Original content from Threads of Peru Spinning is the process of turning the raw wool and fibers, shorn from the animals, into strong, consistent useful threads. Quechua weavers use a drop spindle (pushka), which is similar to a wooden top with an elongated axis. The pushka varies in size with the diameter of thread being … Read more
I had learned how to spin on a spinning wheel, but not a drop spindle. My daughter had figured out how to spin with a drop spindle, and my neighbor, and I’ve been to fiber festivals and seen kids walking around spindling. It looked hard. Finally, when a group of gals wanted me to teach … Read more
The purpose of Hand Carding is to disentangle, separate, clean, straighten and blend fibers together for spinning into yarn. Carding is a type of woolen preparation, where air is introduced between the fibers and can be trapped as you spin, resulting in a loftier yarn. The tools used are called Hand Cards. Hand carders look a … Read more
Anyone that plays with yarn will be interested in two great tools, a Swift and a Ball Winder. Otto and Joanne Strauch, owners of Strauch Fiber Equipment and makers of fine tools for spinners, demonstrate how to make a center-pull ball using these two must-have tools.
As I learned about fiber and fiber art, I was introduced to some very interesting terms, one of them being niddy noddy. What in the world? According to Wikipedia, a niddy-noddy (plural niddy-noddies) is a tool used to make skeins from yarn. It consists of a central bar, with crossbars at each end, offset from each other by 90°. … Read more
For those of you that live in our area, you are invited to come visit and just … Come hang out with fiber friends! Drop in the first Saturday of the month for a few relaxing hours of knitting or crocheting or spinning on the farm. Lessons are not provided, but beginners are always welcome. If … Read more
Although stringing the beads was a bit challenging, and manipulating my single fiber strand without getting it tangled in the strung beads during the playing process could have made me crazy, I was very pleased with the end results! These are the hand-dyed Suri Locks that I started with. I spun carelessly from uncarded … Read more
So, here is where it all starts, with happy, healthy alpacas! Stress does affect fiber quality – see the smiles on these two? Meet Unlimited Joy and Ariella! There are two different breeds of alpacas, suri and huacaya, and the difference is their fleece. A suri’s fleece grows vertically to the ground, in dreadlocks, and … Read more
Say, you’ve bought a carder and you are carding your own fiber. You doff it off the drum and now you have a large mass. Now what? This mass you just created would be called a batt, but how does one spin it? I found this Photo Tutorial on Flickr that might be helpful. There … Read more