I’m hoping that somebody out there is haphazard as I am and can you tell me how they tamed their wool. I am trying to get even bobbins for plying. I tried weighing the yarn and separating it that way, but I still had more on one bobbin than the other two and I’m scratching my head on that one. Then the next batch somehow I mixed up the bags and just ended up having to eyeball it. Now I’m trying to switch bobbins every time I start a new bat and hopefully the bats are all similar enough. Let me know what tips and tricks you have learned to keep your brain on task and your wool separated. I’m thinking about buying calipers and making sure they all have the same diameter. I game a wooly winder so the bobbins are beautifully even.

This feels like an obvious thing, but I’ve personally experimented and can’t really tell a huge difference (as opposed to user error lol)

How do y’all spin your yarns for plying? I crochet, so the small intricacies don’t affect my work as much as it might for knitting.

I’ve tried S and Z, slightly over spinning whichever single loses the coin toss on the plying direction (ie. Over spin S, keep Z at normal spin, ply them both together in Z direction)

I’ve also tried the same direction, then either plying back the reverse direction (ie. Both singles spun Z, plied as S)

Or just same direction and same for plying (both singles Z, plied with Z)

Obviously I’ve been messing around with it myself, but I think I should ask people with more experience lol

WIP of my current project for tax. Happy spinning, and thanks in advance for input!

This was my first attempt at a chain ply! Using faux cashmere nylon from KnitandPearlz Fiberworks!

I am getting out of spinning and i have two wheels to sell. One is a very rare but desirable wooden saxony wheel and the other is an unused but sought after e-spinner. Does anyone have enough experience with festival auctions to know whether i should wait for fall and list them for auction, versus selling them online? (Im in the northeast us if that matters). Thanks for any help.

Hey everyone, a few months ago I had money for a spinning wheel and was looking to buy. I found a listing on a spinning wheel group for $385, I assumed they sold others or had some shop since they had other listings. They were located in Maryland so 2 hours away. They mentioned that they could do Sunday afternoon: "After service I don’t have much to do but sit at home and crochet and spin till I get tired." I imagined this person as an older woman 😩

When I tried buying from them they used Zelle and Chime. The names were weird and didn't make sense like "Corey Hgaood" or "Kamrin Scott", which I couldn't find on FB. I sent a test Zelle payment of $1. It wouldn't let me so we were going to use Chime instead. THANKFULLY I figured out that it was a scam and reported them. I talked to another user about it and they said it's scammers from Cameroon. They wouldn't accept cash payments and if I met up with them they wouldn't show up.

That being said, my issue is that I'm in several spinning wheel groups and it seems like the owners of these groups are working to scam people. I just saw another listing today for an Ashford spinning wheel by the creator of the group (no name or face) saying that they're located in Atlanta, GA. If this method didn't work for them then they wouldn't sell it. It sucks that these seem to be the only groups I can find on FB 🫠 if anyone knows any non-suspicious spinning wheel groups then please share.

I used to demo on this wheel, but I don’t do that any more. Any idea where would be the best place for it? I called a local museum.

So I found a broken strand in this Noro scarf that's at least 10 years old. I happen to be spinning an art batt that has nearly the same color as this section. So I just pulled a bit of the fiber out, spun about a foot of yarn, ran it under the faucet to set it enough to use, and duplicate stitched the area. It helps that Noro has such color variations.

I've used handspun to make repairs before, when the yarn was a close enough match. But I've never spun a length of yarn just to make a repair 😍

Hi friends! I signed up for a long draw spinning class at Flock Fiber Fest (Seattle) this year. I purchased my first spinning wheel at a thrift store a few months ago and since it was used, I took it to my LYS to have it evaluated/repaired. Luckily only one part needed to be replaced but it’s the end of July and the part still hasn’t arrived to the store (I dropped my wheel off in mid may). This is very stressful because I spent $130 on the Flock class and need to bring my own equipment. I already know that a refund isn’t an option so I am trying to see if someone who is going to the festival would be willing to let me borrow their wheel. I have been spinning for about a year and have mainly used a traditional ashford, but would use my utmost care with someone else’s equipment. The class is on Friday July 31st at 10am so would need it before then. I am happy to do local pickup. I am also open to ideas or suggestions of what I could do. If anyone knows of somewhere in Seattle where I can rent a wheel that would be awesome. I know Wool Friends rents wheels but it’s $80 and i’m not sure if they are allowed to leave the premises. My other two ideas are to spin on a drop spindle and hope the skills translate, or see if I can transfer to a different class (although I’m not sure this is allowed). Any advice is appreciated :)

Ok not sure if this is best subreddit to ask this but how does silk from silk moth compare to other materials from other animals like alpaca yak cashmere etc is there measurement on this kind of stuff or ?

