Any spinners here? (pics of stitching samples added 1/1/14!)

[NeedleAndFork]

I was spinning the other day and got to wondering if the thread I was spinning could possibly be used for needlework rather than knitting. I like to spin a very fine ply, and was working in pure silk, which is what got me wondering. To spin enough for a knitted project on such a fine ply, I'm looking at spinning 2000+ yards of 2 or 3 ply (which means spin a little over 4000 yards and ply it together for the 2 ply, or 6000 yards and ply for a 3 ply) for even the most basic of shawls. But a needlework piece doesn't need thousands of yards that way...

So.. any other spinners around here? Any thoughts on what kind of handspun could be used for needlework? And even if not.. this spinner wants to know - what do you spin, what kind of wheel or spindle do you have?

I'll post pics in the morning when I have daylight again of the silk I was spinning that got me thinking down this path. I've been working on and off on it for months on a hand spindle and have barely made a dent in the 2 ounces of hand painted silk fiber I have. At the rate I'm going it'll be a year or more before I even get to knit with it!

[Evedeve]

Haven't spun in ages and ages...grew up on sheep farm so we would keep so,e raw wool, card it and spin (drop spindle and a small wheel) then use it for knitting...but it has been forever, im not even sure i could keep a wheel moving properly anymore
looking forward to seeing what you decide

[bookknurd]

I don't spin yet, but I am interested in learning. I bought a spindle and some fiber to practice with, but I haven't had time to really sit down and spend time learning.

It's one of my goals this year, along with increasing my knitting skills, learning to crochet, and doing embroidery, just to name a few.

But first I have to finish my current stitching project!

[NeedleAndFork]

I don't spin yet, but I am interested in learning. I bought a spindle and some fiber to practice with, but I haven't had time to really sit down and spend time learning.

It's one of my goals this year, along with increasing my knitting skills, learning to crochet, and doing embroidery, just to name a few.

But first I have to finish my current stitching project!

Too bad your schedule doesn't allow us to meet up when you're in the area - I would have been happy to give you a quick lesson! When you get started, come share your experiences here, both good and bad. And as fugly as that first skein of yarn will look to you.. keep it so you can look back and compare how far you've come. I've spun thousands of yards... probably miles and miles of yarn since I started spinning, but that first skein is still something I hang on to.. all misshapen and lumpy.. The other thing I suggest is to not over do it.. unlike cross stitch, spinning is all about muscle memory.. The best tip someone gave me when I was starting was to spend no more than 10 minutes at it at atime a few times a day, stopping if I got frustrated because I kept dropping the spindle. With a bit of practice, your hands pick up the rythem and you don't drop it as much, and then eventually not at all.. and then you can start spinning for longer periods of time.

Careful though.. it's a slippery slope that's VERY addictive! And the stash for spinning is much more bulky than the stash for needlwork or even knitting! LOL!

[NeedleAndFork]

Haven't spun in ages and ages...grew up on sheep farm so we would keep so,e raw wool, card it and spin (drop spindle and a small wheel) then use it for knitting...but it has been forever, im not even sure i could keep a wheel moving properly anymore
looking forward to seeing what you decide

The part of me that is ignoring what raw unwashed wool smells like is incredibly jealous. The realistic part of me is thinking.. ugh.. I much prefer my wool to come to me washed and carded up into roving that I can dye and play with without all the prep work!

From what I've been told, spinning is much like riding a bike.. once you get the muscle memory, it seems to stick. I've only been spinning about 9 or 10 years, with a few large gaps inbetween where I didn't even touch my wheels (I have two) or spindles (don't ask how many.. I've long since lost count.. I'm a bit of a collector of fancy spindles by one particular maker) for over a year and picking them up again it was a matter of minutes before I was back in the zone again, able to match the yarn I'd been in the middle of spinning when I left off.

[cairee]

I know nothing about spinning, but if you do make hand spun, hand dyed silk for needlework I will be your first customer!

[NeedleAndFork]

I know nothing about spinning, but if you do make hand spun, hand dyed silk for needlework I will be your first customer!

I *could* be convinced to spin up a small custom order on a trial basis Let the bribery commence!

I am planning on sampling a small bit of what I have already dyed up and atleast putting in a few test stitches to see how it works out.

As for selling it... I'm afraid to even think of what I'd have to charge for hand dyed and handspun silk to both cover expenses and make it worth my time! Something to think about *after* I figure out if it would even work!

