Welcome to our small farm in beautiful south-central Pennsylvania! I'm Linda, Chief Shepherdess and Artist in Residence. This channel will be full of tutorials, friendly chats, and lots and lots of fuzzy critters. Thanks for joining me in this farming adventure!
This is a great video for beginners! I started spinning just 8-9 months ago. Everything you said is what I wish I knew starting out and had to glean from different videos… only bundled in one and very clearly explained and shown. These past few months have been a wonderful adventure and the birth of a new passion. After a long day of work all I want is to return to my spinning wheel (an e-spinner actually; due to health issues I can’t treadle) and over the days, to see my bobbins fill up so I have enough yarn for a project. Do you have a video on how you plan your spin-to-knit projects? What works for me is to have a bit of an idea of what I want. Usually it’s 2 or 3 projects on my want-to-make or need-to-make lists. I’ll roughly know how much fibre I’ll need for those projects and if I don’t, I calculate based on grist and WPI. Being a lace knitter with a lace weight default spin means I usually don’t need more than 1 or 2 braids’ worth of fibre. I’ll spin up a bobbin, ply it, check my grist and WPI along the way and calculate my yardage once I finished my yarn. That’s when I make my final decision on my knitting project. Depending on how I feel, I either spin up what I need for my project, of I’ll spin-as-I knit. I keep a small sample and a gauge swatch in order to be able to stay consistent throughout my project. Spinning your own yarn and knitting something out of it is the best feeling ever. It gets even better when you process your own fibre. “What a lovely shawl! Where did you buy if?” “I didn’t buy it, I made it myself.” “Oh, where did you buy that gorgeous yarn then?” “I didn’t buy it. I made it myself.” “There are shops where you can buy the wool to spin from? “There are. But I didn’t buy prepared fibre from a shop. I processed it myself. This comes from a sheep/goat/alpaca named (insert name) and I collected it after shearing. Then I got to play… and this is the end result.” Even after the first “I didn’t buy it, I made it myself”, it’s fun. But adding “I made/did it myself” steps just makes it better and better. And when you gift something like that with the story attached, the gift is all the more appreciated. You don’t just gift a sweater, shawl, hat or gloves. You gift a story, time and love. At least, that’s what it is for me.
Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge and experience with shetland sheep. I live in Hawaii and am hoping to buy some one day because they are so small and may be low impact on our ecosystem. Thank you for all the things to look forward to 🙏🏽💗🐑
Thanks for another great video! I'm trying to find which breed I want and love the idea of something smaller and easier to handle physically. Thanks for the great info!
Thank you so much for your video! I've been learning how to spin but I couldn't find a video on how to prep the yarn for use. This was extremely helpful. You're a great teacher!
I see you haven’t put anything up recently so I do hope all is well with you and yours. I have recently become the owner of a Lendrum castle wheel and wondered if you can make any suggestions for easier spinning. The big drive wheel is wobbling slightly, not running true and catches on the right hand bar that joins to the foot peddles. The pressure I use on the foot peddles to get the wheel to spin also seems very hard. I am noticeably pushing my feet down. Is this a feature of this wheel? Thankyou in advance.
Not a feature, but that sounds troublesome. It's hard to troubleshoot from afar, but one trick that may help is to cross your brake band. That means to twist your brake band once, so it makes an "x" under the bobbin. That can help stabilize the jumbo flyer. I'd recommend finding a local spinner's guild or fiber arts store. Hopefully, someone there can help you really dig in to what's going on!
Fabulous information! Very new to hand spinning (using a spindle); this information was key for seeing how I can use tools I already have (Amish swift) to finish my yarn 😉!
Extremely helpful, thank you! I find it funny with the arguments after the wash- I took a beginner's spinning class and the instructor didn't tell us about thwapping (that I recall) and DID use a weight 😂 also no rotation of yarn during the drying process. I can just imagine the arguments about which technique to use have caused!
I have learned a lot. Your videos are wonderful. It seems you have not made any in the last two years. I hope all is well and I would love to hear from you now even to just let us know how you are.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you found them useful. Life has just been a little hectic lately, but I do mean to start making more videos at some point!
I started out with a supported spindle, a glass ashtray for a spinning bowl, and some fibre (combed top). The spun fibre got rolled onto empty toilet paper rolls (the cardboard middles). Worked fine. Then I got a few Turkish spindles but mostly used them to wrap the yarn I’d spun on my supported spindle onto in order to create centre pull balls for plying. A few months later I got myself the EEW Nano2 because I absolutely love to spin lace weight yarn and have back issues. Since I bought my first alpaca fleece I’ve added combs to my ‘toys’ and my birthday yielded me a niddy noddy and a ball winder. I don’t really feel the ‘need’ for more equipment but if someone asks me what I’d like for a present I would probably ask for more bobbins, hand cards or a blending board. But fibre is and will always be at the top of my list. 😊
I noticed that in this video you say that drafting from hand carders results in a woolen, less consistent yarn, but the tutorial I watched appeared to result in all of the fibers going in just one direction because the person was drafting from one side to the other directly off the carder. What method do you use? I'm new to spinning on a wheel (just got my first one and it's so fun! 😄), so what I described is the only method I'm familiar with so far.
So, like most fiber arts things, it's variable. The cards mostly organize the fibers, but the ends go every which way. Give it a try - you can use a regular hair comb and a regular hair brush. See how they affect a couple locks of fiber. Heck, if you have (or know someone with) fine to medium hair, you can even try it on human hair to see the difference.
@LindaOfWindyOaks Well, in hopes you do...I just subscribed and hit the bell notification. I really enjoyed your podcast and could use help on my spinning embarkment. Praying blessing over you, Linda!
❤❤This is so helpfull i just got a LOT, of alpaca wool, and have no idea whats its like to spinn,, havent even seen the color yet😊,, do you comb it or do you kart the wool, and can i spinn it without washing it first, like i do with sheep, s wool.. Thanks so much, love your videos, ps, im from Denmark 😊❤ ben spinning for about 2 years, and just started weaving as well
I'm glad you found it helpful! You can spin unwashed alpaca fiber. I don't like to because it's soooo dusty! Alpacas love to dust bathe. As for combing vs carding, the answer is "it depends"! What do you want your finished yarn to be? Smoother and denser? Comb. Fluffier and more airy? Card.
This video is just what I needed. Just spun my first yarn. Made it into a 2-ply. Now I want to knit it. So....into the water. Thank you for breaking down the steps.
I was told by a friend who helped me with spinning, she said if you want store bought like yarn go buy store bought yarn , because handspring yarn isn't like store bought, yours is unique.
I hand-card from the top, so my feed is really airy and open. Technically, the result can be called a rolag, but the roll I put in taking it off the bottom card is just enough to centre-feed and it means I can spin very finely. If anything, the risk is the thread breaking!
@@LindaOfWindyOaks Mostly, developing a loathing of knurls. I've just let it embed, now to master plying and setting - I've focused on early usage such as card-weaving and finger-plying, with book-binding in mind - my daughter's in permanent search of flat braid! This weekend is to dye for...
Very helpful tips, even though I'm only using a drop spindle. My current frustration is that my fiber twists up behind my hand as I spin and then I can't draft it anymore. Is that because I have too much spin on my spindle? When I put less, the fiber breaks. I'm using merino; I never had that problem with other fibers. 😒
Spindle or wheel, the basics are the same. :) I would pay close attention to when you let the twist into your fiber. Try doing some short forward draw and see how it goes.
