Tonight is the PLY Spinners Guild Third Thursday foundational spin-in! Here’s a tip to tide you over until the spin-in! After you’ve jogged for two and a half hours and you’ve exhausted your muscles, what do your legs feel like the next day? Are they sore? Do they feel weak? How about when you’ve been […]
Hello, I would like to know if plying of yarn should be done with the same whorl that spinning was done. Do you recommend to ply at the same tension and twist, or do you recommend to add more twist or tension when plying? Thank you! ~ Tatiana Hi Tatiana, What a great question! The […]
It all began when Michael Pauly’s wife bought a handmade wheel from a local craftsman. “I looked at it and said, ‘I can do better than that,’” he recalls. What started as a hobby quickly became a full-fledged pursuit. His first wheel was, by his own admission, “really terrible,” but he kept refining. Over time, […]
by Kat Pong I love rainbows. My first rainbow yarn was a long gradient. I took rainbow-dyed Three Feet of Sheep braids from Frabjous Fibers, spun them end to end, then chain plied. When I knit a scarf from the yarn, it created long rainbows, big chunks of color gently fading from one to the […]
As the 2025 Tour de Fleece (otherwise known as TdF) draws to a close in a few days, spinners from around the world will reflect on the past three weeks of creativity, camaraderie, and craftsmanship. I hope they all have a chance to take a breath! The event, which runs parallel to the Tour de […]
I am an incredibly lazy spinner. If I can do it without digging the specialized tool out of storage for it, I will! Sometimes that makes more work for myself, though I don’t like to admit it. For the longest time, I would create roving or top without a diz, just drafting it out with […]
Staple length—the average length of individual fibers in a fiber preparation—is one of the most important characteristics to consider when preparing and spinning fiber by hand with a worsted technique. Whether you’re spinning Merino or a longwool like Wensleydale, understanding staple length helps you to control your drafting technique and create the yarn you intend. […]
Although you can use handspun yarn in almost any knitting pattern, sometimes there are patterns that work better than others for handspun. This is especially true if you have limited yardage, have any inconsistencies in the yarn, or aren’t sure about what gauge you should be aiming for. With those ideas in mind, finding patterns […]
I am so frustrated that the colors in my chain-plied yarn keep combining. I want my yarn to look as close to my hand-dyed braid as possible. Tell me how to keep my colors clear and unmarled. ~Donna, Harrisville, NH Hi Donna, I hate when that happens! The number one reason that I chain ply […]
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