[bookknurd]

Too bad your schedule doesn't allow us to meet up when you're in the area - I would have been happy to give you a quick lesson!

Aw, that would have been awesome! I'm just tickled that someone else on here spins. Be prepared for questions!

Thanks for the advice on how to build up muscle memory. Once I get started, I plan on making a point to do at least 10 minutes a day or so.

And as far as slippery slopes go, I'm already sliding down the slope of needle and thread addiction with no signs of slowing down. I seem to be gathering up extra hobbies/skills/techniques as I go.

[NeedleAndFork]

Alright, here goes. I thought I'd just pull a single sample from what I've been spinning, but that never is how it goes. I LOVE sampling fiber, and managed to come up with quite a few samples.

First up, the silk..

Unspun, this is what it looks like..


This is approximately 2 ounces of mulberry silk that I dyed up a while ago and have been spinning very slowly into a very fine cobweb weight yarn on a brass support spindle..



I pulled a bit of what was already spun and plied it, but wasn't happy with it, so using a different spindle I spun a few more samples. Here's what I ended up with:



That's a single strand of DMC floss in the middle. I'd say based on that, I'd stitch the handspun as if I were using 2 strands.

Then because I can't leave well enough alone, I picked up a bit of wool.. a scrap that's been sitting around for years because I didn't love how the dye job on it turned out - the colors ended up pretty muddy when spun into my usual 3 ply sock yarn.



Introduced it to one of my favorite drop spindles..



Turns out they're quite a team!



Again, the red thread is a single strand of DMC floss. And once again I think I would use the handspun thread as if I were stitching with 2 strands of DMC.

The fun part starts now - I'm about to start stitching up the thread on some 32 count linen. I figure I'll try some cross stitching, and maybe see if I can pull out how to do some surface stitching from the recesses of my mind. It's been years since I did that. I want to see how well the thread holds up to being pulled through fabric repeatedly. That's my biggest concern with handspun as it isn't as tightly spun as a commercial thread. Guess we'll find out!

If anyone has any ideas what sort of stitching would be best suited for these threads, please leave me your ideas!

[NeedleAndFork]

Too bad your schedule doesn't allow us to meet up when you're in the area - I would have been happy to give you a quick lesson!

Aw, that would have been awesome! I'm just tickled that someone else on here spins. Be prepared for questions!

Thanks for the advice on how to build up muscle memory. Once I get started, I plan on making a point to do at least 10 minutes a day or so.

And as far as slippery slopes go, I'm already sliding down the slope of needle and thread addiction with no signs of slowing down. I seem to be gathering up extra hobbies/skills/techniques as I go.

When I started, I kept my spindle and fiber in the kitchen. Every time I had to wait for the microwave, or wait for a pot to boil, or wait for my coffee to brew, I'd pick it up and get in a few minutes of practice working with the spindle. Now drafting the fiber is a whole different beast. That is something I would recommend lots and LOTS of practice on. It takes a while to be able to draft by touch and feel to get a consistant yarn, rather than spending all your time looking at what you're doing.

Do you know the weight of your spindle? The first spindle I tried was fairly heavy - about 3 or 4 ounces, and while I learned to spin on it, I didn't have that 'ah hah' moment where it all came together until I tried a much lighter spindle. If you have a shop near you that sells spindles, once you get the basic mechanics down, visit them and try out every spindle in the store. Any decent shop owner ought to let you do that. I now gravitate to 'feather weight' spindles - as little as half an ounce each - the lighter the spindle, the thinner the yarn you will be able to spin on it.

Please, feel free to come ask as many questions as you want when you start practicing. I know I learned mostly through the advice of online friends who critiqued my samples and gave me plenty of tips, and I would be happy to pass on what I learned from them.

[bookknurd]

I'm not sure on the weight of my spindle, but I think it's not too light or too heavy. The shop I got it at had a lot of spinning stuff and someone helped me pick one out, knowing that I hadn't spun before. I don't think any of my local shops have spinning stuff. I'm going to ask around and see if anyone spins or does spinning classes.

[bookknurd]

Just found a local spinning guild and a relatively local shop that will help me figure out what I'm doing! So excited.

[natural_isis]

If anyone has any ideas what sort of stitching would be best suited for these threads, please leave me your ideas!

It looks like it would be well suited for crewel work or antique reproduction samplers. Also anything that requires a pearl cotton weight thread. You've produced some beautiful colors!

