I tried to spin for weeks on a wheel and I struggled hard! Then I sat down for five minutes with a woman from Ashford at a wool show and having someone guide my hands made all the difference. You have learned so so much in all your weaving so far though!!! Great job
This is giving me flashbacks of first learning to spindle spin. I had the opposite struggle! I spun that poor fiber so tight it was like floss and I couldn't get the hang of drafting to save my life. I watched so many YT videos and did a class from Craftsy but I think it was just practice and developing muscle memory that helped the most. That and getting comfortable with the idea that I could in fact unwind and fix "mistakes."
Hi!! we're finishing our last winter knits in the southern hemisphere, i'm making a crochet scarf for my dad, a celtic lace shawl for my mom, and a pullover for myself. Indeed everyone seems to be spinning now, but it's really fun watching all of you guys trying a new skill at the same time
Hi! Thanks for sharing your knits and spinning journey. If you are looking for a drop spindle class and/or some more advanced techniques try the Ottawa Valley Spinners and Weavers Guild. Lots of classes on all the fibery goodness!
Ah the trials and turbulations of picking up a new hobby! Fun to hear you talk about it, even though I'm (currently...) not interested in spinning myself. Love the colour of the florencia, looks great on you!
Its always fun to just be out in the wild (does knitting podcasts on youtube count as the wild??) And see people talk about spinning! My mom has been into all fiber arts, but especially spinning, since I was born, and has been teaching classes for it since before I started school. She even published a book called Productive Spindling when I was 9ish. It was amusing to watch her spin while walking me to the bus stop every morning in prep for the book. If you are looking for a learn to spin class still, you may look into finding an online zoom type one! While it's ideal for the teacher to be in the room so they can correct your hands and such, there's still value in online classes because of the accessibility. My mom isnt super involved in the fiber arts fairs and such anymore, but she does still do zoom classes for the Hansen's (of Hansen Mini-Spinners. My mom owns #6 from their first run!) I doubt they would be super useful to you, since i think all her classes are for wheels or mini-spinners (and I assume you're on a spindle? Wheels are pricey so if im wrong, congrats on having one!!) But you may find something helpful by looking in that general direction.
Thank you so much for this video! You kept me (mostly) sane while I frogged half of my project to the Spot Everything Started Going Wrong, sweated through picking up my stitches, and getting back on track 😂
You should look up the book "respect the spindle"--I borrowed a copy from the library, and it's a super good spinning resource!! Love your Florencia tee btw!
Soooooooooo here are my spinning thoughts: my main one is: Give yourself permission to go wild on twist. I usually ply with way too much twist. But theres a thing (I think it's called 'seasoning'?) where you slap your hank after washing it, and this TOTALLY takes care of the twisting back onto itself problem. I, like you, am totally self taught and the first time I heard about washing and slapping your spun wool i was like 'whaaaaaaaa'--watched a video and voila my extreme excess of twist was taken care of. The basic process is you soak the wool to relax it (just like for blocking garments) but then instead of doing the roll and step on thing like garments you grab one end of the hank and slap the far end onto the ground. Then rotate and repeat about 4 times. then hang to dry. It really helps the overspinning. But I would say you're being far too tentative with your plying in terms of how much twist it has. A little spinning onto itself is normal--but not a craaaaazy amount. There you go--a tip from an incredibly bad spinner with almost no expertise! you're welcome! haha
Love that you've taken up spinning! TH-cam is a great place to learn about spinning, since you can see what the hands are doing. JillianEve is a great channel to learn about different techniques, experimentation, and history. A great book to look at techniques and color theory is Yarnitecture by Jillian Moreno. I think she has a lot of videos about spinning as well. Also, my first few spins looked just like yours, so keep going!
Just a thought re plying: are you making sure you go in the opposite direction? So s twist for singles and z twist for plying? Also, don't give up! I was a very bad spindle spinner but now have a wheel and make proper yarn! It is just practice.
