Spinning Tools and a Botched Trip

So I made an ill fated attempt to purchase a spinning wheel this weekend. After an hour to get to the right town, and then another hour trying to find the place (valiantly dodging the pedestrians and blockaded streets thanks to the local Fall Festival and cursing at my GPS) – my wheel was unavailable when I finally stumbled through the shop door… if only I had called ahead.

My bad.  Lesson learned.  Didn’t keep me from sniveling all the way home about it though; God love my husband for being suitably sympathetic to my plight… and offering to go pick it up for me when it is available (forget Brownie points – my man has earned triple chocolate cheesecake points!).

So while I wait for my star crossed spinning wheel I started looking around for a complete list of yarn making tools… and have yet to find one! I understand that there are lots of different ways to make yarn, but come on. Every other project has a materials list… except, apparently, for this one.

I have now begun my noble quest to make a list and collect my tools! (The Monty Python & The Holy Grail questing music is now playing loudly in the background – do you hear it my Readers?!)

# 1 – Fiber!

I plan on doing a more indepth post about Fiber types in the future but here’s a basic list of the different types; the point being if you’re going to make yarn, you have to have something to make it with, thus – Fiber!

Vegetable/Plant Fibers: Flax, Hemp, Ingeo (Corn Silk), Ramie (China Grass), Bamboo, Soy Silk, Milk.

Animal/Protein Fibers: Camel/Camelids, Buffalo/Bison, Yak, Water Buffalo, Quivet, Llama, Alpaca, Rabbit (Angora), Goat (Mohair, Cashmere), Sheep (Wool), Silk (Worm or Spider).

# 2 – A Carder.

Carding is the process by which fibers are worked so that they line up parallel to each other.  It is used to break up any clumps and tangles.  It is also the way you blend different fiber types or colors together (I bought yarn this weekend that was an Alpaca, Wool, and Silk blend – luscious!).  There are hand carders (that look like giant dog brushes), manual drum carders and electric drum carders.  All have their pros and cons, (electric drum carders are not recommended for Angora fiber – Mrs Maria nearly gave me a heart attack when I watched her put some Angora in a manual drum carder, I though for sure it was going to clog and eat the carder but apparently manual is fine… electric baaadd).

# 3 – A Spinning Device.

This can be a piece of coat hanger with a hook on the end (no kidding), a spindle, or a Spinning Wheel. These need not be pretty or expensive (although they can be). A book I bought shows how to make a spindle from a dowel rod and a CD. There is a video on Youtube that shows you a homemade electric wheel about the size of a shoebox (there’s a link to the website with directions for the DIY’er or you can purchase the finished machine). My wheel (or future wheel) is called a Fidelis and it uses a bicycle wheel rim as the wheel!

# 4 – Bobbins

They look like big spools.  They are used to hold your spun yarn – either while your still spinning on the wheel or afterwards when drop spindling.

Bobbins are also necessary to use our next tool…

# 5 – A Lazy Kate

A Lazy Kate is a holder for Bobbins/Spools of yarns that allows the Bobbins to spin.  This is used to spin multiple yarns together into one thicker yarn (called ‘plying’). You can get fancy ones (with fancy prices) or you can make one with a shoe box and a couple of knitting needles.

# 6 – Niddy Noddy, Yarn Swift and Ball Winder.

A Niddy noddy is a simple tool to wind all your beautiful yarn into a skein – it looks like a wooden or pvc pipe ‘I’ that’s been twisted in the middle so that the top and bottom are a right angles to each other. This winds up the skein but does not make a ball out if. To do that you’ll need a Yarn Swift and a ball winder.

So I think the process is to use the Knitty Knoddy to get the yarn off the bobbin/spindle – then put the skein on the yarn swift to wind into a ball with ball winder.

There are other miscellaneous items in the process but I think I’ll find those by trial and error – I’ll need a lingerie bag for washing the fiber (if I buy ‘in the grease’ – or fiber that’s straight from a critter). I”ll post them as I figure them out and if anyone’s got any suggestions then drop me a line!