Sometimes after someone has been spinning for a while, they drift to spinning very fine yarns and are flummoxed as to how to create a thicker yarn. First, there is nothing wrong with continuing to spin fine if a fine yarn is what makes your heart sing. You can stick… Read More »Controlling the Grist of Your Yarn
Here are a few tips if like me, you like the look and hand of handspun yarn spun from a rolag fibre preparation and a backward worsted spinning draft. Please note the following pointers are if you are spinning for a smooth, consistent yarn. Fibre Preparation When creating rolags on… Read More »Tips for Spinning Rolags
This is my setup to help minimize the tug or strain on fine single strands of yarn while transferring them from a spinning wheel bobbin to a secondary bobbin for plying. The spinning wheel’s bobbin is placed on a kate (bottom left). The singles yarn is brought up and around… Read More »Taking the Pressure Off
Below is the description of the newest video filmed with the team at the School of SweetGeorgia. If you are a SOS member, be sure to check it out….. https://www.schoolofsweetgeorgia.com/courses/spin-in-clinic/#learndash-course-content “You may be just starting your spinning journey or maybe you have a few years of spinning under your belt,… Read More »SOS – Spin-In Clinic Video Released
On my needles tonight is a heartfelt project for my sister who lives in Calgary. Brrrr!!! Kathi expressed the wish for a headband to keep her ears warm on winter walks through Fish Creek Park. Ever eager to help, I checked out my stash before she could change her mind.… Read More »Entre Soeurs & Laine
Handpainted rovings are seductive. Plain and simple. I know I am not alone when it comes to purchasing a handpainted braid or two with complete disregard to breed, staple length, etc. Sometimes my purchases are based solely on the yearning to work with the bewitching colours before me. But unlike… Read More »Wool Cake for Beginner Spinners
A friend recently asked me how and why I rewound commercial balls of wool with a nostepinne. HOW: First, I wrap a bit of the yarn around a stone or something else that gives a bit of weight to the end of the outer strand. The photo above shows my… Read More »Nostepinne
I am down to the last strokes. The body is now knit and I have almost finished the first sleeve of this top-down stranded knit sweater. The pattern is “Agnes” by Kirstin Wiola Ødegård. I have knit lots of stranded knit mitts over the years but this is only the… Read More »On my Needles
In my world a Tussie Mussie is a fibre preparation method I developed for Eri silk sliver. No special equipment is required, just my hands. At first glance you would think a Tussie Mussie would result in an awful tangled mess. Surprisingly it doesn’t. Instead it helps you to keep… Read More »What is a Tussie Mussie?
I have taken a deep dive into stranded knitting lately. It is how I get my “colour fix”, since I am no longer dyeing my own yarns. Until now I had been keeping one colour on one side of me and the other colour on the other side. Then every… Read More »Stranded Knitting