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Spinning with Turkish Spindles: Singles to Plying
My second Fiber Arts related course through FiberyGoodness. This self paced course can be started at any time, and has three sections: S...
Monday, January 29, 2018
Day 29 of #wemakeyarn — Best Advice. Mine would be don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things! We can always get new fiber and using little bits of fiber left over from other projects can be a great thing to use for trying new ideas. I found some pine green that I’ve decided to blend up to do a series of mini spins for mini skeins for #5shawls5days. #handspunstagram
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Sunday, January 28, 2018
Day 28 of #wemakeyarn — Community. I feel blessed to have so many wonderful fibery communities to take part in. We have a immense population of fiber artists in the Pacific Northwest which results in some amazing events like this one St. Distaff’s Day. It’s through this event that I found the guild I belong to Eastside Spinners. I’ve learned so much and made so many local friends through this event and through guild. I’m also part of wonderful communities online such as Fun Onions, Jenkins and Akerworks groups on Ravelry and @fiberygoodness. I also can’t forgot to mention how amazing the fiber community is here on Instagram. Being a part of all these communities helps me grow as a fiber artist but also helps me inspire others. ❤️
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Day 27 of #wemakeyarn — High Twist. When it comes to spinning thin you need a lot of twist, you also need more twist when you Navajo ply, and more twist when it comes to making sock yarn... that adds up to some super twist! Gotta love making sock yarn. I’ve been knitting these two into knee highs. The fiber is dyed by @threewatersfarm as part of her colorways for last year’s Tour de Fleece. #handspunstagram
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Friday, January 26, 2018
Day 26 of #wemakeyarn — Fave Fiber. I love all sorts of fibers and blends which makes it really hard to choose my absolute fav. I’d have to say out of all the natural non dyed fibers I got last year this Alpaca/Merino blend called Aviary by @abundantearthfiber is probably my favorite and I haven’t even spun it yet. It has such an incredible feel and the color is so stunning. I’ve been making my own blends of Alpaca/Merino in different colors to work my way up to using this beautiful fiber. I’m not sure what it will become but whatever it is it’s going to be amazing I just know it! ❤️
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Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Day 24 of #wemakeyarn —Texture. As spinners we have so many options for what types of fiber we can use to spin our yarns. Each type of fiber has a different texture and make up that gives us innumerable options of yarns we can create. Some fiber like this Rambouillet are super fine with lots of crimp. It’s texture allows for a yarn that is super bouncy with a lot of memory and squish. While other fibers may not have the crimp but instead have an amazing luster and drape. We have so many options to choose from and we can blend our fibers to create different combinations. ❤️
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Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Day 22-23 of #wemakeyarn — Wraps per inch and Ply. Oops with the craziness that was yesterday I forgot to shoot for yesterday’s prompt. Most of my yarn falls around light fingering weight to sport weight. I will admit that I very rarely check my wraps per inch as I spin. If I have a specific project in mind I’ll check it and swatch before I knit. I normally knit a lot of socks and shawls so I don’t really need to worry about getting my wpi to a very specific amount. When I venture into sweater spinning I’ll definitely work more on sampling and making sure I wpi is exactly where I need it to be. Now when it comes to plying I absolutely love to Navajo ply. All of these yarns were plied this way. I love the way the colors flow and it’s such a fun plying process. #handspunstagram
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Monday, January 22, 2018
Yay!!!!!! This beautiful fiber arrived today from @threewatersfarm. Thanks so much Mary Ann! I’ve been working on an article for the December 2018 issue of @plymagazine and now I can dig into the fun stuff! This will be my first time having an article published so I’m extremely excited! #handspunstagram
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Sunday, January 21, 2018
