I made yarn!!

Last night I Andean-plyed the spindle-full of singles from my drop-spindle. It had gotten to the point that the spindle was feeling “sluggish” and if I tried to spin as fine as I had been it would just break: I think this was from the weight of singles on the spindle. There really was a lot on there, and the Andean method took a long time just to wrap up (and beware you don’t cut off the circulation to your middle finger!), but I got it all sorted out. Then, remembering to spin the spindle counter-clockwise, I plyed the beginning and end together.

After plying, I wound the stuff on to a DYI niddy-noddy I got from my friend Mel, and after counting the wraps and trying to do math (I think I have about 60m), I pulled the skien off the niddy-noddy. And then it hit me.

“Dru”, I said quietly, in shock. “I made yarn!”

I wish I could show it to you!! It’s so pretty! Blues and greens and pinks and purples: most ended up plying with like shades, with some really cool candy-striping every so often. And it’s really, truly yarn. It’s over-plyed (or over-twisted?) and unbalanced, and I still have to wash it to “set” the twist (a prospect that deeply unnerves me), but ultimately I have taken prettily-coloured fuzz and turned it into real yarn with little more than a dowel and a furniture-caster. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think?

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5 Comments

Filed under drop-spindle, rambling, spinning

5 responses to “I made yarn!!

  1. Yes, that is awesome! I have tried spinning with a drop spindle too, but haven’t got very far yet. It is a pretty neat feeling of accomplishment, though.

  2. Kelly

    Hooray for turning stuff into other stuff! Best feeling in the world. I hope you can take pictures soon, I wanna see!

  3. Congrats on your first skein! Can’t wait to see the pictures!

  4. Secret Pal

    I can’t wait to see your new yarn–it sound’s lovely!

  5. Congratulations! It sounds so lovely. You describe it very well I can almost picture it

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