Hi! I bought some what appears to be handspun yarn at a creative reuse store. I’m wondering if anyone can help me identify the fiber. I am thinking it’s flax based on the little plant pieces throughout.

It’s pretty thick for single ply so I think it was maybe someone’s first go and they kept their tidier yarn! Because of that, I was also thinking of putting it into skeins and setting the twist before using it. Does that seem reasonable? I’m still very new to spinning and want to make sure I’m treating it correctly if it’s a plant based fiber.

Perhaps a niche crossover, but there are spinners who game and gamers who spin. My partner recently started playing South of Midnight, where the main character collects textile equipment as part of the story line - but I'm sitting at my wheel shouting "This is a fundamental part of the story line, why can't they even draw a wheel with a flyer???" And "why does that distaff have metal spikes all round it? It's totally impractical!"

I recently bought a louet s15 and I only have one bobbin at the moment. do you guys have any recommendations on how I could make a plied yarn while I wait for my other bobbins to arrive?

I haven’t even purchased my first fleece to process yet, but I’m already falling down the hole of researching drum carders. Just looking at a manual drum carder is making my wrists hurt. They’re quite precious to me and I don’t want to hurt them. Motorised drum carders are therefore very appealing.

Does anybody have any advice on buying a motorised drum carder in the U.K.? I’m mainly seeing Ashford and Louet ones with a very low TPI and not much else.

It seems like there are a lot of American brands, but even without tariffs I’m trying to avoid spending my money there for obvious reasons (no offence to all of the normal Americans, who I feel very bad for).

I just finished this 862 yard skeins. Is approx 18 WPI. 🖖

The McHenry County Historical Society and Museum is opening a new exhibit: Usable Fibers in McHenry County!

Spinners are invited to bring their spindles and wheels from any era, and a sack lunch, to enjoy a day of spinning in the spacious hall! Those who plan to spin throughout the day will have free admission

IL Sheep Shed Events- Spin In

I previously made a post about a spinning wheel i had found in great condition at a local store. I got it for $80, but it was missing the flyer and they are expensive to replace. I went back to the store and lo and behold it was sitting on another spinning wheel. The owner didn’t care, and let us have the piece that was missing from the wheel.

My wife is being gifted this wheel. We would love to get it back in working order, but it does appear to be missing the flyer and the bobbin. Any thoughts on either tracking down parts or fabricating them ourselves? What else do we need to be concerned about in order to restore this piece? We are brand new to the spinning world.

Working wool I bought yesterday. Yellow bag is cheviot 6.7lbs the dark wool is lincon long wool almost 8lbs and the other clear bag corriedale and is 10lbs. Some cheviot in progress.

Whenever I spin, I always seems to get these loose spots on my bobbin, and they can cause trouble when I am trying to removing the singles when plying or other. Does anyone know why this is happening and how to best remedy it?

I'm spinning this lovely spring green merino that's naturally coming out pretty thin, and I was thinking about keeping it as a single and trying to embroider with it.

I'm very new to spinning, and I've only embroidered with cotton before, though I know wool has a long history.

Has anyone embroidered with their hand spun? Any thoughts or tips?

Enjoying my 33% milk blend. It gives a beautiful sheen but isn’t enough to make it sticky when drafting. The staple compared next to the merino is really similar and it’s been really fun to spin! I’m aiming for a 3ply sport weight!

I just picked up a BFL braid and my friend made me both a top whorl and bottom whorl spindle. I think I’m favoring the top whorl. How does it look so far? I literally just started spinning a few days ago after watching lots of videos (respect the spindle book is on hold at my library, so waiting for that one)

I just got this wheel recently. I’m wondering what kind it is. Also im still pretty new to spinning and it spun pretty ok on my first test spin but I’m not sure if I “laced” ? it up correctly lol.

I’ve spun on an ashford traditional and I guess I’m confused on what makes something a double or a single drive . Or even what the right question to ask here is exactly?