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Day 20 of #wemakeyarn —Whorls. There are so many whorls involved with spinning! There’s bobbin whorls, whorls for drivebands, and spindle whorls! I love the ability to swap driveband whorls on my Aura allowing me a wide spinning range depending on what I want to accomplish. The rest of the whorls here are either bobbin or spindle whorls. I absolutely love how interchangeable Akerworks bobbins are with a variety of bobbin sizes, whorl patterns, and colors. They add so much extra fun to my projects and they are always so lovely to photograph. I have a ton of Akerworks spindles as well with every whorl type and size available. It’s so much fun to be able to swap out the spindle whorls for different colors to best fit the colorway I’m working on. ❤️
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Friday, January 19, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Day 18 of #wemakeyarn — Stash Enhancement. I’ve been trying not to add too much to my stash lately due to low budget but these three beauties had to come home with me from St Distaff’s Day. I absolutely love these earthy colorways from @huckleberryknits 💚💙💚 #handspunstagram #spinstagram #igspinners #spinnersofinstagram #handspun #handspunyarn #fiberfeature #wemakeyarn #fiberyfun365
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Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Day 17 of #wemakeyarn — Favorite time to spin. I love to spend any time I can but my absolute favorite time to spin is during Tour de Fleece. I love captaining my two favorite teams #TeamAkerworks and #TeamJenkins and cheering all of my teammates in all the teams I take part in. It’s such a great time to spin and inspire each other. I love seeing everyone’s daily progress throughout the event and seeing everything we have all accomplished as we cross the finish line. This was one of my TdF spins for #tourdefleece2017 💛
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Day 16 of #wemakeyarn — Low Twist. Almost forgot to post today! Low twist is a toughie for me to share a photo on as I really don’t do low twist yarns. I only do low twist if I’m doing a yarn that will stay as singles as they don’t need as much twist but I don’t spin singles very often. My usual spinning is very high in twist as I like to spin very fine. #handspunstagram #spinstagram #igspinners #spinnersofinstagram #handspun #handspunyarn #fiberfeature #wemakeyarn #fiberyfun365 #JenkinsTurkishSpindle #turkishspindle #woolgatherings
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Monday, January 15, 2018
Call out to all my friends who game! Who all is planning on playing Monster Hunter World on PS4? We’ll be borrowing a friends extra PS4 so Linhart and I can play together as soon as it comes out. We are also still planning on playing the PC version but yikes such a long wait! For anyone who wants to hunt together sometime let me know. 😄 #monsterhunterworld #monsterhunter
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Sunday, January 14, 2018
Day 14 of #wemakeyarn — Drive. My first wheel was Scotch Tension and when I got my Majacraft Aura I admit I was a wee bit intimidated. It uses a Hybrid Double Drive setup. I had never used Double Drive so the whole concept was brand new to me. The more I played with my Aura the more I understood how altering your tension and speed can affect your spinning. I also at some point realized that the drive set up on this wheel really isn’t that much different from Scotch Tension. The black band is the equivalent of your Scotch Tension band on the bobbin only the adjustments you make are a lot finer giving you more control over the tension. The way the tension controls the bobbin also prevents you from having to keep making adjustments throughout your spin so once you set it up where you want it when you first start a project you don’t need to make any further tweaks. Once I realized just how much the Aura is like an advanced version of Scotch Tension it became so much simpler to use. ❤️
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Day 13 of #wemakeyarn — Weight. My default spinning weight is fine fine fine! My finished yarn is usually 2-3 plies heavy lace to heavy fingering weight. I’ve been practicing spinning thicker for those times I’d really love to knit with a fatter squishy yarn. I spun on this today at Eastside Spinners. Might make something with this for my Mom if she likes the finished yarn. ❤️ #handspunstagram #spinstagram #igspinners #spinnersofinstagram #handspun #handspunyarn #fiberfeature #wemakeyarn #fiberyfun365 #WeePeggy #huckleberryknits
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Saturday, January 13, 2018
