Spinning – Jan Atherton

Twist and turn as you walk and learn…

Ashford e-spinner with hand dyed merino/nylon singles.

This year I decided to put both my Christmas and Birthday money, from my family, plus some savings, into buying an Ashford e-spinner 3. I finally had enough money to purchase one in June and ordered it from Halcyon Yarns, who are based in Maine. It was back ordered and originally it would have been due to arrive in August, but Halcyon were able to keep it for me until we arrived back from visiting family in the UK during August. Their customer service was excellent!

I decided not to do any kind of unboxing and I wanted to spend time trying out a few things and getting used to it before I wrote anything about it. There are some wonderful videos out there by Angela aka Rainbow Ange at Yarn ‘n’ yarns, Rachel Smith at Welford Purls and Felicia Lo Wong at Sweet Georgia, all three videos were very helpful to me when I was setting up my e-spinner. I will post the links to these videos at the bottom of the page. The title for today’s post comes from Deacon Blue’s song Love’s Great Fears.

Felicia and Rachel both talk about their experiences with both the Ashford e-spinner and a few of the other e-spinners that are currently on the market. I found that my initial experiences with the e-spinner were very similar to those experienced by Angela in her video. The e-spinner had quite a strong uptake and I needed to reduce the uptake and to cross lace the flyer in order to spin a fine single that wouldn’t either drift apart, or be pulled apart by the e-spinner!

I have only used the e-spinner for a short time so far, but I like it for plying and for spinning smooth, worsted yarns. For spinning woolen yarns from rolags and long draw, I prefer to use my Lendrum, which has a gentler uptake and I have the ability to gradually slow down using the treadles while manipulating the singles with both hands if needed. I think both wheels will work together well as a team and I like to have the ability to have different types of projects on each wheel at the same time.

I had the advantage of experience of both spindle spinning and treadle wheel spinning before buying my e-spinner and that helped me when I was getting started with the e-spinner. I think there would probably be a steeper learning curve if using an e-spinner was your first spinning experience, spindle spinning teaches you to be able to draft and gives you time to study your yarn to see how much twist you need and you can easily take out any extra twist too. The Lendrum introduced me to the effects of changing the uptake, tension, speed and to using different whorls to create different yarns, however don’t let that put you off trying an e-spinner out if you can, they can be a very accessible way to spin, especially if space is limited, or you find spinning on a conventional wheel, or spindle is painful, or uncomfortable.

Take the long way round

One of the things I like about social media is that there are many different ways to share information about various crafts out there now, that just did not exist even 10 years ago. I feel like even though I have been making things for a long time, that there is always something new to learn, however I also feel that I still use a lot of trial and error when making things as well and some people don’t always share that part of the process, they just prefer to skip that and not show the effort involved, or how to correct mistakes, which can be disheartening, especially to someone new to the craft. This is where forums come in and blogs, I still love knitting blogs, even though they are not always updated now.

Visual representations like charts, diagrams and photos help me the most, followed by videos, or someone showing me how to do something. Others prefer detailed written instructions. As far as patterns are concerned, I like to have both types of information available, just so I can double check just to make sure. I’m teaching myself how to knit toe up socks just now, so that I can get to the point where I can either knit a basic pair of socks either way up without a pattern, or looking down at my knitting as often, this year is about improving the way my knitting flows. I want to be able to make things that fit based on my own measurements, or to customise patterns to fit in the same way that I have done with some of my sewing projects. I have also just finished spinning up some BFL/Yak/Alpaca/Camel/Silk blends, possibly for a cowl, or a shawl, once they are dry, I can do some sampling to decide what lace patterns I want to use. This photo was taken after plying, but before washing the skeins.

Over the years I have changed the way I knit quite a lot, for many reasons, firstly to improve tension. I used to knit very tightly, I had a death grip on my yarn sometimes which made for wonky stitches, as the yarn got stretched out. Secondly to make it more comfortable to knit for longer periods, I learned to switch over to my left hand. I write and draw mostly with my right, so now I feel like my hands are more evenly balanced. I haven’t really shown that anywhere, but I think that is because I’m wary about doing so, I know my knitting and purling looks odd when people see it and I have seen some odd reactions to it, which is one of the reasons why I think I have been reluctant to video it, but I know it is something that is more comfortable for me long term. My knitting and purling look very similar, the main difference is in the way that the needle goes into the stitch, when I knit the needle goes under the right leg of the V from front to back and to purl the needle goes under the right leg of the V from behind to the front and the yarn is wrapped over the front of the needle to the back for both knit and purl, if that make sense.

