How to make a free swift out of stuff you already have!

That is a rolling desk chair and two pillows, I have faith that everybody can figure out how assemble it into a swift without step by step instructions.

How to make awesome rolags from combed top without carding anything! (but you do need a pair of hand carders)

I prefer spinning from rolags these days but all I have around the house is combed top, this is how I turn my top into rolags without a mess or much effort

First I break the top up into chunks after weighing it, when I spin rolags I typically spin them x# of white to x# of colored rolags so I need to count how many I'm making. This is 4oz of white merino broken into 34 pieces.

Take one of your carders and lay it across your leg like this

 

Lay your piece of top down on the carder like this

 

Push down on the fiber with your hand so it all goes into the carder and hold your hand there

While holding your hand there, grab the top with your other hand (using the pressure from your hand that's on the carder to keep it from moving) and pull until you get a nice neat amount pulled off on the carder

Fill up the carder evenly

 

Roll it up like a rolag you just carded :)

yay hand carders!

I have been wanting to buy myself hand carders for a while now, but just like a ball winder, I look at it and look at it and think about it and put it in my shopping cart and think some more and then don't buy it. BUT! unlike a ball winder I finally got a set! they're used, but they're really pretty and I'm so happy with them! rolags are so much fun to spin from and I love using the hand carders to mix colors together <3

how to make an andean plying bracelet using a book and an index card

I suck at andean plying on my hand, it really hurts and I hate it but it is my absolute favorite method of plying once the nightmare of making the bracelet is over. I've tried lots of ways to avoid hurting my fingers like using a size 15 needle held against my hand instead of my finger, using a little DPN... stuff like that never works but using a book and an index card does such a great job!

First grab a book, better if it's one that isn't pretty anymore and has been very loved. It won't mess up your pages but it could make the cover get bent. Also get an index card or a popsicle stick, I'm a college student so I have tons of index cards and use one folded up in 3 even sections like this.

 

Step 2: Just stick your index card in the middle of the pages, it's best if you put it near the center of both length and width of the book.

Step 3: Put the tail in the middle of the pages so you don't lose it (I'm using already plyed yarn for the demo because I don't have anything that needs plying at the moment)

 

Step 4: Wrap the yarn around the back of the book around the index card

 

Step 5: Loop around the front so that the string crosses in an x on the spine of the book. I wrapped from right to left on the back of the book and right to left on the front of the book, when I bring the yarn to the back of the book I move it over to the right again (I hope that makes sense). Basically, always start your loops on the right which will force the string to cross at the spine. 

 

Just keep wrapping like you're doing a normal plying bracelet!

Remember that it's the overlapping sections of loop that hold the bracelet together so make sure to pile the loops over each other a lot and don't just build straight up the index card 

Your final bracelet should look at a lot like this

 

Enjoy not making your fingers turn blue!

Lace weight love

So I've been spinning like a mad lady these days. I've made...

 

Merino thick and thin spun long draw which I LOVE doing! I had no idea how awesome it is but it's just so satisfying to pull long lengths of yarn out of clumps of rolag

 

This yarn came out to 2.7oz and 118 yards and was sold on etsy today :)

and I've spun my first lace weight yarn, I love it! This was done on my lark, the first ball is sitting under the lark and I'm spinning some insanely thin (I think it would be considered cobweb) on it right now, attempting to wind it on so it looks pretty, unlike the first ball. 

0.9oz 120 yards of lace weight :) 

 

Here is my attempt at a pretty wind on with the cobweb yarn!

 

It turns out I can spin lace weight on my wheel too, didn't think that would work out well

... and I still haven't finished the mittens :(

I am a very happy yarn nerd

My wonderful mom got me a Jenkin's turkish spindle for valentines day! They even did two different woods for the arms of my spindle, one is pink ivory and the other is purple heart. It spins so nicely, I've only had one other drop spindle and it was so big and clunky, this is a totally different spinning experience than my other spindle and I'm already in love! I really want to make a video of it spinning because I just can't get over how fast and long it spins for!

If you've ever even considered trying spinning, go to http://jenkinswoodworking.com/ and buy a spindle, I can't believe how awesome this spindle is!

and now for photos of how cute it is!

This is a Lark, and I also bought the shaft that converts it into a Jay... I'm not sure which I like better yet.

Just for a sense of the scale, this spindle is tiny!

The Jay shaft