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Spinning is fun.
Apr. 30th, 2005 10:57 pmToday while I was on my way back from a spot of househunting, I ran into ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marnameow. She was out doing some local errands. She invited me back to her place and then practically forced me to try spinning. Okay, I sat and looked at the spinning wheel, and asked questions about spinning and nettle fibre and so on (I have a s3kr1t PLN to make clothes out of nettles, since it can be done and we've got so many of them here anyway), and eventually she asked if I would like to try the drop spindle. I used the Turkish drop spindle, which is quite ingenious in that one ends up with a ball of wool after taking the inserts out. Also nice is that a Turkish spindle will pack relatively flat, which decreases risk of breakage.
It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but for my first time spinning I don't think I did too badly; too much spin in some places, and I'm not very good at doing joins, and I'm not terribly consistent with how thick the yarn is just yet, but all these things add to the charm of a handspun product, I suppose. I have decided that a drop spindle is a very useful and compact tool and I wish to own one. It may as well be a Turkish one, at that.
I also got to use combs to blend two different colours of roving. I do agree withmarnameow that the blend of purple and red was a much prettier colour than either of them on their own - although I'm quite partial to the plain purple, as well. I did not try carding - it wasn't the sort of wool for it. Carding makes lighter, warmer, itchier yarn. Combing makes smoother, denser yarn. Yarn that has been combed is called worsted. I forget what the carded yarn is called. I think that getting a pair of combs and combing yarn might be a non-messy way of combining pre-dyed colours, without having to mess about with liquid dyes myself. I tried some yarn with the two colours alongside each other instead of blended and it came out all stripy.
I also got to use the spinning wheel. It did not take me long to get the hang of using the treadle to make the wheel go, although I tended to go too fast and get too much spin again. I am sure that if I had the space and the money I would want to own a spinning wheel as well. Perhaps after I have moved, if I am actually doing any spinning, and there is space, I will get one of the folding-up ones. I quite liked the one I used today but found it had a tendency to nearly get kicked forward if I wasn't careful - I think I might like something with a slightly heavier base. I don't see why I couldn't make one out of abandoned bicycle bits - the wheel and spindle are the only parts that really have to move, and lightweight wheels from roadbikes are not all that hard to find.
I have yarn! I have yarn that I made myself.
I would very much like to harvest and treat my own fibres and use those to make a garment - to be involved in production from start to finish. Nettles might be a way to do this. I'm not sure what nettle fibre will feel like, though - a lot of people say it feels like silk, has very long fibres, but instinct says it should be more like flax. Flax is a bit difficult to spin and gives a very coarse result. It should be spun wet or damp. Getting nettle fibre is fairly straightforward, though, from what I've gleaned from t'intarweb in the past. First, you wait for the nettles to get big and tall and stringy. Then you cut them down, and put them in stacks or piles to be 'retted' - a sort of rotting, fermentation process. Nettle stems are full of pectin, so if you don't do this, you can't get the fibre out easily. After they're retted, you boil.them, and let the mass of fibre dry, and comb it, and spin it. I don't know whether it would want to be spun wet or dry, but given the likelihood of any shortage of nettles in this country I'm willing to try both and see how it turns out. After spinning I would probably crochet or knit something; I could weave, but I don't have a loom (and while I understand the concept of how to use a loom, I've never used one and am liable to mess up - though it shouldn't be too hard really).
Yes. I want a drop spindle. A Turkish one.
marnameow. She was out doing some local errands. She invited me back to her place and then practically forced me to try spinning. Okay, I sat and looked at the spinning wheel, and asked questions about spinning and nettle fibre and so on (I have a s3kr1t PLN to make clothes out of nettles, since it can be done and we've got so many of them here anyway), and eventually she asked if I would like to try the drop spindle. I used the Turkish drop spindle, which is quite ingenious in that one ends up with a ball of wool after taking the inserts out. Also nice is that a Turkish spindle will pack relatively flat, which decreases risk of breakage. It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but for my first time spinning I don't think I did too badly; too much spin in some places, and I'm not very good at doing joins, and I'm not terribly consistent with how thick the yarn is just yet, but all these things add to the charm of a handspun product, I suppose. I have decided that a drop spindle is a very useful and compact tool and I wish to own one. It may as well be a Turkish one, at that.
I also got to use combs to blend two different colours of roving. I do agree with
marnameow that the blend of purple and red was a much prettier colour than either of them on their own - although I'm quite partial to the plain purple, as well. I did not try carding - it wasn't the sort of wool for it. Carding makes lighter, warmer, itchier yarn. Combing makes smoother, denser yarn. Yarn that has been combed is called worsted. I forget what the carded yarn is called. I think that getting a pair of combs and combing yarn might be a non-messy way of combining pre-dyed colours, without having to mess about with liquid dyes myself. I tried some yarn with the two colours alongside each other instead of blended and it came out all stripy. I also got to use the spinning wheel. It did not take me long to get the hang of using the treadle to make the wheel go, although I tended to go too fast and get too much spin again. I am sure that if I had the space and the money I would want to own a spinning wheel as well. Perhaps after I have moved, if I am actually doing any spinning, and there is space, I will get one of the folding-up ones. I quite liked the one I used today but found it had a tendency to nearly get kicked forward if I wasn't careful - I think I might like something with a slightly heavier base. I don't see why I couldn't make one out of abandoned bicycle bits - the wheel and spindle are the only parts that really have to move, and lightweight wheels from roadbikes are not all that hard to find.
I have yarn! I have yarn that I made myself.
I would very much like to harvest and treat my own fibres and use those to make a garment - to be involved in production from start to finish. Nettles might be a way to do this. I'm not sure what nettle fibre will feel like, though - a lot of people say it feels like silk, has very long fibres, but instinct says it should be more like flax. Flax is a bit difficult to spin and gives a very coarse result. It should be spun wet or damp. Getting nettle fibre is fairly straightforward, though, from what I've gleaned from t'intarweb in the past. First, you wait for the nettles to get big and tall and stringy. Then you cut them down, and put them in stacks or piles to be 'retted' - a sort of rotting, fermentation process. Nettle stems are full of pectin, so if you don't do this, you can't get the fibre out easily. After they're retted, you boil.them, and let the mass of fibre dry, and comb it, and spin it. I don't know whether it would want to be spun wet or dry, but given the likelihood of any shortage of nettles in this country I'm willing to try both and see how it turns out. After spinning I would probably crochet or knit something; I could weave, but I don't have a loom (and while I understand the concept of how to use a loom, I've never used one and am liable to mess up - though it shouldn't be too hard really).
Yes. I want a drop spindle. A Turkish one.