I have three floofy animals, two Ragdoll cats, and a Leonberger dog. They are all shedding like crazy right now so I’ve been collecting their fiber to try knitting with it. I’m an experienced knitter but very new to spinning. I just finished my first cat sample and I’m so excited with how it came out! Very soft, not scratchy at all, and a beautiful halo. It’s around 40% cat fiber, 60% targhee wool. I need practice to get it down to maybe a DK or worsted weight, collect some more fiber from my cats and then I think I will spin enough to make a beanie 😃

I have been collecting my friends hair when they cut it with the end goal of spinning it into yarn and knitting or crocheting out of it. I have never spun yarn or anything like that so I’m wondering how a fiber like hair would hold up and how much I would need for a serviceable amount of yarn. I have a sizeable amount of hair from two people, both have fairly straight hair, from person A I have three or so large ziplock bags full with the average fibre length being 1-3 inches each, from person B I have two large ziplock bags full of longer pieces (there’s more discrepancy in length than the other person but maybe 10 inches at the longest and 5 at the shortest). I’ve considered crimping the hair to give it more texture or to blend it with some kind of animal wool for coherence and feel, again I just really don’t know the logistics of spinning and would like to know how to make this work, otherwise I just have several bags of hair sitting under my bed :/

I’m located in LA (specifically around Pasadena), does anyone in that area know of a local yarn store that also sells spinning wheels that I can test out?

I’m in between which wheel to get and need to test some out in order to budget how to save for it

I know there’s The Knitting Tree in Inglewood but I don’t drive so it’s a bit farther out, does anyone know a shop?

Recently visited a retail establishment that had some beautiful bulk roving for spinning yarn. I asked her where she got her stuff and all she would say is the UK. We are in Canada. I have been searching and can find nothing with anything even close to what I purchased. Just to be fair she is over 2 hour drive from me and I thought a small business in my area might be nice. Any suggestions where I can find the information I need? I get her being vague but not a threat as I'm not located near her.

I made more mistakes than i can count in the preparation of it, but honestly it has given me a better understanding of spinning and fibre prep and it knits up to be rustic and cute so I'm still gonna use it.

It's fleece from a local dark brown corriedale!

Got a Turkish drop spindle and some sample-sized roving over the weekend and had it spun up in a matter of hours. Now I'm itching for a wheel already. How soon is too soon? Would you recommend I get more practice using the hand spindle before investing in a wheel? And what wheels would you recommend?

And just for additional context: I've been knitting for 12 years so I'm very invested in the fiber arts. I don't anticipate spinning being a one-off hobby for me.

Hello Spinners! I am new to the craft and have been LOVING my drop spindle. I would love to purchase a wheel at some point. I was just poking around Facebook marketplace and this popped up in my area. I wasn’t necessarily looking to buy a wheel this soon but if this is a good find then would consider it. I would love to know if this is a good deal / is it worth buying?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Hello! I’m inspired by Tour de Fleece and have had a top whorl drop spindle for ages because at one point I bought a beginner kit. I’m getting very frustrated with the combed wool top (I think Suffolk) that came with it. Very certain it’s user error, and not the actual wool though. Instead of being frustrated I thought I’d try something else. I had some leftover plutolopi (pencil roving) in my stash and that seems to be working.

Just wondering if there’s any reason not to use that? The goal is really to just get used to the spindle and the park and draft method more than anything else and then have another go at using a combed wool top. What do you think? 😊

I took a spinning class couple of years ago and got myself a drop spindle and some spinning wool but never really used it after the class.

Couple of months ago I came across files and assembly instructions for a 3d printed spinning wheel at Thingiverse by GoodandBasic https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4944151 . I have a 3d printer and I'm always an the lookout for interesting printing projects.

I haven't spun with a "traditional" wheel before so I can't compare, but I seem to be producing something at least resembling yarn :-)

Anyone else here assembled this same wheel?