I think I’m more of a process knitter, I do want the finished object eventually, but it is more about the time spent enjoying what I’m working on and learning the skills along the way, to make what I want look the way I would like it to. I often have to alter patterns, so over the next few years I feel like I want to explore more resources for adjusting the ones I have and for writing a few things for myself from scratch. I have thought about writing up a few ideas, but I know I prefer to make things rather than promote them, I don’t enjoy that bit! It is a long term goal along with spinning some yarns to go with them and recording that process/progress as well. I love seeing everyone’s Make Nine’s on Instagram, there are so many gorgeous items made every year, but I know that planning everything that far in advance doesn’t always work for me. What kinds of knitting websites do you enjoy and what kinds of instructions work for you?

Out of the Clouds

This is just a few of the spinning and knitting books I have, but probably the ones I turn to the most.

When I posted about blogging more frequently the other day on Instagram, I was chatting with Kay Johnson, who is porkupinehill10k on Instagram about books and learning resources for both new and intermediate spinners, like myself. I thought that the subject would work best as a blog post, as I could add some links to a few favourite websites and include a list of a few favourite books. Instagram doesn’t allow for links and works best for shorter messages.

Respect The Spindle by Abby Franquemont
Dyeing To Spin and Knit – Techniques & Tips to Make Custom Hand Dyed Yarns by Felicia Lo Wong
Yarn.i.tec.ture by Jillian Moreno
The Spinners Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson
The Spinners Book of Fleece by Beth Smith

The Abby’s book is the first spinning book I bought as a new spinner back in 2013, along with a couple of issues of Spin Off Magazine. It is an excellent book if you are just starting off on your spinning journey. Her no nonsense, yet encouraging writing style is very clear, as she guides you through the technical aspects and physics of spinning on a spindle. I spun exclusively on spindles from 2013 -2017, when I was able to afford to buy my Lendrum DT wheel and I still love them for small projects with luxurious fibres, or for sampling and travelling. Every summer I take a small project bag and my my mini Turkish spindle from Subterranean Woodworks with me to Scotland.

Books 2&3 cover similar territory, in that Jillian and Felicia are both writing about taking hand dyed fibres and drafting and manipulating them using different drafting, blending and fibre preparation techniques. Where they differ is that Felicia’s book is aimed at spinners and knitters who would like to learn to dye some of their own fibres and yarn at home. I found this book very helpful for that, along with Gail Callahan’s book Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece. When I want to spin, but I’m not sure about what I want to spin, I love dipping into these books and trying out some of the techniques in the books. Colour and the manipulation of colour is one of the reasons I love spinning so much, you can really come up with combinations that can be difficult to find, or replicate with commercial yarns, especially fractal and gradient yarns.

The fourth book is all about texture. I love textured yarns for weaving and smoother, finer yarns for knitting. The samples in Sarah’s book are all spun with undyed white fibres, so that you can see the intricate ply structures clearly, without the distractions of lots of bright colours and there are clear step by step photos for each type of yarn. Again this is another book I turn to often when I feel like trying something different. I have been experimenting with thread plying corespun yarns and spiral plying and I have also been exploring some of the different ways to spin sock yarns that are in this book. If you are interested in exploring art yarns further, I can recommend Jacey Boggs Faulkner’s Craftsy course called Spinning Art Yarns, my son loved the part where she shows you how to make yarn moustaches in order to make Beehive’s, that part of the video had him crying with laughter and sparked his interest in trying a bit of spinning for himself. I also recently joined the Fibery Goodness Community over at Tiny Studio, they have some wonderful video tutorials.

https://www.fiberygoodness.com/

The fifth book is one I bought a couple of years after buying my wheel. I had joined a few spinning groups on Ravelry and there were interesting discussions about how different breeds had lock structures that were more suitable for smooth, drapey yarns, while others were more bouncy and sproingy. I had been spinning Corriedale and feeling disappointed with my slightly crunchy results and Beth’s advice to try spinning it over the fold was very helpful, the result was a softer yarn, with lots more loft. I regularly look at this one if I’m trying a breed of wool that I haven’t tried before and I want to make some samples.

