Mini spinning kits

On By CarynIn Craft

Here are my mini spinning kits! They have description cards with as much information as I could legibly fit on a 4×6 card double sided, as well as a QR code the leads to a video. They each also have a 4 inch bamboo toothpick that is the mini spindle. There are two versions, wool and cotton, and the kits have a small fluff of that fiber, enough to fill the spindle with thread. I did one animal based and one plant based since allergies are a concern with natural fibers.

Photo description: front and back of a 4×6 plastic bag containing mini spinning kits for wool, Corridale carded
Photo description: front and back of a 4×6 plastic bag containing mini spinning kits for cotton, Texas coop grown combed top

I gave these away at my recent spinning demonstration. I started with 60 and ended with 7, so the idea of spinning fiber was spread!

Ah ha moment

On By CarynIn Life Hack

It hurts sometimes. I’ve been struggling with my printer for longer than I care to admit, trying to maximize paper use and minimize waste. I try lying out a print double sided so that I can then cut them apart, but the printer doesn’t print consistently and the double sided is off set at best, or unusable.

After a particularly frustrating waste of 20 sheets of card stock, I walked away from the problem for a while.

Photo description: using a paper cutter to cut double sided 3.75×5.75 inch cards, card on the left is useable, but offset so that the text is right on the edge.

I don’t know why I’ve never considered cutting the card stock first. First. Then feeding it into the printer, which can handle small stock. I tested it the next morning, and had a 95% success rate. Much better than the 20% success rate of printing first. Bonus, I can get cut three 3.7×5.75 inch cards from a single letter sized piece of card stock. That is one extra per sheet than if I printed (which with my printing tolerances would be impossible to achieve).

Yeah for ah ha moments.

Toothpick spinning videos

On By CarynIn Craft

I put together two videos on how to spin thread using a toothpick, one for wool and one for cotton. In my mini spinning kits, I will have a QR code that links to these videos so anyone taking one of the freebies (or had access to a stick) can review the steps on spinning thread.

Photo description: video still of my hand holding a bit of wool and a 4 inch bamboo skewer

I say spinning thread because the toothpick can’t hold much of any yarn thicker than thread, but it can hold a decent amount of thread. Spinning thin is also easier than spinning thick.

The next step is to design the insert for the kits.

Jacob Sheep fiber page

On By CarynIn Craft

I finally mounted the samples from spinning Jacob’s sheep on a fiber page.

Photo description: Jacob’s sheep 12×12 scrap book page with four paper bobbins of spun and plied yarn, unspun roving in a bag, nålbinding swatch, knit swatch, crocheted swatch, and woven swatch

I do like spinning Jacob’s sheep wool. I like the natural color variation, and it makes me happy to see the colors spiral together. The sheep are wicked cool looking too.

My swatches are getting more consistent and closer to my 4×4 inch goal.

I think it took me so long to put this together because my fiber books are undergoing transformation, mostly in my head, but there are things I want to do differently. I have a new cover design coalescing in my brain, and I think I shouldn’t pre-cut my blank pages with my Cricut cutter, but hand cut them to fit each project. Changing that the unspun fiber goes into a bag instead of a box was a great move. Now to implement the rest.

You shall not pass

On By CarynIn Cats

Sophie the dilute calico cat wanted to come in the house to deliver her newly caught mouse to her favorite person, my eldest. I did not let her in. My eldest went out to her to give her praise for being a good hunter, then Sophie went off to eat her mouse.

Photo description: Calico cat with a mouse in her mouth looking in the window

Another cat, probably Thor, did manage to bring in a rodent, then lost it under the couch. Later that night Sophie dispatched it and left bits for my eldest in her room. Presents. Hm.