Handmade spun wool yarn examples

Are You a Handmade Yarn Spinner? 

my tales of spinning wool and a look at my spun tidbits

There was a time that I loved to practice with my drop spindle to make tidbits of yarn. I did it in the house and even on-the-go during car rides. My efforts usually only produced mini skeins. Those little strips like in the photo above were used in my wet felted wool hats & scarves. I never had ambitions to be a hardcore producer of large amounts of wool yarn - more just liked to play around with a drop spindle and kick spindle. I even took a class on using a spinning wheel and produced one skein of "interesting" yarn that I still have. 

Funky Felter Woolly Fiber Batts for Felting and Spinning now available in my Etsy Fiber Shop with more to come!

I'm having a blast carding batts on my new drum carder!  Making colorful wool batts is really a fiber art form in itself.  Although I am definitely keeping some of my yummy, yummy batts for felting and spinning, I am also selling some of them in my Etsy Fiber Shop.  I have listed a few woolly batts today and will continue to list many more for sale in the coming days.  I hand dye most of the fiber for my batts as well as card them several times.  My batts are soft and smooth and ideal for the feltmaker or spinner.  Since I am a fiber addict artist myself, I always make my batts with the fiber artist in mind!

Here's a glimpse of what I've done so far...

For wool roving, spinning fiber and equipment, hand spun yarns, and classes in the Kansas City area, check out the Woolgathering in Lexington, Missouri

Even though I live near Kansas City, it is still difficult to find local sources of wool roving, spinning equipment, and fiber classes.  There are several yarn shops and chain hobby stores that carry a wide variety of ready-made yarns, but there are very, very few places to find actual wool roving and spinning supplies as well as classes.

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 On facebook the other day, I happened upon just such a shop in Lexington, Missouri, called Woolgathering.  My husband was very sweet to take me and the baby girl for a little Saturday afternoon drive to check it out.  I was extremely happy with what I found.  It is an awesome fiber shop!  The shop carries all kinds of fiber arts supplies and equipment and even offers classes on spinning, knitting, and crochet.   It also has very reasonable prices.  I left there with a bag full of roving and know that I'll be back for more.  Also, Lexington is really a sweet little town with oodles of charm.  I could see making a day trip of it to explore the downtown area and eat there.  (Although, it isn't too far for a quick trip for supplies either.)  When you get the chance, I highly recommend that you go check out Woolgathering for yourself.  If you are a fiber artist or fiber junkie of any kind local to the Kansas City area, I think it is well worth your drive time.

My mystery spinning wheel . . .

My parents were at a flea market about a month ago and came across this antique, used spinning wheel. They've always been very supportive of my artistic endeavors and knew that I have been wanting a wheel. Of course, I really thought that it would be a year or two before that happened because I had planned to save up for a new spinning wheel, but the loving parents that they are, they went ahead and surprised me with this unusual antique wheel. Now I have to figure out what to do with it and what kind of wheel it is.


I've looked up info on wheel styles in books and on the internet to find the style of wheel that it is. The closest thing that I've found is a Country Craftsman, but the mother-of-all looks very different from that on one of those wheels. The flyer area also looks like that found on a large antique Great Wheel and not more modern spinning wheel designs. I've also asked my local fiber supply shop owner, PJ, at Cottage Fiber, to see what info she might know. She thinks it is a hybrid wheel made from pieces of two other wheels and perhaps made in Canada due to its style. From what I can gather, it is either a modified saxony wheel, entirely home made wheel, or combination of two wheels put together. There aren't any maker's markings that I can find on it for identification. This wheel is a mystery to me . . .


I would certainly appreciate any help in figuring out this wheel. Please post a comment or contact me via my website if you might know any info about my mystery spinning wheel. I'd also be happy to know the titles of any good books on the subject or website links that I could research. Although I'd really like to be able to use my new (old) spinning wheel some day, for now it looks really wonderful as a decoration for my living room.

My new drop spindle and spinning

I've decided to take up drop spinning. I've been thinking about learning to spin for a while now. After seeing this beautiful spindle at Cottage Fiber, my local supply shop, I just couldn't resist. It is a top quality, handcrafted Kundert Spindle. I think the wood crafting on it is so beautiful. It is a joy to use too.


My plan is to use some of my handspun yarns in the feltmaking process. Often times, I will hunt for just the right shade of commercially made yarn to trim out my scarves with fringe or add the finishing touches on decorative designs, but now I plan to spin my own yarns for fringe, decoration, etc. This will allow for more creative freedom in my designs. Perhaps, if I ever feel that my spinning is quality enough, I'll start to sell some skeins of handspun yarn. I'd also like to experiment with hand dyeing some skeins of yarn.

Here's my first couple of attempts at using my new spindle. They are only two very small skeins. Neither of them is very consistent in thickness throughout, but the one ply strands do seem strong, and, of course, I love the colors! For now, I've really only managed to do the "park and draft" technique consistently. You can see a nice little video on this beginner's method on ispindle. There are also several other short, helpful videos there on using a top whorl drop spindle. It seems that when I try to actually drop the spindle, either my roving breaks or bunches or the spindle quickly changes direction and starts to unravel my strand. I think that I just need to practice quite a lot more, but that is just fine with me. I really enjoy using my new drop spindle thus far and can't wait until I have a better handle on the techniques of spinning.

Cottage Fiber . . . my personal choice

I've been meaning to tell everyone about my favorite local (Kansas City) supplier of wool roving, yarns, and many other fiber art related materials. The name of the shop is Cottage Fiber, and its wonderful shopkeeper and owner is named P.J. She is such a lovely and knowledgeable person to talk to about all fiber arts; although, her specialty is spinning and weaving. I'm sure that she'd even give you a little intro to spinning if you asked or, perhaps, even offer full-service classes if that's what you wanted. She carries top quality rovings of all kinds, hand dyed yarns, professional dyes, spinning and weaving equipment, as well as a variety of other fiber art supplies. I just visited her shop on Saturday and bought these beautiful batts of hand dyed, carded wool fiber that P.J. made herself. They are a mixture of mainly merino with various other fibers added for texture and color. I haven't quite figured out what to do with them yet. After all, they are just so very pretty as they are!


I buy the vast majority of my wool roving and fleece from Cottage Fiber. So if you're a feltmaker, weaver, spinner, knitter, or crocheter and like the colors, patterns, and textures that you see in my items, then go to Cottage Fiber to find fabulous materials for making your own handspun yarns, hand felted items, and other fiber arts. One of my favorite things to do is to visit Cottage Fiber with its wonderful, yummy variety of fibers! Recently, P.J. relocated her shop to the Crossroads District, an area of Kansas City known for its fabulous art galleries and diverse culture. Please check the Cottage Fiber website for directions to her brand new location. It is *definitely* worth an afternoon or morning outing to see Cottage Fiber's impressive collection of fiber art supplies and finished items as well as have a chat with P.J.