I buzz all my hair off once a year at the beginning of summer, and it just occurred to me that I might be able to make use of it. However, I'm not sure if just a year's growth would really be workable for something as slippery and coarse as (relatively straight) human hair. Anyone ever tried it?

There's a social spinning event that's in its 6th year called SpinTogether. I'm not related to the event, just wanted to share.

It relies heavily on its Facebook group for posts and errata but the main points are (copied from the "About" page) as follows:

January 3rd to January 21st – Captains can create their teams

January 28th to February 15th – Spinners can join teams

February 22nd – March 1st – Competition Takes Place starting Saturday at noon and ending Saturday at noon wherever you are in the world

March 7th – Deadline to upload photos to Facebook albums

March 8th – March 14th – All members of the Spin Together Facebook group can vote for their top three favorites in each category

March 21st – Winners for each category will be announced

$15 to join. Limited scholarships available. Various categories available for submission both in the overarching program as well as within the sub-groups/teams.

I hope this gets some spinners involved in the fun who wouldn't have known otherwise!

More here:

https://www.spintogether.org/learn-about-spin-together/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/spintogether/

Hi all!

I'm looking to get a hackle for blending commercially prepared combed top to spin worsted.

I found this lovely couple in BC that used to make combs and hackles but they don't seem to be doing it at the moment. https://www.woolcombs.com/

Do you know of any other Canadian made hackles?

If I can't find any, I thinking of going with the Bam ones. They look great!

Thanks and have a lovely day :)

Have you finished anything this week? From plied yarns to finished bobbins or hand spun hand knits/hand crochets, show off your hard work here!

I was looking on the Autowinder site (myautowinder.com) for an LWS for my magnetic Sonata but they don't have any yet, they told me if there is enough interest they'll consider making one for the Sonata/Fantasia! I think they are the same? Please correct me if I'm wrong on this. The great thing about theirs is you can use your existing bobbins vs one like the wooler winder that you have to buy all new bobbins for. I don't have a ton of bobbins but the 8 I'd need to replace would cost $400 alone and I was hoping to get a few more 3d printed for fun to match my hooks (Kromskis dont match the hook color 🙄). Hoping there's interest and they'll decide to make one soon!!

Their email is info@myautowinder.com and I was talking to Richard. He said to send interest his way and that he'd contact Kromski as well. Thanks!!

I’m going to be plying some singles soon and I’m wondering if there’s any difference between using my swift rather than my niddy noddy to put the yarn up off the bobbin.

Thoughts?

Edit to clarify: this is to wind the finished plied yarn into a hank to be washed.

Help! I am frequently admiring patterns written for Rowan Felted Tweed yarn and would like to spin a comparable yarn myself.

Besides getting a merino alpaca tweed blend, what prep, drafting methods, and finishing techniques do you think might get me a close result?

I think some sort of hard finishing/felting the final yarn but I am clueless on whether it is a more woolen or worsted yarn.

Greetings,
I am refurbishing a vintage drum carder which uses an wide, flat leather belt. My plan is to upgrade it to chain drive as well as to install bearings, or at least delrin or UHMW bushings. I'm having some quandary deciding what ratio to set my drums at. I've been using a friend's chain drive which doesn't have a make/model on it but looks a lot like a Strauch, so it's probably 5:1 or 4:1. I see a lot of models for sale that are 6:1, and some even go as high as 12:1.
As I understand it, the higher ratio is better for processing raw fleece because it is passing more brush over a given quantity of wool on the licker, the trade off being that it takes longer to feed the same quantity of wool into the machine.
Is there really any benefit to having a higher ratio than 6:1?
If you've used a variety of ratios, which did you like best for processing raw fleece?

I haven't spun in a couple of months with holidays and going on a knitting kick. I sat down to spin today and my take up is wonky. It feels like the driveband is periodically slipping, maybe? I'll be spinning along and then the takeup kind of clunks a little and takes up really fast for a brief moment and then settles back into its regular rhythm.

I'm spinning on my Minstrel rigged in double drive. This is the same set up I've always used. I haven't changed drive bands. I did oil before I began and I'll add more now. What else should I look at?

Update: it's happening the when drive band knot travels over the bobbin. This has never been an issue before... and I still don't know how to fix it.

I have been knitting and crocheting for years! I would love to get into spinning and dying, but my biggest barrier right now is budget. It's hard to convince myself to buy a wheel for $500 when I am not sure yet if i'll love it. Any advice on where to look or how to start?

It's WIP Wednesday! What are you working on? Do you love it, hate it or can't decide? Need help/motivation/inspiration to finish? Show off those bobbins & spindles here!