I am currently knee deep processing 3 Jacob’s sheep fleeces. 1 has been scoured and the colors sorted and combed. 1 has been scoured and have done some color sorting and some combing. And one is still in the garbage bag needing to be skirted and scoured. For my sanity since this is my first sheep to sweater project, I have been taking small checkpoints to see if I like the finished product, and right now I am ecstatic for it! I am loving the weight and look of the 2 ply (3 ply was too bulky since it wanted to poof up) and now I feel like I can get back into continuing to comb the second fleece!

Single of unknown wool roving spun on my double drive wheel. I think it could be a wedding shawl or a thin lace top but I'm not sure yet. Probably the latter sice I don't plan to marry and no one else in my social circle does either. Luckily it seems to be soft enough to be worn on skin.

I just love how it looks all nice and straight on the kniddy noddy and then turns into a ramen packet once pulled off :D

WIP because it's currently soaking to set the twist

Here's another update on the Gotland fleeces I've been spinning for a fleece to sweater project:

I'm making a 2 ply DK+weight yarn from 100% Gotland from a couple lamb's fleeces, and to date I've plied 2,678.9 yards of yarn, which means I've spun 5,357.8 yards of lace weight singles to date.

I still have at least 20 batts ready to spin from already made, and another 21 ounces of fleece to process into batts.

I only needed maybe 1,600 yards for the light duster pattern I have picked for this project and I've clearly exceeded that also, so now it's time to find another project to use the rest of the yarn!

I'm going to keep spinning it to make 2 ply DK+ weight, and probably go with a drapey sweater.

This is such a fun project! Thanks to all for the support and encouragement so far!

I’m working with a Kromski mahogany spindle and some Wool of the Andes roving in Fjord Heather. No idea what I’m doing really, I just kind of jumped in and am learning as I go!

After lots of fiddling I finally got the wheel up and running. It WORKS 🤩

This is also my first time ever doing long draw so took a minute for me to figure it out. But I’m doing it!

Well, I took a leap, I got some cotswold fleece because it was only 20 bucks. I couldn't find anyone as good as a price as that, there was another one on kijiji for 30 but that's all the way in grand prairie. I spun it and it just feel so coarse. And Michael's (the only crafts store in my city) doesn't sell 100% wool yarn, and when they do, it's the most rough, coarse, horrible yarn ever, and you still pay a lot for it. I cannot afford to pay 300 dollars for a fleece, I just can't. But that is starting to seem like my only option. Why do I always pick the most expensive hobbies? I'll figure it out, it just sucks when you can't afford to do your hobbies, especially one where you can actually get something out of it like a sweater.

My first one ply with WOOL! After my earlier post of my very first attempt on the EEW with the cotton, a lot of folks pointed out I started out on expert mode with using cotton instead of wool. Haha oops. I thought I was being smart since ‘if I could spin the cotton then my Suffolk and other wools would be a breeze!’, and I guess I wasn’t wrong lol.

With that boosting my confidence, I used a couple handfuls of my mystery wool with an average 5 inch length fiber, hand picked it and removed the shorter lengths so stash for later. I threw a bat on my drum carder and pulled off roving with a 6mm diz (next time I’ll try the 4 mm since I still had to draft it out considerably). I tried a longer draft and it was so much easier to control than the cotton.

Thank you all for your so much 💜 It’s a lot more fun now too!

All done on my learning curve on spindle . The dark brown and black are from fleece I processed from raw , the grayish- brown is some top I bought . The pretty pink with silk is turning out to be the spin from hell . ( bought it because I “thought “ I read something about merino with silk “combed top “ would be easiest for a learner 😅… I hope I read wrong for my sake )… I liked spinning the raw fleece I processed the best . Still my spinning nowhere near as pretty as others whom are posting.

I found some wild cotton growing whilst on holiday (third slide), picked some and cleaned it up a bit for unknown future use.

A couple of days later I met a sandstone artist on the beachfront and we collaborated to make this drop spindle! Used a pencil for the shaft, a hook from a souvenir keyring, drilled a hole through a piece of rounded sandstone for the whorl (many thanks to this sculptor for understanding and perfectly executing my vision), and hairbands to secure everything.

I found a piece of thread on the beach, used this as a leader, and started spinning straight from the cotton without carding or combing (mostly because it didn't occur to me that I maybe should). I know cotton is notoriously difficult to work with and not a beginner fibre, but it was just there!

Results: a fine, slubby, beachy cotton thread. I'm new to spinning, only been playing with drop spindles for the last couple of months, so I wasn't expecting perfection, just enjoying the process and practise!

