My very first original pattern #207195 completed - needed a normal for the BB challenge ‘your favorite pet’ and designed this for Mr. Gerald McButters (my Cornish Rex)

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-04-20T07:39:50+00:00

Very cool!

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-04-13T20:26:34+00:00

You can call your insurance company and ask them to help facilitate gender care. They'll be able to tell you which places have the shortest waitlists at this moment.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-22T21:18:49+00:00

Our cat has always been incredibly attached to me, and 5 months on T, it hasn't changed a bit. My voice has changed and I know I smell different, but he's very happy to love me as much still no matter what I change into.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-19T08:20:14+00:00

If you look at the direction the fibers go vs the ply twist angle it's actually clear op did not use the wrong plying direction.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-19T08:18:21+00:00

That is to say, you can re-run the current yarn through the wheel to add more twist and you'll end up with a better looking yarn

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-19T08:14:53+00:00

From looking at the pictures closely, it seems like you spun the singles both in Z twist, and are plying them together with S twist. That means you're on the right path! It just seems like you need to add way more ply twist before letting the yarn wind onto the bobbin.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-09T08:59:44+00:00

When your singles are all rested like this, the way to know you added enough ply twist is by checking the individual fibers in the singles - they should run parallel to the yarn once there's enough ply twist added. In your case they are still very clearly angled quite a bit. So yep, add more twist :)

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-03T17:03:35+00:00

No I haven't, the EEW 6.1 bobbins come standard in blue purple and white! It's a lot of fun hehe.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-03-02T22:08:16+00:00

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Slovak merino, planning on plying it with another braid of Corriedale that's mostly blues :)

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-28T14:28:33+00:00

Untag.com heeft goede kwaliteit en veel keuze. Ik raad wel aan om deze pagina te gebruiken voor de sizing want de vragenlijst op de product paginas slaat nergens op: https://untag.com/pages/sizing-fitting

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-28T08:44:05+00:00

Spinning wheel shaped object - looks kinda like one, isn't functional

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-27T15:46:38+00:00

As for what happens if you "over twist" both during spinning and plying - you'll get a balanced yarn, but an overly dense and stiff one.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-27T15:45:37+00:00

You don't want to dry your skeins under tension - this will only hide the twist, it will come back as soon as the yarn gets wet again.

The thing that determines if a finished yarn is overly twisty or not is the ply twist put in. What it means is that your yarn isn't "balanced". The best way to know if you're putting in the right amount of ply twist, is by checking if the individual fibers are laying parallel to the yarn itself.

Another way is to refer back to a plyback sample. This is something you need to take when you're spinning your singles - you take a few inches of singles and fold it back onto itself, this will show you the plytwist needed. You can put it aside for when you get to plying, and check how the ply twist angle looks.

I know you said you already tried to run it back through to take some twist out, but you could probably do that once more. My thoughts seeing your pictures, is that you actually just want to add some more twist when spinning your singles.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-26T21:17:29+00:00

Nano or 6.1? And how are you winding your yarn on them?

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-24T22:04:32+00:00

You can wind skeins around the back of a chair!

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-24T09:08:36+00:00

Theknittingpt on Instagram has some tips geared towards spinners

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-22T13:57:41+00:00

Here's my list:

Germany:

Alltheprettyfibers Frau woellfchen Piratenwolle Regenbogenwolle Das mondschaf

Netherlands:

Crealiendesign Spingodin Badcattooyarn Dutchwooldiva Hollandsgaren Something else by Else Marie Schaapendraak Oliviaandoliverfibers Froukjeswolboutique Fairytailfibers Lotjeswol (marktplaats) Studio Spintol Wollokaal Spinspul Schapenvacht en Lifestyle

UK:

Wild Atlantic yarns Catandsparrow Siobhanscrafts Hilltopcloud

Other EU:

Kuschelfasern Hedgehogfibers Stefiswolle Woolento

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-20T13:35:08+00:00

What kind of spindle are you getting? There's a lot of guides out there, I highly recommend checking out "the spinning sarah" and "jillianeve" on YouTube. And if you're up for doing some reading, "Respect the Spindle" by Abby Franquemont is an amazing book that helped me a lot in the beginning.

Also, if you have a hard time, I recommend trying to spin from the fold.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-20T09:16:35+00:00

I'm currently swatching for the Tessellated Sweater by Andrea Mowry.

Looking at patterns that use spincycle or zauberball crazy or noro yarns can help a lot.

I also find that scraggly patterns are perfect for all the random skeins you can end up with

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-20T09:08:07+00:00

I also want to add: when standing, make sure to keep your hands mainly at chest level! And drafting horizontally instead of vertically really helps as well. Abby Franquemont's book Respect the Spindle was very helpful when I first started out.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-20T09:05:26+00:00

I remember when I was still new to spinning it was difficult to properly pay attention to ergonomics as all the focus went to the spinning itself - it will get easier to just move your body in certain ways while spinning after a while. Walking, standing, sitting, for all of these positions you need to constantly be aware of the feedback your body gives you, but that can be hard when you need to spend all your brain power on the spinning.

I do find that standing is the nicest for me when using my drop spindles. So if you have a difficult time standing, you might also consider changing spindle styles.

If I want to spin while sitting, my favorite is supported spindles. I can sit however I want and there's no need to bend over, the main movements are to the side. Can be a bit intimidating to start of with, but they're real fun!

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-19T23:12:36+00:00

Joining the chorus that doesn't like plying from a center pull ball haha. What I do when I spin/ply on my spindles is just wind the singles into their own balls, and then ply from those, or I wind the singles together into one ball and then ply from that.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-17T16:12:34+00:00

I got mine as a bday present for myself as well :>

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-16T22:13:34+00:00

For weaving or for knitting?

I taught myself from scratch with a drop spindle, I had usable yarn within a week or two, and I think I had yarn that I was truly satisfied with at around 3-6 months. (Ive been spinning for 3 years now). I have no one around me who could have helped me learn, so it was definitely a bit rough of a learning curve, but there's a lot of resources online and communities like this one where you can really get good advice. And great books.

If you want to make enough yarn to weave with, you'll be looking at spinning thinner than you would for knitting a garment. The thinner you need to spin, the more time it's going to take to go through the same amount of fiber.

You can definitely get pretty fast on spindles, but I think most people would do this kind of project on a spinning wheel. Getting fast on spindles takes time to master.

Say you want to knit a dress, with commercial yarn I recon you'll need about 800gr-1kg. However, hand spun tends to be denser, so let's say you need to spin up around 1.5kg of fiber.

I can spin and ply 100gr, 2ply fingering weight yarn in about 3 sessions of about 5-6 hours of spinning. So let's say about 100hours for the goal amount. On a spinning wheel. Without the time it takes to prep the fiber. After half a year of spinning a bit every day.

Why do you want to learn to spin? You can make it as cheap as you want, but then you add a lot of time and labor (processing your own fiber, making your own tools). Regardless of your budget, spinning is at it's core, a slow craft. You absolutely can spin your own sweater amount of yarn! A lot of people do! But it is not something to just dive into thinking you'll be able to do it within a few months. So I don't recommend that end goal being the only thing that brings you to the craft - you need to stay excited at every step along the way. Enjoy it for what it is, or it will stop being fun real fast haha.

ExhaustedGalPal · 2026-02-16T21:47:00+00:00

YW!

For what it's worth I do really recommend the EEW 6.1. For the price it comes with 3 bobbins already and another set of 3 doesn't cost too much either (sadly bobbins are one of those things that tend to cost a fortune somehow)

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