# A Slew of Questions! Spinning and Weaving



## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

Hey all,
I'm sure these are some common questions asked on here, but I have quite a few so I thought it more prudent to just lump them all into one thread for the sake of expediency. 
So here it goes:
Hello! I'm new to the world of fiber arts; I've been sewing for a while now but as a man I'm not very patient and often any work I turn out is crude and rudimentary at best. 
However my sister has fallen in love with knitting and crochet. She's 17 and has been delving into it wholeheartedly in the last year. She's wanted to start her own cottage industry and I told her I knew JUST THE PEOPLE TO ASK!

So here it goes:
1. Anyone ever make a DIY heddle loom and/or a DIY spinning wheel? I cant find a ton of heddle loom plans out there,.
- What are the pros and cons of that vs. buying one from a place like the Woolery?
2. Where do you get your wools from? Do you prefer to buy the wool in bulk and card it yourself of just get the skiens? (I know theres probably another term for that)
3. Favorite dyes you use for various colors?
4. How do you market your products? Do you do more trade shows or online sales through avenues like etsy or ebay?
5. What are three pieces of advice you'd offer an aspiring young lady who wants to supplement her limited income doing somthing like this?
6. Do you like blending fibers or is it better to keep pure? IE Blending buffalo wool with merino or flax with alpaca?
7. Books or articles you find most helpful to newbies?

Thanks for your time guys, I really appreciate any help you can provide. I'd like to try and get her some of the things she'll need for Christmas so any advice or help you can provide is worth it's weight in GOLD to me!

Spin on and God Bless!


----------



## Rosepath (Feb 18, 2011)

Hi, and what a sweet brother you are to help get her started! There are lots of knowledgeable posters on here, but I'll start with a few responses to your questions from my experience.
_1. Anyone ever make a DIY heddle loom and/or a DIY spinning wheel? I cant find a ton of heddle loom plans out there,.
My own brother made a spinning wheel, rough, but it worked after a fashion. My dad made a fantastic duplicate of my Swedish (Glimakra) floor loom, and being Dad, it worked very well. But really, it's a lot easier to find used equipment on craigslist or on www.ravelry.com, or www.kbbspin.com. Saves time to find a working wheel or loom.
- What are the pros and cons of that vs. buying one from a place like the Woolery?
2. Where do you get your wools from? Do you prefer to buy the wool in bulk and card it yourself of just get the skiens? (I know theres probably another term for that)
2. We raise Shetlands, and I occasionally buy fleeces from other farms, and I often have the carding mill blend in silk or other fibers. Hand processing, which I do some of, takes a lot of time, and to sell a finished product there's a lot of labor involved. So I love the wonderful carding mill services (Morningstar, NC and Ohio Valley, Ohio, are two excellent mills I have sent fleeces to). Getting back roving to spin is like Christmas!
3. Favorite dyes you use for various colors? I use Cushing dyes for wool, and also Kool-Aid with vinegar when dyeing with kids at school - it's non-toxic and bright colors!
4. How do you market your products? Do you do more trade shows or online sales through avenues like etsy or ebay? I personally do two kinds of shows: historic or living history events, 18th century generally, and contemporary craft shows. My daughter on the other hand, has an etsy shop, and likes that version of selling. 
5. What are three pieces of advice you'd offer an aspiring young lady who wants to supplement her limited income doing somthing like this? Practice, practice, and then practice - get your skills down. Spinning is so much fun, people love handspun yarns, but the hardest thing is to offer a consistent product in quantity. Label your skeins with number of yards, ounces, fiber content, number of plies, and of course your logo/contact info. Network with other fiber people, through guilds locally or online, go to fiber events and soak it all up, talk with other spinners and weavers. We love to enable, oops, encourage newbies. Find a product you can offer that there's a demand for and make that.
6. Do you like blending fibers or is it better to keep pure? IE Blending buffalo wool with merino or flax with alpaca? Generally I blend similar fibers, flax with cotton maybe, but learn the qualities of the fibers before blending, try a small sample to see how it spins up, how it washes, dries, dyes, and knits, before making a lot of it.
7. Books or articles you find most helpful to newbies? The Joy of Spinning by Marilyn Klueger, find it used on Amazon or ebay. Best book, altho older, she taught me to spin and her book is a wealth of info. The Weaving, Spinning and Dyeing book by Rachel Brown, also older, see if your library can get a copy to check out. Excellent info.
There are tons more, will try to find some and reply later.
Good luck, she will have a great time on this journey with your help!
_


----------



## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

A loom is not going to be cheap. A spinning wheel isn&#8217;t cheap either, but much less expensive than a loom. Also, a wheel takes up less space, unless she wants a small table loom.