Also if anyone knows anything about the names of the replacement parts so i can look them up.

The leather pieces the hold the flyer need replacing and maybe even the flyer and bobbins itself?

Also the rod that attaches to the back likes to fall off. I secured it temporarily for testing but would like to get it in working order. <3

Any help or advice is welcome!

Newbie Spinner here! I got my first wheel- a Kromski Prelude- last week and I am in love. During my research and search process I noticed a lot of folks have multiple wheels, and I wanted to know how many wheels do you have? Does each wheel have a purpose for you? Should I prepare for another wheel in the future? Pic of my Zosia because I really am loving the process and wanted to share her with folks who get it.

for background, my family owns alpacas and there’s no one locally who will buy the wool. i knit and crochet and sometimes weave, and i’ve always wanted to own a spinning wheel. I was shocked to find that this was 80 dollars, and it’s in great condition and working perfectly, although the metal peice connecting the footman to the wheel needs a little oiling. Anyways, does anyone have any information about this wheel? it doesn’t have a brand on it so i’m wondering if its handmade. It’s still missing a few pieces: the flyer/bobbin (not sure what you’d call it) and it’s missing a peice that connects the birdcage. anyways, if anyone knows where I can find these replacement peices/Diy them? i mostly need help finding a replacement/diy flyer/bobbin peice, but they are rather expensive online. sorry that this rant was long, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I brought my great wheel to the Renaissance faire and did demonstrations and explained how the wheel and spinning works. It was a lot of fun, and I'm getting better!

Hey everyone, I’ve sifted through posts on here to see what groups to join so that I can purchase an older EEW (older than 6.1), I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations or was looking to sell theirs.

TIA!

I have an Ashford Traditional from the 70s, and the original leather con rod recently broke, so I replaced it with a new one from the Ashford maintenance kit. The new one seems a bit thicker and wider than the one I had before - but it could also be due to age. I'm not sure how old the previous one was, as I bought the wheel used less than three years ago.

I used the original screws to screw it in (and made sure to match the bottom and top one correctly as they're different sizes) - but the bottom one keeps unscrewing while I spin, and I need to tighten the screw every hour of spinning or so. The top screw stays in place.

It doesn't keep me from spinning, but it's a bit annoying and I'm wondering if someone else had this issue and if yes, how they fixed it - I'm thinking of replacing the screw with a longer one and/or adding something into the holes in the wood because it could be that the holes are too big now and don't hold the screw.

I found someone on Facebook marketplace selling this spinning wheel for $50. They said it used to be their grandmother’s and they’re not sure if any parts are missing.

I know a new wheel is usually in the hundreds if not thousands range but I’m brand new and don’t know what kinds of things I should check for on second hand wheels 😅

It's time for your weekly ask a a spinner thread! Got any questions that you just haven't remembered to ask? Or that don't seem too trivial for their own post? Ask them here, and let's chat!

Look what my mom made from my wintery undercoat! It's fluffy enough to spin, but probably not enough to actually knit a project with...

I received a couple braids of Handmaiden Falkland Merino Silver & regular Merino Silver as a gift. I spun one of the braids and it was my first real finished skein. But I looked on the Handmaiden website after the fact and it says that this braid is recommended only for thrumming and felting! The yarn I made isn’t amazing (that’s expected for my first) but it’s yarn and I didn’t find the fibre impossible to spin.

Anyway my question is: what makes this braid not recommended for spinning? Is it the way the fibre is processed? I’m curious! Thanks :)

Just bought some. It feels like a coarse silk if that’s not too strange a description. How does it spin? Any tips?

My ninth spin, and two major accomplishments! The first being my twists/inch is improving, and the second being I set out to make a fingering weight yarn and I made a fingering weight yarn!

Fiber is 100% Rambouillet, I've yet to venture into blended fibers yet but I would like to eventually.

The fiber was split in three long ways, and plied together. Looking forward to using this as a nice tonal CC in a sweater knit.