Do you have a favourite spinning book? I would love to hear which books have inspired you the most and why.

Under The Influence – wool fumes…that is…

Photo shows singles, two samples and lace weight yarn, made from gorgeous fibres from Dragonfly Fibers and Wingham Woolworks from the UK. I love working with their fibres, as their colours are always gorgeous and easy to spin.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with social media. I love how it can bring people from all over the world together to share their hobbies and interests. I especially love photo heavy crafting blogs, Instagram and You tube videos, but I’m also a bit of (a lot of) an introvert, who isn’t always so good at expressing themselves, except through my work. I do love being able to keep up with friends, especially as regular letter writing, or phone conversations are not my strong point.

I haven’t been on Facebook, or Ravelry much since both changed their interfaces recently. I really miss friends there, but I can only view those websites for short periods of time, before I get migraine headaches from them, so I tend to go on for a few minutes, update things, check in on a few close friends and get off again, rather than having it on in the background like I used to. Before anyone says “Have you really tried the new version?” again, yes I have, but the migraine is not worth it, especially as my son is doing home learning and needs me to be there right now. So for now, I think I’m going to try to make more of an effort to put more of my work on this blog and Instagram. Especially as other ways of showing my work is more difficult due to the current restrictions. It may be irregular, just when I feel I have some progress to show.

Instagram isn’t ideal either, but I love the textile community there, with so many wonderful weavers, spinners, knitters and beaders. I also keep up with friends that are jewellery artists and musicians on Instagram and artists and musicians that inspire me every day. One thing I haven’t gotten involved with is online influencing, I have been asked, but I usually block those requests. If I mention a product, book, or yarn, or fibre on my page it is usually something I have purchased for myself, or been given as a gift by family, or friends and if I love it, I share it. I’m not adverse to giving product reviews if they are textile, or craft related, but they have to be from companies I trust and respect and I would always want to give a considered, constructive review, not necessarily a glowingly positive one.

Studio Day #1

Wednesday is always a day when I can get a little bit of time to work on some jewellery, or a craft project. My son goes to a childminder every Wednesday to give me a day to work on personal projects.

Today I worked on two things, the first is a scarf for Jeremy, I did intend this as a Valentine’s present and he does know about it, but because I am hand spinning the yarn it is taking a bit longer than I had hoped, but that is because I have to fit it around everything else. I am using some Humbug BFL for the warp, this is what I have so far. It doesn’t look like much just now, but I reached about the halfway mark today. Jeremy is 6 ft tall, so I’m aiming for a finished scarf that is around 6 -7 ft long before I add fringe.

The Second thing that I worked on after dinner is the Crystal Bay shawl by Rosemary Hill, from her book New Lace Knitting. This is the second thing I have knitted from this book and I have only had it for a few months, I can see me making quite a few patterns from this book. I have completed the body of the shawl and the first two edging repeats. I would like to have both of these projects done by the end of the month if possible.

It has been a while…

Quite a long while in fact. I haven’t been sure where to take the blog in quite a while. I don’t get as much time to bead as I used to because I’m a full time stay at home Mum to a 3 year old. My knitting weaving and spinning are all easier to do on a consistent basis around my son, so I want my blog to be more of a mixed media, textiles and jewellery blog to reflect those changes and my interests. I will tag the posts with whatever craft I’m working on so that if you are not interested in those crafts, you can skip them if you like. 🙂

At the moment I have quite a few UFO’s of all crafts. I’m spinning and weaving a scarf for Jeremy from some undyed humbug BFL, knitting a Fair Isle sweater – definitely a long term goal as it is on US size 2 needles and I have a couple of crochet rope necklaces in the works on the bead board! Maybe I need some smaller, less complex projects like some earrings, or stitch markers as well, as they seem to sell best in the store along with the rolags.

I’m working on a fibre study as well, though again this is a long term project involving lots of sampling and dyeing. I’m teaching myself to use acid dyes just now and there is a learning curve with those. This is some merino wool I purchased from Halcyon Yarns that I have dyed using the Dharma Trading’s own brand acid dyes, I really want some more colours and fibre now!