She could get a lot for handspun yarn. She&#8217;ll have to get good at spinning and plying before she can sell it. Her first spun yarn she can make hats from and sell them. People pay a premium for handspun yarn, but it has to be well done and in premium fibers. A wool that is on the soft side. She can get roving (already washed and carded) at a woolen mill rather than process it herself. She should start with a coarser fiber to learn on, then use softer stuff.

She isn&#8217;t going to learn to spin well overnight. She will need to be patient.


----------



## Rosepath (Feb 18, 2011)

Yes, the first efforts at spinning often produce "character" yarn, lots of wiggles and texture. But it gets better with practice. She needs to learn to spin before investing in a wheel, they range in price from pretty cheap to high dollar, and the wheel needs to fit the person....kind of like don't buy a car before you learn to drive. But as in all things, youtube is your friend - much good there for beginners, spinners and weavers alike. This site lists fiber events by region, it's worth going to a few to get great ideas and meet suppliers of wheels, fiber, fleeces, looms, and just chatting with others who are interested can be an education in itself. http://localfibers.com/FiberFinderMidwest.aspx


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

1. Anyone ever make a DIY heddle loom and/or a DIY spinning wheel? I cant find a ton of heddle loom plans out there,. 

No, I haven't. Another option is to start with a spindle - they are inexpensive and what you learn is applicable to wheel spinning later.

- What are the pros and cons of that vs. buying one from a place like the Woolery? 

Pro- you can get a good deal. Con- you really need to try out a wheel before you invest the funds in it. A spinner really needs to get along with their wheel readily...so shop to find one that feels right. EVery store that I've seen wheels in are more than happy to let you try them out. Also a spinning group would be a good place to ask about the different wheels. When I was shopping, I made a spread sheet listing all the different wheels I could find.

2. Where do you get your wools from? Do you prefer to buy the wool in bulk and card it yourself of just get the skiens? (I know theres probably another term for that)

I raise some on the backs of my sheep. I buy quite a bit online from different sources depending on what I want. There's a little shop locally that has batts from time to time of blending wools/silks/etc...that I indulge in from time to time. I also buy at fiber festivals. If I want a specific breed of wool, I look for it online. 

3. Favorite dyes you use for various colors?
I like Cushings, Dharma and Jaquard but I have also dyed with koolaid with great success.

4. How do you market your products? Do you do more trade shows or online sales through avenues like etsy or ebay?

I don't sell much. I have sold roving from my own sheep that was produced at a local mill. I sold it through Ravelry.

5. What are three pieces of advice you'd offer an aspiring young lady who wants to supplement her limited income doing somthing like this?

Read, read, read. Learn, learn, learn. Find a mentor t a local kintting/spinning group. Learn about yarn. Look at it closely, feel it, see how it's constructed. Check out all the handspun yarns you can. Join Ravelry.com and look for local groups you might join or at leasts join a few online spinning groups and learn, learn, learn.

6. Do you like blending fibers or is it better to keep pure? IE Blending buffalo wool with merino or flax with alpaca?

It depends on what I want to do with the yarn. I like pure merino for things next to my skin...and I Like merino blended for outerwear. I also like single breed wools. My favorites are cotswold, finn, and corriedale, romney, coopworth. Alpaca is known to not retain its shape as well so it's generally blended...but not all projects need to retain their shape...and more and more alpacas are getting tons of crimp. For a beginner, I recommend getting well-prepared wool over preparing her own. It's hard to learn to spin if you're fighting the wool. You don't knowwhat to adjust - you, the wheel or the wool! Look for rovings without, hay or little short, twisted pieces of wool in it - it will be so much eaiser to learn on. I also think roving is easier to spin at first but every spinner has their own preferences and you don't know until you try.

7. Books or articles you find most helpful to newbies? 
I like any book about different breeds of sheep and the wools they produce. I have "the Intentional spinner" and "learning to spin visually" but I got the most help from youtube videos and online classes from Craftsy. There are other places that offer videos..I haven't taken any except from Craftsy.


----------



## Tommyice (Dec 5, 2010)

I've just recently begun spinning and I second the suggestion for Craftsy classes. I've purchased three of the spinning ones and found them to be immensely helpful. They frequently have sales (think one is going on now) and you can sometimes find coupon codes from sites like Gilt that offer 3 classes for a pretty low price.


----------



## romysbaskets (Aug 29, 2009)

I used a simple spindle at first and scored two antique spinning wheels. The first one is waiting for a more suitable flyer but as a complete novice to them...I did 5 repairs to my 1880s and combined two flyers to become the one that worked with her. Then I bought another online that fits. I had never spun on a spinning where before but got great results from my practise with the spindle. I only spent $90 on the one that spins and $100 on the other. If you are pretty mechanical I would highly recommend you check out the bargains these antiques truly are! Plus they are still solid. I have seen beautiful wheels that worked perfectly good for $200 or so. You can save a piece of history when you pick up one of these treasures. I was told it would be harder to spin on these but I have had not a single issue once I got her spinning.


----------

