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heatherb
New Pal
Canada
15 Posts |
 Posted - 01/02/2004 : 11:04:00 PM
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Spinning wheels??? Just curious........why would anyone want a spinning wheel??
Heather |
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BessH
Permanent Resident
3095 Posts |
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BlueStocking
Sustaining Member
USA
945 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2004 : 07:08:51 AM
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As a knitter for 25 years, I never considered spinning. Not that I didn't want to, it just didn't occur to me. Then, a friend of mine showed me all about spinning, and I bought a drop spindle. And was very quickly obsessed by it.
I now have a Majacraft Suzie Pro, and an antique great wheel (doesn't work yet, but it sure it pretty to look at) and two beautiful drop spindles.
For me, spinning takes me to the elemental start of the fiber process. To feel the connection with all the people in the past who did this. To feel sheep and other animal fiber right off the animal, really understand where it comes from. To be able to get literally any kind of fiber, to dye your own colors, make what you want ... the possibilities are endless. It's an amazing thing to create your own yarns, and then knit something totally unique with them.
Not to mention that I find spinning even more soothing and meditative than knitting alot of the time.
Jen
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
http://TheSpiritTrail.blogspot.com
Yarns and Fibers: http://TheSpiritTrail.blogspot.com/SpiritTrailFiberworks/index.html |
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Cayli1
Seriously Hooked
USA
635 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2004 : 09:42:45 AM
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I totally agree with Jen. It is a very relaxing thing to do for me. Many times I feel like spinning over knitting and I love knitting. It is so much fun to dye and play with different combinations of fibers and see how it all turns out. I just spot dyed some grey corriedale that I thought was so ugly when I was done I thought it would be garbage. Instead when it was spun it turned into the most beautiful yarn that I never even imagined it could. That is another thing I love about spinning is the really creative side.
Try it, you might just get hooked like the rest of us.
Cayli |
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hobbitknitter
Permanent Resident
USA
2284 Posts |
Posted - 01/03/2004 : 10:36:53 AM
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I just love the idea of spinning, making your own yarn, knitting it- it's the whole process that intrigues me. And it is amazingly relaxing, you really aren't thinking about what you're doing at all, it's all the touch- your mind can wander and think of whatever- (usually for me that would be sticking myself in a fairy tale, on a sheep farm, or in a Dickens' novel   )
And it's so rewarding, when you knit something with it, you can say "I made that" and it means even so much more when you made the yarn, than when you bought it. Because you decided everything about it- the weight, the style of yarn, the breed of sheep or the kind of plant fiber, the color combinations, everything.
I guess really, for me it just satisfies more than many other things, my real need to make something.
S. Eliz.
Keep on knitting on!
http://knitonespintoo.blog-city.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/folkvestknitting/ |
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Phaedra28
Gabber Extraordinaire
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2004 : 1:08:15 PM
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Personally, I started out thinking spinning was a useless skill. Mind you, I'd had some experience with it as a child, and learned the "drop" part of drop spindle spinning, although never the spinning part. At the same time, I knew the sheep whose wool we were working with, and disliked them pretty intensely. Never gave another thought to spinning, until...
Move forward 30 years, and find me, knitting mostly socks, the occasional sweater. Yarn is a fun thing, I've got lots of it, but suddenly there are lots of space dyed, hand painted, and other novelty yarns around. I have dyes, because of a pair of linen pants I'd made myself that turned out too sheer, so went through a batik process to be made wearable. So, I start dyeing my yarns, getting interesting results, and still not quite satisfying me. Hmmm.... Just what exactly am I trying to acheive? Hm... Interesting article on Noro in Vogue Knitting, beautiful shots of the fibers being arranged before spinning... The dime drops, and...
Here I am, dyeing fibers, blending them, spinning them, plying them, being satisfied with my results.
So, from "Why would anyone in this day and age with all the yarns to choose from want to spin their own?" My answer is that no one out there makes the yarn I want, so I make it myself.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the propeller beanie... |
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Susan T-O
Permanent Resident
USA
2481 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2004 : 2:32:18 PM
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Why would anyone NOT want a spinning wheel? By making my own yarns, my knitting is truly unique. No one else has exactly the same yarn that I have, created with my own hands, in the colors I choose. Plus it's so pleasing to watch this handful of fluff twist and turn and voila--it's yarn!! The feel of it drafting through the fingers is one of my favorite things.
And, of course, there's the vanity factor. I *like* the looks on people's faces when I tell them, "Yes, I did knit that--and I spun the yarn, too." 
--Susan T-O
There, but for the grace of God, goes me. Oh, @%*#)&, it IS me!! |
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Phaedra28
Gabber Extraordinaire
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2004 : 8:11:45 PM
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See, there's a difference there: I don't usually admit I spun the yarn I'm wearing, let alone offer the information! Come right down to it, I don't often let anyone know I knit the socks or sweaters I wear. There are members of my family who don't know I know how to spin. Maybe it's living in SillyCone Valley that makes it seem so -- I don't know...
Still, you're absolutely right about changing the question. And anyone who loves working with fibers, of whatever sort, will probably love the sensuous part of spinning, of letting your fingers experience the fiber to the fullest, at all stages of the process. I know that predrafting is like meditation for me (although, very impatient meditation...), and there really is a special satisfaction with something Done Oneself.
