Colour Wheel

This is what is currently on my spinning wheel. I ordered this lovely colour of VERY soft fleece. I also have a wildberry colour and another teal colour that I can not wait to get on the wheel. I am trying my hand at some fingerling weight yarn for socks.

I am not sure that I will want to sell it on Etsy. I might just end up keeping it for myself!

Passing on the Passion

Photo taken by Sophia. I had put some books and yarn up for display for the 'students' to see.

I held a workshop at my house yesterday, sharing my passion for spinning with a small group of homeschoolers who wanted to learn. I taught them a bit about sheep, wool and the each got to use a drop spindle. I forgot to take pictures (silly me) but the day was a success. I am forever fascinated at how young people got straight ahead not caring if they make mistakes, not worrying about goofing up. By the end of the session all children had made good progress.

Despite being filled wall to wall with people, the house was almost completely silent as everyone concentrated hard. No one spoke. They all sat, concentrating with eyes on their drop spindles trying to work out the complexities of spinning. Once a person becomes better at eye/hand coordination spinning can be quite relaxing and enjoyable. For me there is nothing quite like working something with your hands and then enjoying the finished product. Whether it be bread, yarn, a newly sewn garment, something toiled over passionately can be worth more than gold.

Setting the Twist

There is one important step to spinning that often gets forgotten. It's called setting the twist.



Once in a skein, yarn must be soaked in warm/hot water for a few minutes before being dried. Now you can't just wring out your wool like you would while hand washing clothes. Here are a few rules for handling wool:

Treat your wool gently.

Never pour water over your wool, just place the wool in the water.

Do not twist, or wring out wool.

And please do not put your wool in the washing machine.


To dry your wool after it's been soaking, use a towel to roll the wool in while squeezing out the access water.




You have two options when drying. You could either hang your wet skein and attached a heavy weight to the bottom to stretch the skein out. You can do this by attaching a heavy can or draping something over the bottom to pull on the yarn. Alternatively you could also just hang the skein and add no weight which would provide a different look altogether for your yarn.



I use our indoor drying rack to dry my skeins. It works well. After a bit of manipulation I have found a good way to pull my skeins down giving it a bit of stretch.