I expect you could un-ply the yarn that you're unhappy with and respin the singles to be a bit tighter, and then re-ply it. Could be an interesting experiment! FWIW I always over-spin my singles AND "overply" my plied yarn since I personally find that the washing process relaxes it a loooot. Also drop spindling is like, extreme hard mode in my experience! I found a spinning wheel much more intuitive and enjoyable, though I acknowledge it's a much bigger investment up front. Last thing: I really like the book "Yarnitecture" by Jillian Moreno! :)
So, I’m definitely in the “wannabe” category of spinner. I just got my first wheel (an electric one) at the same time my son got a drop spindle (this past weekend). I just started doing what I figured should be…which, of course, was not great. My son also dove right in and just started. We both liked this approach because we learn best by doing. I’ve watched a few videos on the process now and I think I can put what I learned on my own together with what I learned on the videos. My only attempt at a drop spindle was in a class, in Norwegian (nope, don’t speak/understand it) and was a total fail. I was put off spinning for years. Now, I’m excited about giving it another go. Keep it up. Anything worth doing is going to take some practice. Remember your first knitting? LOL! 😂 I love all the blues you use, BTW! Just gorgeous!
When I ply, my yarn always loops back on itself. Idk how people get it to not to that and have a balanced ply, but whenever I tried to prevent that my yarn was always under plied. I’m not sure if I’m wildly over plying now, but my final yarn never curls in on itself after I’ve washed and snapped it, even though it was twisting back on itself wildly while I was playing
I love that you use words like chokey and bobbley.
I tried to spin for weeks on a wheel and I struggled hard! Then I sat down for five minutes with a woman from Ashford at a wool show and having someone guide my hands made all the difference.
You have learned so so much in all your weaving so far though!!! Great job
the color of the Florencia looks so great on you!!!
This is giving me flashbacks of first learning to spindle spin. I had the opposite struggle! I spun that poor fiber so tight it was like floss and I couldn't get the hang of drafting to save my life. I watched so many YT videos and did a class from Craftsy but I think it was just practice and developing muscle memory that helped the most. That and getting comfortable with the idea that I could in fact unwind and fix "mistakes."
Oh yeah that Jacey Boggs class is phenomenal!!,
Hi!! we're finishing our last winter knits in the southern hemisphere, i'm making a crochet scarf for my dad, a celtic lace shawl for my mom, and a pullover for myself. Indeed everyone seems to be spinning now, but it's really fun watching all of you guys trying a new skill at the same time
Hi! Thanks for sharing your knits and spinning journey.
If you are looking for a drop spindle class and/or some more advanced techniques try the Ottawa Valley Spinners and Weavers Guild.
Lots of classes on all the fibery goodness!
Totally agree loosening up our knitting style is going to help our hands in the long run. Love you guys.
Ah the trials and turbulations of picking up a new hobby! Fun to hear you talk about it, even though I'm (currently...) not interested in spinning myself. Love the colour of the florencia, looks great on you!
Its always fun to just be out in the wild (does knitting podcasts on youtube count as the wild??) And see people talk about spinning! My mom has been into all fiber arts, but especially spinning, since I was born, and has been teaching classes for it since before I started school. She even published a book called Productive Spindling when I was 9ish. It was amusing to watch her spin while walking me to the bus stop every morning in prep for the book.
If you are looking for a learn to spin class still, you may look into finding an online zoom type one! While it's ideal for the teacher to be in the room so they can correct your hands and such, there's still value in online classes because of the accessibility. My mom isnt super involved in the fiber arts fairs and such anymore, but she does still do zoom classes for the Hansen's (of Hansen Mini-Spinners. My mom owns #6 from their first run!) I doubt they would be super useful to you, since i think all her classes are for wheels or mini-spinners (and I assume you're on a spindle? Wheels are pricey so if im wrong, congrats on having one!!) But you may find something helpful by looking in that general direction.
