the dropped spindle

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ClaireUK · Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Posts: 94 Location: Coventry, UK

A tip from a shepherd - my father-in-law, 50 years a sheep farmer and third/fourth generation!!!

Use at least 10 x the amount of shampoo you would normally use. Fairy liquid is great. So is cheap shampoo (99p a litre) from supermarkets.

Start with hot water, pour in the fairy liquid after filling up the receptacle and gently stir so there are no suds. Place fleece gently into receptacly and leave til cold. Repeat, then rinse.

I tried it and it worked well with the suffolk fleece from hell I was given. I did it about 1kg at a time. You can see the results on the dyeing pages of this forum.

Hope this helps, Claire UK

Ps I have also found that some 'fibre snobbery' goes on, also fads. At the moment it is all Alpaca and Jacobs at my guild. Very nice but I'm sticking with my suffolk.

hellomango · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Hull, UK

I used to be a member of the York Spinning Guild, but I rarely went as I was put off by the yarn snobbery there. There were some lovely people, but I cannot stand the attitude that unless your yarn is miniscule and perfectly even it is all wrong and should be thrown away!

For me, colour & texture are far more important in a handspun yarn than evenness (word?) and perfection. If I want an even perfect yarn I will buy a commercial one!

Sorry to rant but I get annoyed by it.
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natalie · Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 9:44 pm Post subject:

The man who taught me to drop spindle said that lumps are great. People pay more for lumps!
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sally · Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 148

exactly, thats what I always tell new spinners. Lumpy yarn cost more! Very Happy

Don't you find though that as the years roll by its harder to spin lumps? I tried to do some on purpose a while ago and just couldnt get it to look right. I just didnt appreciate how nice my early efforts were until it was too late to reproduce the efect Sad

hellomango · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Hull, UK

I totally agree Sally...I find that my yarn is becoming more and more even and I have to think about it if I want to do a lumpy yarn! Bizarre isn't it? I tend to concentrate on colours more though.
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spinningsue · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 56 Location: Worcestershire

I like spinning as evenly as I can because that's the type of yarn I like to knit with. My spinning is not perfect though and I wouldn't want it to be! I can buy perfectly spun and dyed yarn but I get a lot more pleasure from using something I made!

I really like to look at the yarns other people spin and one day I'm going to try some 'designer' yarns and who knows if my weaving takes off I might find a use for them too. Very Happy

I really dislike all kinds of snobbery and elite-ism because what does it achieve?
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hellomango · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Hull, UK

Spinningsue, snobbery and eliteism achieves absolutely nothing. There is simply no need for it. I had a run in with an american lady once as she was criticising people's yarn for being overspun and underspun. She was really rude about it and I pointed out that people pay an awful lot of money for yarn like that and just because it isn't textbook perfect does not give you a right to be nasty about it!

At the end of the day, we all like different things and each skein of yarn is unique when it is spun by hand!
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ClaireUK · Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Posts: 94 Location: Coventry, UK

I wonder if anyone went up to picasso, took the paintbrush out of his hand, and told him he was 'doing it wrong' ? Laughing

There is no right or wrong way to express our art unless it harms others, and unsolicited opinions come under the 'harmful' catagory in my opinion.

Claire UK

spinningsue · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 56 Location: Worcestershire

If I was Picasso, I think I'd take my paintbrush back and stick it right up their nose! Could do that with a spindle come to think of it... Twisted Evil

I think being willing to have a go and do something because you enjoy it is far more important than being a technically perfect craftsperson. That's not to say that technique doesn't have its place! But where would society be if some thinkers and doers hadn't been prepared to step outside the 'norm'?
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hellomango · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Hull, UK

Absolutely! I approach my spinning in a very artistic way as I have an art and design background and that works best for me. Everyone is an individual and I think you have to let people find their own way.

The lady who taught me to spin said as long as you can knit/crochet or whatever with it then it is yarn. No matter what it looks like!

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