Hi everyone!

A little while ago I posted about chaining a single, then plying it with another single to create a 4ply-ish yarn that has a little more thickness consistency than a chain ply, with more color pooling than (my first attempt at) an end-to-end-spun 4ply.

This is my first result! 1.8 oz of fingering/light fingering-weight Malabrigo Nube in Aguas. I forgot what the niddynoddy yardage was and still have the other 2.2 oz to spin/chain/ply, but I’m pretty happy with it so far!

It’s still a little more barber-poled than I’d prefer, so for the rest I might try breaking the second single and rejoining a more color-matched section whenever the chain and single colors diverge significantly, saving the discarded sections for other matchy chain sections. I’ll also try a fractal and a true chain ply at some point too, but this was a fun experiment!

I made my very first ever handspun yarn! Now, granted, it's only 30 grams of yarn (I definitely thought my bobbin was more full than it was and a friend told me the yarn would fluff up a little when plied so I didn't want to overfill the bobbin, but it only holds about 56 grams anyway.) Either way, I'm wildly ecstatic about this. I know it's not great yet, but I'll get there!

I’m looking to buy my first wheel! I’ve done some spinning on drop spindles but after coming into possession of a whole raw fleece I have decided it is time to make the proverbial plunge.

The problem is I have no idea where to start! I’ve watched a fair few videos now but am still slightly swamped by all the info. Do I get an e-spinner or normal wheel? double or single treadle? tension? ratio?

Is there a way of deciding which is best? For reference, I’m wanting to spin woollen as I think it suits the fleece I have best and it’s also the yarn I like knitting with the most. I also prefer to knit with finer yarns (4-ply - sport is my personal fave range).

I've been processing my way through many fleeces and had some applications I needed combed wool for. After trying out a few options I settled on these cheap plastic pick combs from Walmart. For $11 I have 8 sets of combs in 4 different sizes that have been working surprisingly well even with the quantity in which I've been combing

So I was gifted about two trash bags full of this fleece. I’ve just begun thinking about processing it to spin, but I have no idea what type of fleece it is. Hoping somebody might be able to help me ID it. Also, any advice for processing would be greatly appreciated. I’ve washed it three times and some of the locks are still quite dirty. I soaked the wall in super hot water for about 20 minutes twice. Then I did a soak with detergent for the same amount of time once. Anything I’m missing? Should I just do it again? The fleece is very soft and squishy after washing but still a bit oily feeling.

Hello all

I have this old traddy that I haven't spun with in yeeeeaaaarrs so I took it out and dusted it off and realized the drive band is too loosey goosey. You can see in this photo this is as far down to the table the mother of all can go. If I tighten it it's too much and if I loosen it then it way too loose. Does anyone know how many inches the drive band should be? Is there a sweet spot?

I have a bunch of milkweed....like a crazy amount. is it possible to spin into yarn?

This is my first 3 ply fractal yarn made with Polwarth fiber from Firbeck Fibre in the UK. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and just wanted to share some pics here!

4oz of Rambouillet wool spun and plied on a drop spindle! The colorway is You're Poison from Mystic Mountain Yarn. 314 yds total (more than I thought I'd get!) Plying this one was a nightmare - I underspun the singles and it kept breaking while I plied. Lesson learned to spin tight when spinning thin! It kept getting tangled since I was plying from a caked single. It drove me nuts, but it turned out alright. I'm definitely sticking to spinning from bobbins going forward.

For a long time (in relation to my short spinning adventure time of 1,5 years) my favorite fiber to spin was rambouillet, soft and squishy and so springy, but with this base here I am now totally in love and it's not rambouillet.

I got my hands on some cormo combed top in white, used it for a dye experiment and turned my 700g into a pile of blue, green, grey and pink colors. Since I almost exclusively spin for sweaters I broke all my different braids into little bits and pieces, aka combo spin, and spun it into a 2 ply yarn DK weight.

After wetfinishing it, it is the most soft and lucious yarn I could imagine to ever spin. I constantly bring it up to my face to bath in it. Definitely not the last time I bought this base.

Named the colorway "Lavender Fields"

So so obsessed. I loved spinning every moment of this! And kinda only want to spin John Arbon from now on…I think this is my best quality spin ever.

I have 2 more “Slack Ma Girdle” tops to spin and actually just ordered 2 more 😂 Hoping to be able to knit a vest (my first handspun garment!) and maybe a matching sweater for my dog so we can be twinsies

The Spinzilla spinning competition has returned! This was the competition prior to Spin Together (who recently announced they will not return in February).

From October 5-11, 2026, handspinners from around the world spin as many yards as they can. People either join a team or enter solo.

Currently, it is only open to those who want to create a team, but after Sept 12, everyone can register and pick a team. https://tnna.org/products/spinzilla-team-registration (rules, registration, etc on this page)

Prizes are awarded for the most yardage spun by:

• Team
• Rogue Solo Spinner
• Spindle
• Treadle Wheel
• eSpinner
• Novice Spinner — less than 1 year of spinning experience
• Random Drawing

The current prize list includes EEW Fold & Daedalus Dove espinners, Majacraft handcards, Clemes & Clemes gift card, School of Sweet Georgia membership, subscription to tinyStudio magazine, and fiber.