Day 12 of #wemakeyarn — Balance. Was trying to think of how I wanted to interpret this one. I love making beautifully balanced yarns but thought I’d share balanced spindles instead. I mainly use only three kinds of spindles Jenkins Turkish and Akerworks Modulars as well as the Minis. All of these spindles are incredibly balanced making them so smooth to spin. With the Jenkins spindles Ed carefully balances each one by hand giving them beautiful spins. With the Akerworks spindles each kind has special metal pieces that are evenly distributed around the outer edge of the whorl to provide balance as well as rim weighting. #handspunstagram
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Thursday, January 11, 2018
Day 11 of #wemakeyarn — Throwback. On November 28th 2011 I purchased my very first Jenkins spindle a Turkish Delight. This was back when Ed was able to do custom orders because people weren’t going crazy over them yet. It was my first non toy wheel spindle and it had been about four years since I had stopped spindles spinning because I had gotten a wheel. I thought why spindle spin when I can finish yarn fast and more efficiently on a wheel. This spindle changed the way I feel about spindle spinning and helped me become a better spinner. This project here was my very first major spin on this spindle started in December that year. It’s hard to believe I’ve been spinning with my Turkish now for 6 years. ❤️ #handspunstagram
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Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Finally wound this project off the bobbin. I finished this just before Christmas. This is BFL dyed by @huckleberryknits. I’m planning on knitting this into socks. For anyone wondering what the yarn is on it’s an early prototype of the @akerworks Niddy Noddy. I absolutely love this tool and I’m so anxious to see what Adan has in store for it’s development next!!! #handspunstagram
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Day 10 of #wemakeyarn — Favorite Tool. You can’t make me choose!!!!!!! You can’t make me so I’ll tell you all about my favorite TOOL MAKERS! My top three makers in no particular order are Majacraft, Akerworks, and Jenkins. They have all had a profound affect on my experience as a spinner. When I got my Majacraft Aura I relearned how spinning work because it was so different than my Wee Peggy. It gave me such a better understanding and my spinning improved quickly and drastically. In that same period of time I also obtained my very first Jenkins a Turkish Delight that changed how I view spindle spinning. After I got my first wheel I was done spindle spinning. I thought, what’s the point? It’s a waste of time when I can wheel spin faster. I was in awe of photos of the beautiful wrapping and was impressed that I wouldn’t have to unwind/rewind to ply. Now Akerworks.... I think at this point I have more Akerworks tools than anything else. They are so bright, colorful, happy and insanely useful. The tools Adan and the team have designed are so much fun not only to work with but also to photograph. Some tools like the AkerKate are so multifaceted that I use it for multiple purposes plying both bobbins and spindles, spindle spinning, and now knitting! I recently acquired new Majacraft tools for processing my own fiber which is going to expand my creativity immensely as well. All of these tools have greatly impacted who I am as a fiber artist and so have the makers themselves which I consider them all dear friends. I chat with Adan often and help him test early prototypes which is always a ton of fun. His creativity and resourcefulness at creating tools to solve problems is incredible! I help out Jenkins with Tour de Fleece and chat with Wanda on occasion. I’m hoping so much to see Ed and Wanda this year at a festival, it’s been too long since I’ve seen them. I work for @fiberygoodness which has close ties with @majacraftnz. It gives me the opportunity to talk with Glynis and Andy Poad on occasion which is always a treat. I feel so fortunate to know these makers and to be able to use all of these tools because with them the possibilities are endless. ❤️
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Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Monday, January 8, 2018
Things have been a bit crazy! Here’s my post for day 7 of #wemakeyarn — Prep. Before I joined @fiberygoodness my prep consisted of buying pretty braids from indie dyers and spinning them as is. Over the past few years I’ve been building up my tool arsenal so that I can prep my own fiber. Last year I finished off my prep tools with the Majacraft Fusion Engine drum carder and Hackle. I’m so excited that I can now do pretty much any fiber prep I want to do. I’m looking forward to doing more of my own fiber prep this year!
