Still haven't found a dedicated handspinning community, but I'm hoping this will tempt some of y'all to the dark side π
I spun this last year, but haven't yet found a project worthy of it (open to suggestions!). Fiber is Merino wool, colorway is Tie Dyed Popsicles by the Wooly Witch, spun on my Babe's Fiber Starter wheel. It's about 15-16 WPI, so roughly a light fingering weight, and 170g. Planning to leave it a single since plying it might muddy those glorious, glorious colors, and that would be a travesty! π
Still a fairly new spinner, all things considered, and mostly self-taught, so I'm open to any constructive criticism and willing to answer any questions y'all might have! Thanks for letting me briefly invade your knitting space! π
Wow it looks so even! I watched Bernadette Bannerβs video on spooning with a wheel a while ago and that seems hella tricky.
I love her videos!! I was dying all the way through that one, though- she really decided to start on hard mode! I think she addressed this, but most spinners start with a drop spindle, which gives you so much more direct control than a wheel. For another thing, most of us spin wool top which comes with all the fibers nice and aligned in a uniform direction. Wool fibers also tend to be longer and more coarse, which helps them stick together with less twist and makes it much more forgiving when you're finding the balance between too much and not enough twist. Flax has no chill π€£
She's amazing! I love all of her videos!
She did mention that flax is a tougher material to spin and that most people start with wool. When she went all "I deliberately chose a lower quality flax" I immediately thought "that's definitely a case of self-sabotage." I get the logic, you don't want to buy more expensive material when you're just starting out with something, you might not stick with it, and the end result is probably not going to be that great. At the same time, lower quality materials tend to be tougher to work with, so she really made it extra difficult for herself!
I found it all very enjoyable though! Spinning seems like a really nice and satisfying hobby once one gets the hang of it.
Absolutely! I usually have a podcast up, but sometimes it's really soothing to sit with just my thoughts and the sounds of the wheel
I could definitely see this. Did you spin this by hand or by wheel? It's so pretty with all the colours. I'm like absolutely inept with my hands so a part of me is always part fascinated part jealous of anyone who can make things with their hands. My skills end at baking and cooking, haha.
This was on a wheel, but could absolutely be done on a spindle! It definitely takes some practice to get a feel for it, but everyone spins "art yarn" for the first little while π€£