Monday 7 November 2011

Hanspun : Picking up my drop spindle

Hi guys! I've been a naughty girl lately. I've been cheating on my knitting. My Westphalie and my Aidez are sitting in my knitting basket, waiting for me to work on them. But my mind is elsewhere.


I tried to spin yarn with my drop spindle before, but I wasn't thrilled with the results and got discouraged. At Rhinebeck, I encountered numerous spinners, and watching them spin was my "ah ha!" moment. In a second, I new how to spin, draft, twist.


In a matter of days I spun the rest of my Louet Corriedale fiber, which ended up being a thick and thin single, and ordered some fine Shetland top from Two Sisters Stringworks in two colorway: Hipster (green-yellow) and Light Rain (blue tones).


My first few tries were rewarding enough, and then I could just not stop. I spun the entire roving of Hipster.

Later, I decided to try plying. Althought it is still not perfect, I am quite happy with the way the yarn looks. I decided to ply the Corridale since I am not so fond of thick and thin single yarn. What I have now is a cute 2-ply worsted weight skein of 82 yards/43g.


I separated the Hipster roving in two equal parts. The first skein ended up slightly thick and thin, so it became a 2-ply aran weight skein of 82 yards/55g. The second skein was pretty regular (to my delight) and stayed like it was spun, a single, ligh fingering weight skein of 255 yards/55g.


Finally, don't miss Wednesday's blog post: it's my turn on the Coastal Knit blogroll!

10 comments:

Renee Anne said...

I've tried and tried to love my drop spindles (I have three)...I just can't love them. I love my wheel, however...

I'm glad you've caught the spinning bug, even if it means you're cheating on your knitting :)

Unknown said...

Even when handspun yarn isn't "perfect" it's always beautiful!

Anonymous said...

It's gorgeous! I'm dusting off my spindle today :) Thanks for the inspiration!

Maryse said...

Beautiful! You're a fast learner!

Audry said...

I'm so happy you had an ah-ha moment. It's so exciting when drafting finally makes sense.

Also, the good news about spinning is that if you can always add more twist if you need to. I found myself not putting enough twist when plying yarn, so I often will run it through my wheel again. (Or spindle before I had the wheel)

Evelyn said...

Majorly impressed! I have always wanted to try my hand at spinning but I haven't plucked up enough nerve ... or maybe I should say patience. Looking forward to seeing what this beauty becomes knitted.

Allyson said...

I love that green! I can't wait to see what you are planning to do with it.

eriven said...

I love that green! You've inspired me to dust off my spindle too, I always did like it better than the wheel :)

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your AHA moment! You've sure put it to good use ;) Gorgeous colours.

Holly said...

Lovely spinning! I always get excited when I see other people spinning on drop spindles. I have been spinning for three years now and use only drop spindles. I would love to get a spinning wheel someday but am very happy with my spindles,and have embraced spindle spinning wholeheartedly! I rarely leave home without a spinning project tucked in my bag.
Your singles are beautifully spun, by the way! I look forward to seeing what you do with the yarn.

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