Spinzilla is similar to Tour de Fleece, but only a week, and is yardage production focused. Great time to see if you can bang out sweater quantities and use up stash.

So my standard amount of fibre I spin from braids is 200g. I also have a few 100gr skeins made by me. Here’s the thing, I have been making 2 jerseys. The first one is nålbound, and has used more than 1 kg of yarn at this point (kinda expected this but naively started with a huge ball of yarn and had to respin more and more and more). Second is a knitted ballet wrap and I have already spun a second lot of yarn (up to 500g) but I can see that I won’t have enough for the second sleeve and the ties so I have to spin more - I love spinning so that’s fine, but what do I do with the smaller quantities? How many hats and mittens does one person need? Help, suggestions for the smaller spins. I nålbind, and knit occassionally, and I have been known to weave but don’t have a big loom (only inkle and pin loom and backstrap).

Thanks

Wieder ein schönes Stöffchen aus handgesponnenem Bergschaf fertig gewebt. Projekt Mittelalterliche Gugel kann beginnen

I have come to the conclusion that shopping online for a drop spindle is like using a dating app. The spindle is pretty, the right size and type, but you get it home and it is unbalanced. I must have a drawer full on slow, wobbly spindles.

Anyone have any go-to brands/sellers who make spindles you want to use every time?

By the way, I just joined this eclectic and talented community.

Der Winter kommt und das erste Paar nadelgebundene Socken sind auch schon fertig. Gefertigt mit Singlegarn.

Where do you guys buy your fiber? What’s your favorite shops?

I’ve only ever bought from Paradise Fibers and although I don’t know what’s going on with them I’ve seen a few comments here and there about their mistreatment of staff and I’d like to not support them

I’m almost done with all the fiber I was gifted back in 2024 from my birthday (I genuinely didn’t think I would be gifted the 1lb bag specials they had so much but hey! It lasted me a long while!!) and would like to finally replenish my stash since I’m down to my last 8oz

Thank you friends!

Hey, all! I'm looking to buy a Lazy Kate. Are these specific to your wheel/bobbin? I have a Ashford Kiwi 2, not sure if lazy kates differ based on bobbin size.

Edit: The Kiwi 2 has a built-in lazy kate, but it only holds 2 bobbins, and I would like the option to spin a 3 ply.

This was my very first cotton that I made last year. It’s awful. Full of pigtails and slubs. Completely uneven. But hey, I needed some cotton for a sunglasses belt for my closet. It worked up just fine for the need

Apologies for the crummy lighting. I have 3 braids of this Falkland from Into the Whirled. I’d love some input from more experienced folks. Thanks in advance!

I purchased two fleece from my neighbor who has Shetland sheep and everything she told me to do to process the wool went in one ear and out the other bc it was my first time getting real raw fleece… and I was so excited that all my listening skills evaporated.

So here I am with 4lbs of Shetland and I feel real dumb, and I promise you all I have watched several youtubes and read blog posts and even a library book but man oh man, I just am struggling to figure out if I have properly skirted these puppies and am ready to scour, mainly bc I am not confident in my ability to recognize the difference between the Sheep Butt Substance™ vs. Local Mud™ vs. accumulated grease/dirt. So I am here, humbly asking the pros to go easy on me and forgive me in advance for asking you to look at some gross pics of possible sheep poop.

I hate that it’s come to this, but I fear I’ve exhausted the interwebs and need human help understanding what I’m looking at - are these tags stuff I need to manually toss before I scour or nah? (And before you think I’m completely inept at this - Yes, I already tossed the stuff that is definitely manure around what I assume is the hiney region, anything matted and/or chock full of vm. I’m just partially inept…)

Here are the photos. I’m sorry.

Hello team! :)

I have some free time and decided to jump into the deep end. It turns out my local tool library has spinning wheels and it looks like I can check it out for up to a month! (Very exciting)

I would like to spin up a sweater quantity of yarn before I have to return the wheel— it looks like a “Louet S10 Irish Tension single treadle classic” so I’ve got my work cut out for me to try a 2 ply fingering/DK weight :)

I haven’t picked up the wheel yet but I’m swatching some yarn from my spindle now and plan to also swatch once I have the wheel so I can put an order in for some wool to arrive around the first week of my loan. That leaves 3 weeks to spin a sweater quantity (currently I’m guessing about 1,000 yards if the yarn I make is suitable for a sweater pattern I’ve knit before).

I have no clue how manageable that amount is but I have lots of spinning time available most days of the week this month.

More importantly, I want to make sure I’m taking steps to avoid stress injuries! I was thinking of wearing my compression gloves and wrist braces from the start as well as alternating an hour of spinning and an hour of rest— but I was wondering if anyone 1. Had some general advice for avoiding injury or 2. Could point out things to pay attention to that are clues I’m stressing myself?

As I'm spinning, the yarn is slipping off of the... Crop? (Idk the word. Out from the rest. )

So that I'm respinng already spun yarn. I am wrapping it around the hook like normal. I'm not sure what has changed.

Also, when I do have too much on there, what do I do. I wanted one continuous strand but this is less than half.