Tag: spinning

Toy field trip

On By CarynIn Cats, Craft

Thor the technical kitten (since he is still under a year old), likes to carry around his toys. One of his favorites is a wrist warmer that I nålbound from home spun bison down. Materials alone make it a pricey toy, but if time invested is considered, it vaults into precious territory. Apparently he took it on a field trip to the catio, then back inside, because I found it on the rug covered in dried grass.

Photo description: Brown wrist warmer made from American Bison fiber, covered with bits of dried grass. There is some felting, and a couple pulled loops in the fabric.

Allowing the wrist warmer to become a toy was a calculated event. The one donated to the cat was a tight fit and I wasn’t wearing the pair. Now it becomes a test of how durable I made the spinning and nålbinding. I’m actually quite amazed that it is holding up to kitten attentions as well as it is.

Spinning demonstration

On By CarynIn Craft

I volunteered at the Mansfield Founder’s Day Festival recently, demonstrating spinning on a drop spindle and helping people try it out for themselves. I even sold a few spinning starter kits! The Man House was setup beautifully, and I was quite spoiled with a tent, table, and chairs already setup for me. The hands-on spinning was popular, and there were wows over the animal-to-wearable knit alpaca shawl I brought, but the biggest hit was my fiber book. I’m glad I set it up consistently with multiple touchable swatches; it made it both visual and tactile friendly. My book held up great for the seven hours of the event!

Photo description: Canvas, 2×4, and rope canopy setup in mowed grass with a covered table and chairs setup underneath. On the table I put my alpaca shawl, a basket of wool nests, three practice spindles, a basket of starter kits, and my fiber book.
Photo description: Four drop spindles, the three on the left have Corriedale wool spun by many hands, the one on the right has Shetland wool spun by me between helping sessions.

Custom packaging

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

As much as I love cloth bags, sometimes you need packaging you can see through that is inexpensive. For my spinning starter kits I needed a long narrow plastic bag. I have a whole bundle of large clear plastic bags, but they are twice as wide as I needed for this application. I found that if I ran my quilting mini iron, set to high, down the center of the bags, it was enough to melt and separate the bag into two, with a well sealed seam. The iron does come with a blade attachment, but the blade cut the plastic too fast and didn’t heat the plastic up enough to melt it.

Photo description: Cork squares laid down on the table to protect the surface, two newly created long narrow plastic bags, with a mini iron to the side, blade assembly unused.
Photo description: Same table with one bag filled with a spindle and three samples of different animal fibers.
Photo description: Two completed Spinning starter packs, with insert containing instructions and resources.

I tied off my bags with some of my old hand-spun yarn oddments. Another good use for left-over yarn!

Corriedale page

On By CarynIn Craft

I did a fiber sample page for the Corriedale wool I’ve been using for teaching spinning. The woven sample is my best yet; I started the weaving with a pass of twined weft away from the edge of the loom. My weaving then stayed more even and consistent to the end, where I did another twined pass. The twining keeps the weaving in place better too, so I didn’t need to make knots. If I were making a piece that would see more action than laying in a book, I would secure the fringe better, either with more twined passes, or knotted or sewn fringe.

Photo description: clockwise from top left: 3×5 card with “Corriedale obtained from Mohair & More on Etsy, Huntsville, TX, spun on a drop spindle”; single ply on a paper bobbin; two ply on a paper bobbin; crocheted lace round; woven sample with two salvages; knitted sample with garter stitch edge; sample of un-spun fiber

Corriedale is very nice to spin, has a nice feel, but isn’t the softest. The blended dark and light fibers make it easier to see the twist, which is why I like it for learning.

Testing

On By CarynIn Craft
Photo description: One the left a rosewood ring distaff dressed with blended wool and a handkerchief, on the right a custom 3D printed drop spindle with a small amount of spun yarn.

The test of the new 3D printed spindle went well. I dressed my distaff with a locally obtained wool blend and took my new spindle for a walk. I dropped it twice on the asphalt to no ill effect. Hurray! This is the first time I’ve used this distaff for wool; I figured out how to use it when I needed to control flax roving, and it works just as well for wool. I’ve seen others wrap their wool roving around the distaff, which for me is maddening. As I draft, the fibers pull tight and lock in a spiral. By laying the wool out parallel to the distaff in small sections, and securing it with a handkerchief and cord, the fibers drafted easily off the bottom of the bundle. Nice.