Some...

Some new yarn

Quo Vadis handyed yarn,
using Berroco Comfort sock as a base

Some current spinning

My spinning is getting more and more even

Some future spinning

Tussah silk top in Copper from Wildcraft

Some delicious!

My chilli plant has a chilli!

One more!

I have spun 80 m of fingering/sport weight. Frustrated by the low yield of my previous batch, I decided to try to spin quite thin, which did in fact gave me a higher yield.


The yarn is one single plied unto itself using a centre pull ball, guaranteeing no left-over yarn from two singles. I spun the single as long as I could, until it got too unwieldy. I could only spin about half of that the first time I tried (the yarn kept slipping off the hook), but I learned a little trick to secure it so that it doesn't spin around the whorl as I'm spindling, which has doubled the output of one spindle-full.


The yarn is a lot more constant in thickness: it doesn't deviate from mean thickness for too long, and it doesn't deviate too much. It should be mostly good to knit with!


It is not easy to gauge the thickness of the yarn in these pictures. While I knew why people put pennies in their pictures, I never really realised their importance until now! The yarn is very similar in thickness to the grey tie in the first picture (which is a fingering weight).


I still have some more of the carbonised bamboo, and plan to spin another skein of about the same thickness, hopefully using it all up. If I can get the same yield, I should be able to do something with 160 m of bamboo, maybe a little bag or some little wristlets. Any suggestions?

First handspun!

From this

to, sadly, this


to, with a long break in the middle, this


to this!



With much trial and even more error, and plenty of swearing, I am now the proud owner of my own handspun.
It is only a little bit discouraging that my weeks of effort have yielded so little, but I'm assure it will get better.

Fibre: carbonised bamboo, from silversunalpacas
Spindle: top whorl spindle, also from silversunalpacas

Yarn: 26 meters of roughly worsted weight (9-10 wpi), all mine!

Learning thanks to: sheet from silversunalpacas, tutorials from Megan, and having seen a friend spin at Eastercon.

You spin me right round

Like a record, baby, right round



This is the Drop Spindle Kit from Silver Sun Alpacas. He kindly changed the fibre from wool to a beautiful black carbonised bamboo for me, and included a little sample of another bit of bamboo! It arrived today and I can't wait to start.

Because I have so much free time...

I have just ordered off Etsy a beginner's spindle kit! It took a while to find a nice one that didn't involve animal hair, although in the end that problem was solved as the seller kindly substituted the original wool by bamboo.

A not insignificant part of the reason I want to learn how to spin, even if just with a spindle, is to improve my skills for the zombie apocalypse. If I can survive the initial chaos, I have the awesome skill of being able to make clothes out of sticks and string, and I want to be able to spin my own yarn as well. All for the zombie apocalypse, baby!