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Yes. Cotton. Cotton and more cotton. Spinning it. I have steeled myself, decided that I want these fibers out of my way for a little while and the best way of doing that is to spin it all up, ply it, put it in skeins and hang it with my other yarns. Not all my [...]

I set aside the cotton spinning for a while and returned to the forlorn looking spindle of lace weight alpaca. Ah, spindling where have you been? This is the same red/brown baby alpaca that I was spinning. It so lovely and soft. It’s weird how wire hard singles can turn into the loftiest softest yarn [...]

I’ve come to the conclusion that cotton fibers are smarter than I am. I know that I’m spinning a fine yarn and it does take longer to spin fine yarns than fat yarns. On the logic level I’m covered. It will take longer to spin this yarn than it would to spin yarn out of [...]

Spinning cotton is one of those experiences that you either learn to love, or continue to hate. I’m all about the love at this moment. I’ve not learned to love it yet, but I’m trying. I have 8 ounces of this stuff so I’ve plenty of time to figure out where to find the love. [...]

Oh wonders will never cease. I actually have a project full of soft and lovely yarnage to report on. I started this shawl the evening before the house broke. It’s out of lace weight handspun gray alpaca and the pattern has been spawned from my tiny aching brains. I spent way too much time staring [...]

The hits: I’m spinning Blue Faced Leicester, and wondering “Where has this stuff been all my life?” I have three 8 ounce bags; one each of white, sienna and black BFL. It’s fabulous, very similar in handle to Shetland although I tend to want to add more twist to it. I like the rich dark [...]

Should a spinner control the gauge and style of the yarn or should the fibers dictate how the yarn turns out? (Aka: Letting the yarn decide what it wants to be.) The debate rages on. I’m all for appropiateness of purpose. I personally cringe at bulky cotton singles, but if that’s appropriate for the final [...]

Yesterday was warm and lovely, today was dreary. Lucky for us we chose to do our dyeing yesterday and not today. Since I currently don’t have the acid for protein dyeing I amused myself with doing a couple of yards of linen. Although I swear I put more dye on the first one, I must [...]

Tied into things that I quantify there is worth, price, cost, usefulness. Pretty much in that order as it relates to handcrafts and art. I noticed while listening to Lime and Violet that while they raved over yarns that the word “cheap” came up again and again. This is in no way a criticism against [...]

Everyone has a kryptonite. There’s lots of different kryptonites, but I’m thinking more along the lines of the regular old green kind that just makes your superhero self weak and sweaty. When it comes to spinning and craft related things, my kryptonite is definitely in preparation. In particular using hand cards on their own. What’s [...]