[msufly]

I'm not a spinner but I wanted to say that your spun thread is gorgeous! I'd agree that it looks like 1 thread would be equivalent to 2 of DMC and I'm looking forward to seeing your stitching samples. I haven't used any perles but it reminds me how they tend to be thicker than regular DMC too. I hope your spun thread holds up to getting pulled through the fabric! It might require shorter lengths like metallics.

[karen4bells]

I'm not a spinner but I wanted to say that your spun thread is gorgeous! I'd agree that it looks like 1 thread would be equivalent to 2 of DMC and I'm looking forward to seeing your stitching samples. I haven't used any perles but it reminds me how they tend to be thicker than regular DMC too. I hope your spun thread holds up to getting pulled through the fabric! It might require shorter lengths like metallics.

My thoughts exactly!! How intriguing and beautiful!!

[NeedleAndFork]

I've stitched with the silk threads so far, and I'm in love!! They held up beautifully to stitching - I stitched with the entire length until they ran out, and even at 24 inches, they still looked good when I was at the end of the piece!

The wool was nice too, but I actually spun it a bit TOO thin.. it's too thick to stitch doubled up and too thin to give me good coverage over 2 on 32 count when stitched with a single strand. But it looked great doing some surface stitching like a chain stitch or stem stitch. I'm still playing with it though - I washed the wool to see if that would fluff it up a bit (wool yarn changes a bit when washed after spinning) and I'll try it again later.

This is definately a winning idea though - I've already got LOTS of ideas of ways to get special effects with manipulating colors through spinning for very unique effects that would be nearly impossible to get any other way. I'm going to have to experiment with this some more. In fact, this may just be the push I need to get me into designing.. coming up with patterns that pair with the handspun yarn. So many ideas!!

Pictures to come tomorrow when I have daylight again!

[NeedleAndFork]

Here come the pics.. be warned, there are LOTS!

First up, a shot of the entire area where I played around...



UP next.. On the left, the silk - I absolutely LOVED stitching with this - it was smooth and the end result was absolutely lovely. The rightmost row (yellowy green) is the merino/bamboo blend. I didn't like the way it stitched up as much, so I washed the spun thread to 'bloom' it - and that made a world of difference! On the right is 2 colors of the merino/bamboo - the lighter color there is the same thread as used on the square on the left so you can see the effect blooming it had.



I also played some with surface embroidery.. not something I'm particularly skilled at. The only stitches I really know are chain stitch and stem stitch so I tried those in each of the colors I had, as well as some other odds and ends. I discovered that stem stitch definately looked better wit hthe stitches leaning one way over the other - affected by the direction that the thread is spun in I'm pretty sure. I don't know if the same applies with other threads.

Here's some pics..





This has some real potential here! The effects of the way the colors interact can be manipulated in the spinning process in ways that can not be replicated in the dyeing process, and pairing it with the right pattern can have some very interesting results. Ink Circles series of Cirques des patterns or the Twisted Band Sampler that someone posted on here today are just a couple of ideas.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to learn more needlework techniques to find ways to play with these threads.. or maybe if someone has an idea for it and wants to do a swap of some sort for some threads so they can stitch up some samples, I might be open to the idea!

[msufly]

Looks great to me! I think using the hand spun thread would add uniqueness to any piece. No, the stitches may not all be perfect ue to any irregularities but it would look incredible!

[rcperryls]

Awesome results!! Would this be strong enough for weaving? Not that I have a loom, nor expect to get one, but years ago I took a weaving class and though we just did very simple weaving on a simple hand held loom, it was so much fun. Stitching with your own homespun and dyed thread is fantastic!

Carole

[NeedleAndFork]

Awesome results!! Would this be strong enough for weaving? Not that I have a loom, nor expect to get one, but years ago I took a weaving class and though we just did very simple weaving on a simple hand held loom, it was so much fun. Stitching with your own homespun and dyed thread is fantastic!

Carole

Absolutely! I actually really want to weave but don't have the space for a loom the size I want (36" across) which is why I picked up cross stitch when I got burned out on knitting.

A bit of random info.. It takes several knitters to keep up with the amount of yarn a single spinner can produce if each spent the same amount of hours a day on the craft. However it takes several spinners to keep up with a weaver and keep them supplied!

I imagine it would take an army of cross stitchers to keep up with a single spinner as we use thread at a much slower rate than a knitter!