The Next Bobbin

 Today I started the next bobbin for Spin Together 2025.  

Time to Pivot

 For Spin Together 2025, I had originally planned to master the supported spindle spinning.  My body however had very strong reservations on the subject. So today I did a major pivot and  looked in my fiber stash and choose 2 color coordinated roving’s that I bought at my favorite Local Yarn Store, Grandma’s Spinning Wheel . By the way I am on the Grandma’s Spinning Wheel team  for Spin Together 2025. 

I switched to my Hansen mini pro e-spinner. Since I was not planning to use my e-spinner this week, I spent the morning finishing up some quick plying and skeined in the yarn off the bobbins.  I do not have enough bobbins to cover unplanned projects. Of course the four skeins had to have a bath and are now drying in the garage. You can find Hansen Crafts at this link.  I do love my Hansen e-spinner.  One of the best things about it is that I can use it when I am in a flare up and can’t use my Louet Victoria or Lendrum DT.  It’s the whole bit that I must rest as much as possible during a flare up. But as long as I am not treadling I can still spin.  

I am a little over 1/3 of the way through my first roving.  This is my spin from this afternoon. 

Spin Together 2025

 The first day of Spin Together 2025 was today.  I chose to challenge myself with learning to spin on a supported spindle. The first spindle I tried I did not get the knack of it. After an hour I changed spindles.  Maybe I need a little more practice before I go to something like that again. So I picked up another spindle, yes, I brought several with me to spin in public day. This Spindle was made by a Navajo artist. It was a better spin experience for me. The spindle was more balanced and easier to use. I wish I could find his card because I’d like another one. Alas I am getting ahead of myself.

With the second spindle, I spun until my hands were too tired to work. I think I did a pretty good job on a brand new to me spindle. I was also trying out different fibers in 1 ounce fiber samples. The picture below shows about a quarter of an ounce of hand spun yarn.  I think it will ply to a DK weight. I have a bunch of other spindles to try so once I get this spindle full, I will go to the next. I will put aside the ones that I’m finding difficult and then decide what to do with them. If they don’t work for me after several tries, it might be time to thin the herd again. I think I might have another spindle de stash.

The above spindle is a keeper.  

Completed Projects

 These are my completed projects for the week as of yesterday.  The 4 blue skeins of yarn are going to my sister. The 2 small skeins are going into my hand spun yarn stash.  The 4 skeins of pink were responsible to compress some of the air out of the yarn to make it more suitable for weaving.  The green skein of yarn is going into a new pattern design.  The hat is part of my holiday knitting for the kids clothing bank here in Tucson that I am supporting.  That would be 6 more completed projects for the year.   

Now to pit everything away or get it ready for mailing tomorrow.  I hope to have a big stack to bring to the post office.  It’s always good when things leave the house.   

The End Is Insight

 This scarf has been on the loom since early last year.  The end is finally insight.  The color combo was not that inspiring to me. But I need the loom so it has to be finished.  

Lace Weight Yarn

 I managed to spin lace weight yarn on something besides a drop spindle. I spun it on my Hansen Mini Pro e-spinner.  I got 493 yards out of 4 ounces of roving.  I am really proud of my accomplishment.  It’s not like I have not spun lace weight yarn before, but it has always been on a drop spindle.  

I spun 4 ounces of Targee Wool plyed with Ashford Caterpillar cotton.  It should have a definite artsy look when it is finished.  The roving was a fairly fun spin, but it took a long time. I also found that it was easier to sit on the left side of the e-spinner. With the e-spinner on my left side instead of the traditional way of being in front of the orifice. I set up the yarn in multiple skeins so it would dry faster.  

I also put so much plyed yarn on the first bobbin that the end popped off when I took the bobbin off.  Well there is a first time for everything.  Note to self: don’t over fill the bobbin ever again. 

Don’t worry. It is not being added to my yarn stash.  As soon as I give it a hot water bath.  Thwack it.  Then line dry it. It will be leaving the house with other yarn in a big box.  

So Many Projects

 I have so many projects that I want to work on: however, this little energizer bunny has run out of batteries. I spent the day resting.

That being said I decided to do something different for this year’s Spin Together event. A no pressure spinning project.  I decided that I am going to finally tackle the supported spindle.  I will gather my supported spindles in a basket and get a sampler of different fibers to try out.  At least from a Navajo spinning class that I took several years ago, I already know that I will spin to the left which means putting everything on the right, I think.  I will have to look that up.