I can't even imagine knitting while ill, I'm amazed you got anything out of it! I love the red braid and the autumnal one, good luck
Thank you so much for this video! You kept me (mostly) sane while I frogged half of my project to the Spot Everything Started Going Wrong, sweated through picking up my stitches, and getting back on track 😂
You should look up the book "respect the spindle"--I borrowed a copy from the library, and it's a super good spinning resource!! Love your Florencia tee btw!
This book is a classic!!!! Highly recommend too!!!!!
Soooooooooo here are my spinning thoughts: my main one is: Give yourself permission to go wild on twist. I usually ply with way too much twist. But theres a thing (I think it's called 'seasoning'?) where you slap your hank after washing it, and this TOTALLY takes care of the twisting back onto itself problem. I, like you, am totally self taught and the first time I heard about washing and slapping your spun wool i was like 'whaaaaaaaa'--watched a video and voila my extreme excess of twist was taken care of. The basic process is you soak the wool to relax it (just like for blocking garments) but then instead of doing the roll and step on thing like garments you grab one end of the hank and slap the far end onto the ground. Then rotate and repeat about 4 times. then hang to dry. It really helps the overspinning. But I would say you're being far too tentative with your plying in terms of how much twist it has. A little spinning onto itself is normal--but not a craaaaazy amount. There you go--a tip from an incredibly bad spinner with almost no expertise! you're welcome! haha
I was confused by that section of the Florencia pattern too - I ended up having to cut yarn in order to make it work 🙈
Great upbeat podcast 👍
Love that you've taken up spinning! TH-cam is a great place to learn about spinning, since you can see what the hands are doing. JillianEve is a great channel to learn about different techniques, experimentation, and history. A great book to look at techniques and color theory is Yarnitecture by Jillian Moreno. I think she has a lot of videos about spinning as well.
Also, my first few spins looked just like yours, so keep going!
Just a thought re plying: are you making sure you go in the opposite direction? So s twist for singles and z twist for plying? Also, don't give up! I was a very bad spindle spinner but now have a wheel and make proper yarn! It is just practice.
I expect you could un-ply the yarn that you're unhappy with and respin the singles to be a bit tighter, and then re-ply it. Could be an interesting experiment! FWIW I always over-spin my singles AND "overply" my plied yarn since I personally find that the washing process relaxes it a loooot. Also drop spindling is like, extreme hard mode in my experience! I found a spinning wheel much more intuitive and enjoyable, though I acknowledge it's a much bigger investment up front. Last thing: I really like the book "Yarnitecture" by Jillian Moreno! :)
Oh and Diana Twiss has a great class on spindle spinning on School of Sweet Georgia!!! Many good spinning classes on that platform!!
Thanks for the tip, I absolutely need to check those out!
The first top with that outfit is so cute!
Your florencia tee is beautiful! Love that color!
So, I’m definitely in the “wannabe” category of spinner. I just got my first wheel (an electric one) at the same time my son got a drop spindle (this past weekend). I just started doing what I figured should be…which, of course, was not great. My son also dove right in and just started. We both liked this approach because we learn best by doing. I’ve watched a few videos on the process now and I think I can put what I learned on my own together with what I learned on the videos. My only attempt at a drop spindle was in a class, in Norwegian (nope, don’t speak/understand it) and was a total fail. I was put off spinning for years. Now, I’m excited about giving it another go. Keep it up. Anything worth doing is going to take some practice. Remember your first knitting? LOL! 😂 I love all the blues you use, BTW! Just gorgeous!
Love your content!
When I ply, my yarn always loops back on itself. Idk how people get it to not to that and have a balanced ply, but whenever I tried to prevent that my yarn was always under plied. I’m not sure if I’m wildly over plying now, but my final yarn never curls in on itself after I’ve washed and snapped it, even though it was twisting back on itself wildly while I was playing
I tried a spindle once and my shoulder was like nope, so I got a tiny espinner and became obsessed 😂
I want one but until I know this love for spinning is going to stick I can't justify it hehe
@@woolseeknitting that’s why I started with the mini one 😂 incase it didn’t stick but it did and now I have a bigger one as well lol