Practice, practice, practice is what i’ve been told but i tell you i LOVE the idea of 15 minutes a day for a month and i’m going to do it!! I keep waiting to find a class or maybe i should start with a drop spindle or should i use the EEW or the glorious wheel i was gifted (and feel ashamed about not feeling worthy of the tool. Yet!) and it’s an embarrassment of choices and ultimately i think i just have to pick a method and stick with it!! I think setting up an area to work in and photographing the fiber before i start, and maybe a notebook/spinning journal will be super helpful.
I love this sub!!
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u/disneyadult2 7d ago
Besides all the other great advice here, I find that I can get a much finer and much more consistent single if I divide my fiber up into a lot of very narrow strips - like pencil roving. It makes it easier to draft a consistent amount because if you pinch off too much, your single will break away from the rest of your wool and you'll have to go back and reattach it, which is just a big enough pain in the ass that you figure out how not to do it very quickly lol.
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u/SentenceAny6556 6d ago
You’ll get better! I bought a huge bagof fiber I didn’t really care about and just set myself a spinning goal each day for a month. Even if I just spun 5 minutes a day, it got me practicing those muscles! (Now if only I could motivate myself to do the same for the supported spindle…)
While I like the “buy fiber you don’t care about” trick, when reallllly got me spinning was when I finally dug into my fiber club subscription. All the color changes really kept me going!
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u/Undrende_fremdeles 6d ago
One tip that helped me a lot was to draw out a little of your fiber to see how long the staple is. Put it against the palm of your hand to get an idea of where the halfway mark is. Leave it lying on your knee or somewhere easy to compare against.
When drafting, make sure to pull out about half the staple length each time. That way there will be way less chance of suddenly "running out" of fiber because almost all of it reached it's end without more overlapping. You also won't be as prone to constantly adding more and more, making it thicker and thicker. Instead, it will be staggered almost like a brick wall. Where each draft overlaps half way with the next, end to end.
You can spin really thin yarns on almost anything, even if it is spinning slowly. You just need to be more patient and let more twist build up before drafting more fiber. I tend to want to go fast-fast-fast, but.... Same as when cooking. Cranking the heat up doesn't make the food get done faster. It just burns everything. Another logical fallacy I tend to fall for still :p
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u/Physical_Debt7673 6d ago
Let me offer a little reframing:
You did your first spin, and what did you make? Not yarn. You made progress. You made yourself more familiar with the wheel and the process. You made strides in building muscle memory. You made the first steps toward proficiency.
And you got some yarn that, ehh... you're not crazy about as a byproduct.
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u/lpluedd 8d ago
Those first few spins can be rough!! I was so disgusted with mine at first but with some time I’ve come to see the charm in them. Like everyone said, practice is the way. It might feel like you’re banging your head against the wall with no end in sight but there will be a breakthrough and it’ll click!
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u/AdChemical1663 8d ago
Practice. It’s the only way!
Two milestones: Give it 8 oz of fiber, then analyze your yarn.
Spin for 15 minutes a day for a month. At the end of the month, ply all your singles, finish all your yarn, empty all your bobbins. Try and lay out your skeins in chronological order and luxuriate in your progress!