Sunday, October 4, 2009

Spinning Around

In a previous post, I wrote about my vacation to Virginia to see my daughter. During that time she taught me how to do one of her latest passions, spinning yarn.

When my daughter, Jodi, was a teenager, I taught her to crochet. As she got older, her hobbies changed, and her main passion is writing. Someday I'll be blogging about her latest book signing tour! She started crocheting again, and then learned how to knit. A couple years ago I got her a drop spindle and some roving from an Etsy seller, Annie May, who sells roving, drop spindles and includes instructions in how to spin. Jodi was totally hooked and continued to purchase spindles and fiber from other Etsy sellers and people she met on Ravelry, a site especially for people involved in working with yarn.

This is the yarn I spun with some extra fiber included in an order she received from Etsy seller BeeMiceElf. In her profile, Laurs says that she fell in love with fiber work as soon as she started it. Jodi tells me that this fiber is a combed type fiber, which means it was run through a machine with needle like combs so that all the fibers are a uniform length and facing the same direction. I suppose that makes the fiber easier to spin, but I have to say I found it quite challenging. I would also like to say that the amateur quality of my yarn is purely the result of my poor spinning technique, and not the quality of the fiber!

This is an example of the work that Laurs does in her shop.
Since learning about spinning, I have developed a higher respect for fiber artists. There are many sellers on Etsy who spin lovely yarn, but I can only include a few.
Kary Miksis owns an Etsy shop called The Knotty Sheep. She sells fiber for spinning as well as home spun yarn. Kary also dyes the fiber in her "Kitchen Sink Battz" group, such as this listing.
I love the blue in this.

She sells some of her handspun yarn in groups she calls "Swinging Singles," such as this listing.
Although Kary loves spinning, she focuses a lot of attention on helping dogs and with each purchase at 10% donation is made to "Pittie Love Rescue" located in Framingham MA. Kary is a member of the Boomer and Beyond at Etsy Street Team with me.
Another BBEST member, Sassa Lynne of Etsy focuses on dying threads, yarns, and fibers. She is most known for her Serendipity Line of fibers. According to Myfanwy, owner of Sassa Lynne, "serendipity means 'the result of a happy accident', and the items from random dye pots are so very special and individual." I love this ribbon type yarn she has for sale in her shop.



I am also a member of an Etsy street team called the Wild, Wise, and Witty Grandmamas Team. We have a member of this team, FromEweTo You, who sells ready to spin fiber, handspun and hand dyed yarn, knitted/woven items with FREE SHIPPING on all items. She has a beautiful dyed Mohair fiber for spinning and this handspun Alpaca yarn. Bumble has said she plans to sell drop spindles in her Etsy shop in the near future. She donates 10% of her sales to Heifer International for the purchase of sheep. These sheep provide an income for families in other countries.
Take some time and browse through these shops and the other shops of BBEST and WWWG.

6 comments:

  1. Your yarn looks really great Jill! I hope you enjoyed it. :D I think its so awesome that you tried it out. I'm still hoping that I can convince my mom or sisters to join me in my fiber addiction!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jill, what a fun post. Thanks so much for the feature too. Enjoy your spinning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would have no idea what to do with all of this, but the colors and textures are so luscious!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jill, you are a creative, adventurous person, and I really enjoyed your blog (which I found via your comment on Jean Hood's). I agree that the fiber arts are fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, Mary!! And I'm glad you enjoyed my blog!

    ReplyDelete