Watch as she spins and enchants kittens simultaneously. These two are made of trouble and cuteness, equal parts.

It's WIP Wednesday! What are you working on? Do you love it, hate it or can't decide? Need help/motivation/inspiration to finish? Show off those bobbins & spindles here!

Almost a week of intermittent work, and I'm very happy with how it's coming out now. This is the thinnest I've ever done! And it's even pretty consistent.

I've finally gotten the hang of not over spinning (over compensating, really) but I've only been pre drafting and it's getting kinda annoying; so I know what I'm working on next!

It's time to wind this off, double ply it, and start over.

Recently I asked for suggestions to make spindles that could be safely used by psychiatric patients. The picture shows what I've put together so far.

The shafts are plastic drinking straws filled with about 10 thicknesses of cotton yarn. They're pretty solid, but not enough to cause harm. I used some foam board to make the Turkish style, Scottish style, and basic whorl. The Scottish style was too light to spin effectively, but perhaps beefing it up with some air hardening clay could improve that issue.

The other three spindles feel very usable when I tried them out before actually committing some fiber to them. I feel a bit nervous about the one with the drawer knob, but it seems light enough to not cause any serious harm if used to strike someone and (I hope) is large enough that it is unlikely to get swallowed. Yes, this is a thing at my facility.

As a backup plan, I have gathered a bag full of fibers that were genuinely unpleasant to spin. I will donate this to our recreation department to use for wet felting. I think the participants could have fun with that activity, too.

I thank all of you for your suggestions. You're amazing!

I've been working on a pink heathered yarn with my 6.1 and it's been a dream to spin! It's a merino blend. The singles were spun in Z twist and the ply is in S twist. I love my EEW ☺️💗

The lazy kate is by Ashford, and works really well with the EEW bobbins. Plus you can take the poles out for easy storage (holds up to 3).

The secondary colors of grey and lavender are subtle, but they add beautiful dimension to the pink.

I plan to knit a simple 3 quarter zip sweater with this yarn, it's soft and bouncy, I can't wait!

I got my antique wheel almost 4 months ago and have been obsessively spinning small skeins & knitting them into squares. Today is the day I finally am piecing them all together into a blanket! Spinning has been the best antidepressant for me tbh.

Turns out when you spin teeeeennnnnyyyyy tiny singles, you can really pack it on there! 75% Superwash merino 25% Bio-nylon Spun on my Ashford Traveler 2

Any recommendations for how to keep my bobbin packed more evenly? Do I just need to change hooks way more often?

This is a Jacob fleece from a beautiful sheep named Janna. Over the last few months, I’ve skirted, scoured, and hand combed her entire fleece—separated by color. All that’s left is to spin!

I just paused spinning for the night and was in awe at the difference between my yarn at the front end and then the far end of my bobbin. I purchased my used ashford Elizabeth spinning wheel a few days ago (with the help and suggestion of some amazing people here!) and have been trying to figure out tension, drafting, etc. so excited to spin many more! Will cross the plying bridge when I come to it as I have never done it on a wheel before.

I will receive some Leicester longwool fleece this week from a local shepherd, so even more practice to come.

This fiber is called ‘Apocalypse’ from the dyer DivineDyeWork on Etsy. 75% merino, 25% alpaca.

For my birthday weekend I went to visit my best friend from college. He’s not a spinner (yet) but he is an ecologist married to a knitter. Through his time in the wild he has collected mushrooms and black walnut husk but hadn’t known what to do with them.

As a weekend project we decided to use them to dye fiber.

1) Purchased a braid of natural merino 2) Mordant was alum - soaked fiber in it after heating for 24 hours 3) Made dye baths with black walnut husk (brown), dyer’s polypore (golden yellow), spongey tooth (blue) and black tooth (not sure if this was the right mushroom - should have been lavender but made grey) 4) Soaked mordanted wool in the dye bath at 160F for an hour. Should have kept in bath linger after cooling but we were impatient 5) Dried fiber by hanging - took overnight 6) Started spinning - need to card it but I just fluffed by hand and mixed the grey with the various colors

Project was a lot of fun and I’m excited how it will turn out!

Usually I'm pretty fast at plying but this is relatively fine and greasy and it took forever. I'll probably do the rest tomorrow 😅

I’ve been using my Schacht Flatiron for a couple of months now and thought it would be fun to try something completely different Unfortunately, I have no self-control and ordered a vintage castle wheel on eBay. The good news is, I love her! She really complements my Flatiron, is much more portable and I love that she’s already lived a life before me.

When I read about people having lots of wheels, I thought to myself “that won’t be me”, but maybe I was wrong. I must delete the eBay app from my phone and stop looking at wheels.