All Things Handspun Yarn

I’ve been neglecting my spin log for a long time but I’m back and I have a NEW WHEEL

This is another foundling that my dad found at a flea market. She’s in a much better condition as compared to our previous foundling and even has a system for regulating the flyer height. She works, even though the flyer is a bit wobbly.

She’ll stay in Italy and I’ll use it to spin when I visit my family.

Maker Diary — Learning to Core Spin

Studio experiments looked a little different today.

My daughter and I spent time learning how to core spin on my EEW 6.1 electric spinning wheel. I’ve been saving all the little wool scraps that aren’t quite right for batts or rolags, and I kept wondering if they could become something instead of sitting in a basket.

So we tried turning them into core spun yarn for weaving.

And… it worked!

It feels really good finding a way to use those in-between fibers — the bits that don’t fit anywhere else but still deserve a future in something beautiful.

New hat to knit means time to make some stitch markers. Two types of glass flowers so I can mark the beginning of the round and the future decrease lines on a Musselburgh hat with the leftover scarf yarn. And spare markers because either I will lose some or to reuse on a future project. Stitch markers are the one craft thing I get tempted to try to sell.

AND this was not even my final foray into dog hair! I received a freezer ziploc bag of golden retriever fluff and combed and spun that too.

The owner of the golden retriever made a friendship bracelet out of the yarn 🥹

Rich with bobbins - my mom recently got me 3 bobbins and a cotton hand carder to support my hobby. She says she is a patron of the arts, lol. The hand carder is for the cotton my dad snagged for me. Thanks to his work in the cotton industry I have access to basically infinite pima cotton, but I have to prep it myself. (The singles in the pic are wool)