spinning – Page 65 – Critters and Craft

Seriously, spinning is like magic. You take bits of fluff and with a stick of wood, turn it into infinite varieties of useful stuff. When asked what superpower I would want, my answer is usually to be able to make things from nothing. This is pretty darn close!

I found an awesome book on spindle spinning: “Respect the Spindle: Spinning Infinite Yarns with One Amazing Tool” by Abby Frequemont. I love that she provides scientific information on spinning, and enough description that I can use it to improve my spinning. (I should still find a class on spinning, but this at least gets my hands moving!) She also recommends trying many different spindles and has exercises to help improve spinning.

Single ply mohair (from Dottie the goat!)

I’ve been practicing with small colored scraps of wool, and spinning with mohair is different, but I like how fuzzy it comes out. I really like crocheting and nålbinding with single ply yarn, but I’m definitely missing something about the process, because this single ply doesn’t act like store bought single ply. Now here is more magic. You spin two strands of single ply together in the opposite direction and the twists balance each other and hold together better. Ok, so not magic, but super cool science.

I am almost giddy with excitement. I found a local farm that has angora goats and sells fleece (that is the hair from an animal, not the already finished fabric). I bought some to practice spinning!

By the way, the fleece from an angora goat is called mohair and the tensile strength rivals steel. Fun fact I learned from the book “The Art of Washing Wool, Mohair, & Alpaca” by Mary Egbert, which the grower recommended. Good book, which I very much recommend if you try washing fleece.

I like the book because the author has done her research and experimentation, so I don’t have to! I followed her advice on how to scour (clean the lanolin off) my new fiber.