Das war ein Vorspiel nur. Dort wo man Bücher
Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
--Heinrich Heine 1820 |
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Phaedra28
Gabber Extraordinaire
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2004 : 8:12:57 PM
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Oh, and Susan, you have the *BEST* sig lines!
Das war ein Vorspiel nur. Dort wo man Bücher
Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
--Heinrich Heine 1820 |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 08:26:55 AM
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I have a very...peculiar...color taste. Jen will attest that she was horrified by the yarn she dyed for me, but I screamed with delight when I saw it.
I became interested in spinning because I could never find the right combination of yarn weight/colors I wanted. I figured that if I spun my own, I'd always have what I wanted. What a shock to find that I can't spin consistently enough to do that! But my knitting has evolved that I can now work "backwards" - have cool yarn that I design a sweater for, rather than buy yarn for an existing pattern.
I find it very satisfying to watch and feel amorphous fluff pass through my fingers and become yarn.
Lissa
You may be right - I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for!
Billy Joel |
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BlueStocking
Sustaining Member
USA
945 Posts |
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Phaedra28
Gabber Extraordinaire
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 8:53:33 PM
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ROTFLMAO!!! Are we saying Lissa and I are natural sisters? Are we talking colors not seen in nature? "Not bright enough" is one of my most common criticisms of yarn, so it sounds as if Lissa and I could do right well together.
By the way, Lime Green is a neutral color -- goes with everything. The brighter the better!
Das war ein Vorspiel nur. Dort wo man Bücher
Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
--Heinrich Heine 1820 |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 11:01:13 PM
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Phaedra, with the exception of the lime green, we ARE sisters! The yarn that our darling earthtone-lover Jen dyed for me is fuscia, purple, turquiose, yellow, and all of the blends thereof where the colors meet. It's just gorgeous. I'm making Jill Vosburg's San Francisco Shirtail (mitered squares tunic with shirtail bottom) with it. It's even yummier knit up. I LOVE YOU, JEN!
Lissa
You may be right - I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for!
Billy Joel |
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Phaedra28
Gabber Extraordinaire
485 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2004 : 3:12:22 PM
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Oh, dear... Lissa, this part is frightening... Although I didn't use the Jill Vosburg pattern, I've made basically that same sweater... And I grew up in San Francisco...
That sweater inspired me to make a similar one for my aunt last Christmas. I used a cotton ribbon yarn, space dyed, and made the bottom straight at my aunt's request. Turned out nicely, and I love the mitred square look and process.
Oh, yea, and I think your colors sound yummy. My next idea is sky blue, orange, white and maybe a splash of yellow. Basically, my way of saying, "I may be under a grey, dull sky threatening rain, but I'm pretending to be in the Bahamas..."
Das war ein Vorspiel nur. Dort wo man Bücher
Verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.
--Heinrich Heine 1820 |
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BlueStocking
Sustaining Member
USA
945 Posts |
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Lissa
Permanent Resident
USA
4942 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2004 : 11:43:31 PM
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If you hadn't said that, Jen, it woudn't have occurred to me - DUH!!! Sometimes my lack of brain power amazes me. Now, I will DEFINITELY bring it! Can't wait to see you!
Phaedra, I'd LOVE to see your sweater!!!
Lissa
Hey - I MEANT to do that! |
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Da Stitcher
Chatty Knitter
USA
216 Posts |
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Spinnerella
Permanent Resident
1040 Posts |
Posted - 01/25/2004 : 09:37:46 AM
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Because spinning is better than tranquilizers....
Because spinning is economical, if you live near a sheep farm...
Because NOBODY will have exactly the same yarn that I will...
Because my spinning wheel (a Kromski) is adorable...
Because my husband thought I couldn't spin and talk at the same
time (wrong!)....
Because, just because! |
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Da Stitcher
Chatty Knitter
USA
216 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2004 : 07:15:24 AM
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Because I can pay $10 for 10 pounds of roving to make 10 lbs of 100% wool yarn. That's a lot of yarn for the cost of a less than 10 oz of wool yarn in most stores! Then I can dye it any color I like or not at all.... When I'm done I'll have a one-of-a-kind item that I made and of which the process of making it provided hours of "cheap" entertainment that kept me out of the bars and off the streets!
Becky
da_stitcher@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tucson_socknitters |
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collieknit
Warming Up
84 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2004 : 6:15:53 PM
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| I started to spin because no store near me had the wool yarn I wanted. I was stuck with atrocious acrylics ( I still wonder why acrylic yarn is still around to begin with)and overpriced wool yarns. There were also many novelty (i.e expensive)yarns that I had no desire to use. I found handspinning, and was lucky enough realatives who are sheep owners and hand spinners. Once I went through the whole process of spining, my knitting took on special meaning. |
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lsim
New Pal
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 02/12/2004 : 11:36:16 AM
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I spin for the same reason one cooks a gourmet meal instead of just going to a fancy restaurant -- because I love doing it and because it costs less for even better quality. And it's all yours in the end.
Lynne |
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