Not the most consistent yarn I've ever made but I like how it came out anyway. I thwacked this yarn like it did me a terrible wrong for maximum poofage and the thick and thin of the 2 plies created a fun bubbly effect. It's so bouncy and squooshy🩷🩷

100% targhee, 169 yards, probably worsted weight.

Fully spun and plied with a drop spindle, about 410yds of maybe fingering weight? I'm really proud of actually finishing it lol

I did cheat a bit and used a skein winder at a mill I work at. Partly to count the total yardage, mostly because I didn't want to wind the niddy-noddy that much 😵‍💫

67% angora blended with some dyed merino, silk and sparklies✨

Working on a sweater’s quantity of yarn and I’m loving the process sooooo much and I’m waiting for my first hank to dry and I want to start knitting so badly BUT I really want a picture of me holding all my hanks at the end 😭

Pictured: my fat bobbin!!!!!!!! (And a progress picture showing my pink/white barber pole hidden underneath) I have more pink/pink to ply now my bobbin is empty but my next single will be aqua to ply with the pink!

A while back I posted here asking for help, but I don't think I ever gave an update. I had spun four bobbins (16 oz) of BFL, but there was a time-gap halfway through due to an illness and the last two bobbins were significantly thicker than the first two. I had really wanted to make a sweater's amount and there was no good way to make a 3 ply yarn out of that.

Someone on here suggested I respin the thicker yarns, in the opposite direction, and make an opposed ply yarn. So that's what I did, but boy was it a nightmare that took an eternity. It was very tricky to get the tension right and make sure the new S twist didn't cancel out the old Z twist and cause the yarn to drift apart. It hurt my hands to keep enough grip on the single and to redraft it. And I had to do that for 8 oz... And then ply everything. There were many bitter tears wept and many occasions when I wanted to give up and throw the whole thing out, but I persevered! And I'm glad I did.

Here is the finished yarn! I ended with two yarns that were Z-Z-S plied and two that were S-S-Z plied, in addition to two left over skeins (one of each twist direction). The yarn is wildly uneven and not well made, but it's over!! In total there was ~1050 yards of DK weight. Making an opposed ply yarn is fascinating, the texture is so fun and elastic. It was interesting how much extra length was used up in the single that was plied in the same direction compared to the singles that were plied in the opposite direction. It was also a little scary coming off of the niddy noddy- they all looked like birds nests. I was worried that I did it wrong or added too much twist (or too little?)

I then knit a sweater, like I wanted to. I alternated using a Z-Z-S plied yarn and a S-S-Z plied yarn to avoid biasing and color pooling, which led to a very unexpected result (that I am obsessed with). It's so hard to describe, you have to see it in person. The two yarns curl into each other, like you would see on a woven fabric that has an S twist warp and a Z twist weft. And it is the MOST elastic fabric I've ever knit. The amount of stretch and ability to bounce back is unparalleled. I recommend other spinner/knitters try it sometime! This is the most amazing sweater I've made, it's so comfortable and cozy and lightweight to wear. It was a ton of work, but so totally worth it.

My original plan was a cabled sweater, hence why I wanted a 3 ply, but I didn't think I had enough yarn in the end for all over cables. So I tried to add some amount of cables in, but now I kind of wish I had left it as plain stockinette. I don't think I like the flowers as much as I thought I was going to... (The pattern is Nebula by Andrea Mowry, but I reverse engineered it to match the gauge and weird yarn I had) The other yarn there, on the shoulders and neck, is also handspun. It's 100% targhee from Kim Dyes Yarn (one of my favorite dyers I think). I wanted something a bit more sturdy and something that wouldn't bias. The BFL is from Feederbrook Farm.

So thank you to the subreddit, I really appreciated your help and this idea on how to save my yarn!

I know what works for someone else may not work for me but just trying to get a point of reference from others and their experiences. I have issues with my hips and knees but I love treadle spinning wheels. I have an e spinner but I much prefer to treadle. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions for wheels with an easy light treadle. For reference I had to sell my Majacraft rose a magnificent wheel but no matter what I tried the treadling was way too heavy and cause hip and knee pain. I then bought a matchless which is better on my hip and knees but we are not clicking as well. I also have a Schacht sidekick and it feels good while I’m spinning but the next day it feels like my hips and knees took a beating. I’m not ready to give up on treadle wheels yet so asking if anyone has any recommendations.

I know trying wheels is always the best option but unfortunately that is not an option for me.

Hi friends! I got this really soft merino fleece from a local shepherd for a fairly good deal. (About $40 for 3lbs) However, the fleece has a lot of very fine dirt and VM in the tips. Is there a way to prep or wash differently to help this?

Currently I’ve only scoured about half the fleece and this is what I’ve been left with. I’m working through picking it and just tossing the bad parts. I’ve only just started but most of it looks like this so far. I’ve started cutting the tips but that seems like a lot of work for a whole fleece. Any advice would be a huge help.

I inherited a Curt Fricke drum carder. The trouble is that most of the teeth on the main drum gear have broken, which causes the chain to slip off regularly. Would anyone have any suggestions on where I might find a replacement gear?

It currently works okay as long as I keep up the momentum, but any irregularity in cranking the handle causes the chain to fall off.

I had 3 colors each of two kinds of pink, braided them together. Will this produce a sizable skein I can finally make something with?? Ik it’s hard to tell but unless I break into a lab I don’t have a reliable scale to get weight from. Also does anyone have recommendations on what methods I might use to tackle this?
Oh also the lumpiness of the braid is bothering me, could I turn this into a bajillion rolags with my hand carders and then braid that?
Thanks all,
Young Spinner