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Saturday, January 6, 2018
I had such a fantastic time at St. Distaff’s day but as seen here I didn’t get much spinning time in. I spent most of my time catching up with friends I hadn’t seen awhile as well as with some of my favorite vendors, taking lots of photos, and also being as it was put the “@akerworks West Coast Technical Support”. All in all it was a great day. 😄 #handspunstagram
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Day 6 of #wemakeyarn “where I spin”. I spin mostly at home but love to attend guild twice a month and take my spindles where ever I go. One of my favorite places to spin is events like this one where I can spin and chat with all sorts of amazing fiber artists. Today at the 34th Annual St. Distaff’s Day in Monroe Wa I got a wee bit of spinning in on my Wee Peggy Ella(bottom right corner)but mostly ran around helping people which was a lot of fun in itself. . See my Facebook account for more photos of the event. .
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Day 5 of #wemakeyarn Combed Top or Roving? I love to spin both. It wasn’t until I got my drum carder and my hackle that I fully realized just how different these preps are. For the most part prior to getting my drum carder I spun from commercial top dyed by indie dyers and very rarely from batts which I tore into strips. These two projects were ones I processed myself the top is roving I dizzed off my drum carder and the bottom i processed with my hackle and dizzed off to make combed top. Both projects were spun exactly the same but you can clearly see how the roving makes the yarn just a bit more fuzzy and airy while the combed top is very smooth and dense. They both make such wonderful yarns for their own purposes and I’m so thankful that I now have the tools and options to process my fiber which every way I choose. #handspunstagram #spinstagram #igspinners #spinnersofinstagram #handspun #handspunyarn #fiberfeature #wemakeyarn #fiberyfun365 #Majacraft #MajacraftHackle #MajacraftFusionEngine #MajacraftDrumCarder #FusionEngine #Hackle #Drumcarder #roving #combedtop
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Yesterday and today I’ve been working on a project for my Mom. Last year she showed me this Facebook post that had this beautiful yarn in it but didn’t mention what the yarn was. She asked me if I could find it and make something for her so I looked and looked and found the yarn and colorway. It ended up the Yarn was one made by Malabrigo in the colorway Whales Road. I picked a different yarn but same colorway in order to make this special project. She knows I’m working on it but doesn’t know what it will be. Let’s just say I have to cast on 318 stitches and it’s an i-cord cast on. It’s going to take awhile just to do the cast on but I know it’s worth it. ❤️ #knittersofinstagram #igknitters #knittersofig #knitting #knitting_inspiration #instaknit #i_loveknitting #fiberyfun365
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Thursday, January 4, 2018
Day 4 of #wemakeyarn — Wheel. I have three very special wheels. They all got cleaned up and enjoyed a spa day today. . I got my first wheel Ella the Wee Peggy from @copper_moth in early 2008. She’s a very special wheel to me as she was Leslie’s first wheel and then became my first wheel. In August 2011 I bought my Majacraft Aura which dramatically helped improve my spinning. In March 2011 I put myself on a wait list for a Walnut Holiday by Spinaway which I later got in March of 2014. I love all my wheels. ❤️
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Day 3 of #wemakeyarn is all about Twist. Without twist you can’t make yarn. The finer you spin the more twist you need. This is 15.5 micron Merino and it likes to be spun extremely fine. Due to this it requires a ton of twist. Luckily this Akerworks Mini Spindle spins lightening fast!!!!! The finished yarn will be about 22wpi as a 3 ply. #handspunstagram
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Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Day 2 of #wemakeyarn Why Spin? I love to spin because it’s relaxing and I love getting to play with all the different types of fiber. I love the freedom to create yarn out of whatever fiber types and colors I want to knit with. Spinning on Turkish spindles is especially relaxing with how meditative the winding process is. . Today’s spinning for #fiberyfun365. . #handspunstagram
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Monday, January 1, 2018
Hi everyone! Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!!! Here’s my first post for #wemakeyarn! My name is Evanita and I’ve been knitting and spinning for about 11 years! I blame it entirely on my BFF @copper_moth who talked me into joining her knitting club at her college. I’m very thankful she did as I’m not sure what I would be doing if it wasn’t for fiber arts. My main passion is photography which I’ve been doing for about 15 years. Last year I started teaching photography for fiber artists and how to spin. I absolutely love to make stuff and learn how to do new things. I’m super excited about this year and look forward to getting my 3d printing business going. ❤️ #wemakeyarn
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