Monday, October 15, 2007

Round, Round wheels,goin' round

Well, the spinning wheel is great fun. It took me a little while to work out what to do with it, but I produced something that actually looks like yarn. It is a lovely Ashford traditional single drive wheel. So far I have produced a lumpy and very uneven blue merino yarn. I also tried spinning a bit of bamboo fibre, not terribly successful, but I made a small amount of bamboo yarn. Then I tried again with a rainbow coloured merino wool I have had for a while. Still uneven, I think I need some lessons, and it has a tendency to spiral into curls when it is unrolled. HHHMMM not sure what to do about that. My dear step father (a woodworker) made me something called a Niddy Noddy, which is used to wind the wool from the bobbin and is a measure. Cool thing that is. See the pictures of the yarn I created above.
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2 comments:

  1. I am self taught, keep on practising and you will get an even fine yarn but then it will be hard to make "lumpy bumpy" as I call it, or should I say "fashion yarn" just have fun is the main thing.
    Is it curling when taken off the Niddy Noddy? if so soak in warm water and then hang to dry using a small weight if necessary to take out the curl.
    Happy spinning

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  2. I'm jealous! I had 2 spinning wheels at one time and never could get the hang of it! A friend would come over and spin gorgeous yarn on them. I finally gave her one of them and sold the other one. Happily I can spin lumpy fibers on a drop spindle. Seeing how you're at least getting lumpy yarn you'll do well on the spinning wheel. Enjoy!

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