Further adventures in spinning

So following my drop spindle experiments I've started with the spinning wheel.

So I cheated a little and still split the wool right down into thin strips. Alot thinner than I did with the drop spindle.

Following watching loads of youtube videos (I liked the stuff by this woman and this also) I was all set up and got spinning.

It worked alot better than I expected to (I put it down to the preparation not actual skill yet) and is definitely more even than my drop spindle yarn was.

I think I might be over spinning it a bit and I defiantly need to work on getting it to wind onto the bobbin more evenly but hopefully will get better with practice :)

ETA:

I've done some more this evening and have done most of a bobbins worth. Its not perfect but for a first attempt I'm really pleased with it :)

WIP Wednesday 9 - Adventures in Spinning

Well to be honest my WIP has really not changed much since last week so figured there's not much I can really write about that I haven't already shown before so this week it's not so much a knitting/crochety type WIP but more my adventures in spinning (which I think is definitely a long term work in progress but fun none the less).

I got a drop spindle and some roving a few weeks ago but hadn't gotten around to having a go with it. Well I figured it was about time, so did a little youtube surfing and watched a few videos.

I found a few I liked and decided to follow this method to splitting and predrafting my wool before starting to spin it and then using another video by the same poster I started to spin my wool.

So I started with this

I unbraided it and had three chunky strips

I split it down and ended up with a pile of thinner strips

I then had a go at predrafting the wool. This is harder than it looks and I kept pulling it too far apart and splitting it up. So after re-attaching it a fair few times and then adding all the strips together I had a nice long piece to spin.

A couple of things I found out with this first attempt is your predrafting needs to be alot thinner than I thought. I thought I'd got it quite thin but I've still ended up with quite thick yarn. Its pretty, though I'm not sure I'm going to try and ply it as its going to be super chunky if I do :)

I've got a few more lengths to do practising this method and then I get to play with this next.

Its an ashford traditional. I'm planning on going on a course at the end of next month on spinning and also getting in touch with my local spinning guild as I think I still need quite a few pointers but its definitely fun.

For more work in progress posts please see Tamis blog.

Lots of lovely things

Well I've had a few lovely things arrive here this week for me to have a play at crafting with.

I've got a drop spindle set from Nimu Yarns.  This does mean I now have to watch loads of youtube tutes on  how to use a drop spindle as I have no idea :) I did try this once at a craft fair when I was about 7, I remember the lady telling me I was really good and giving me a bag of wool to take home and have a go with. She told me I could make a drop spindle from a wooden knitting needle and a potato to practice with. I thought I'd be a bit posher and buy myself a nice wooden one this time though. The colours aren't coming out too well in my pics but they really are a lovely shade of blue, purple and green.

I also saw a pattern for a scoop neck top I wanted to knit on coatscrafts. The pattern called for Patons Morocco Aran yarn which happened to be on offer so ordered some in the green/magenta/lilac colourway.

I wasn't sure if I had all the right size double point needles and knew I definitely needed one of the circular sizes required which meant I got to do a bit of needle shopping too just to add to the lovely packages I got this week.

Now I just need to find the time inbetween everything else to actually make things :)