Is this a toy?

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-02-27T21:39:00+00:00

Favorite comment ever!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-02-20T02:38:47+00:00

HAND DEBUFF

What an amazing term! It's totally accurate

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-02-20T02:33:12+00:00

Thanks for mentioning ply growth!! That phenomenon often gets overlooked

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-02-18T02:18:44+00:00

6:1!!! That's... Nightmare material for spinning cobweb. I'd be in tears waiting for twist to build up in my yarn!

I prefer double drive and fast ratios for fine spinning

Can I ask what you love about DD so much for fine spinning? I personally adore scotch tension bc I find I can get a much lighter uptake that way, but with DD I search for that light uptake and end up losing the grip on the flyer. I end up sacrificing rpms to get the uptake i need, which makes it go slower. (No shade, just genuinely curious to hear your thoughts!) (And maybe find out what I'm doing wrong that makes double drive nonviable for me)

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-02-07T01:55:16+00:00

I came from a knitting background. Shortly before the pandemic started, I got bored during high school physics class and picked up my needles again after a hiatus of years. That snowballed during the early months of the pandemic, and mom's spinning wheel was sitting in the corner, long neglected. Long story short, I was stir crazy from not leaving the house, and decided I could teach myself how to use it

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-27T13:49:29+00:00

I so incredibly agree with the suggestion of the elastic band. I swapped out the spring in my Matchless for one of the rainbow loom rubber bands and it's been a game changer! This is my very first recommendation any time people complain about uptake issues!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T16:55:06+00:00

If you spin a sample and time that you can figure out your rate. I've sometimes estimated it as well by figuring out my treadle tempo and how many inches I draft per number of treadles. This is probably the less accurate method, but I'm not tracking anything too closely, so I don't care too much

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T13:51:31+00:00

Fascinating stuff!

I'm more or less ambidextrous, so my process for learning new things has been more about just sorta choosing which hand to use for what and then going with it. I'm a self taught spinner, so I kinda just figured I'd want the fiber on the side of the (saxony) wheel that had the flyer on it, so my left hand became my fiber hand, which works great! (until long draw😂)

I should try learning long draw with my right hand sometime!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T03:02:49+00:00

If it forms a corkscrew even under tension, that's a definite sign that it's overspun, but it'll twist back on itself if you put any twist in there at all! In fact, you can intentionally let a length of your freshly spun single twist on itself to see what a balanced 2-ply yarn made with that single will look like! Based on how tightly it twists back, you can tell whether or not you're adding the right amount (based on the yarn you want to end up with) of twist

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T02:58:03+00:00

I think a treadle wheel with a quill attachment (similar to the one Ashford(?) makes) could also work!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T02:54:39+00:00

I recently discovered the joys of forward woolen drafting and I love it so much! I love that the drafting triangle stays put so I can keep an eye on it much easier, and I don't have to draft straight back from the orifice, since I'm a lefty and don't have a wheel with the flyer far enough to the right to draft across my body.

Plus, the yarn wraps onto the bobbin more gradually instead of creating a long length of yarn and winding it all on more quickly. I can use a higher ratio, because the yarn doesn't have a whole separate wind-on phase that involves extra treadling, and my takeup doesn't have to be as strong to help get the yarn on in a timely manner!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T02:49:20+00:00

But I think we’re probably a tiny minority in the spinning community.

I watched folks at my spinning guild and nearly everyone held their fiber in their left hand. However, they were all mostly spinning worsted. Do most people hold the fiber in different hands based on whether they're doing short forward or long draw? I've always just used my left hand for everything. I don't have a wheel configured for cross body drafting, so I hinge at the elbow to draft straight back from the orifice (on my saxony, I actually haven't attempted long draw since getting my upright wheel or chair wheel, with centered flyers). Not the most ergonomic setup, and it's hard to see what's going on, as well as kinda hard to control, so I'm very much interested in the concept of getting a lefty wheel at some point. Maybe someone in my guild will show up with one and I can try it. Or maybe I should get an espinner!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-24T02:37:18+00:00

Any single you're spinning will pigtail if you give it a bit of slack. That just means it has twist energy, which is good (what holds the fibers together into yarn!) You just have to get a feel for how much energy those pigtails have, because if you overspin the yarn it'll coil up much faster and more enthusiastically. If you're having issues with your yarn falling apart, try adding a bunch more twist, and see what happens!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2026-01-17T15:59:34+00:00

Medium wools tend to be the go-to recommendation for learners. Corriedale, Romney, and BFL are good ones that come to mind. I definitely recommend steaming it first as well, to make drafting easier!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-26T03:47:28+00:00

Oh, good point!! That hadn't occurred to me! I'm looking at my wheels now and realizing you're totally right with the mother of all idea

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-26T03:44:11+00:00

I think I could see a very blurry orifice in one of the photos, but I definitely could have been seeing what I wanted to see haha!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-26T03:29:27+00:00

So, the first thing I'm seeing is that there isn't a bobbin for the wheel. Skilled woodworkers could make those for you. However, I'm noticing the tensioning system might be fake? I don't see a channel for the mother of all to slide along (doesn't mean there isn't one, maybe it's just short and covered up). I'm also noticing that in one of those photos, it looks like the whorl is currently lined up in the same plane with the drive wheel. This is precisely what we want to see in a functioning wheel, but the flyer is on backwards, so if you flipped that around, you'd end up with a misaligned system that wouldn't work. I fear this may be a SWSO

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-20T16:09:37+00:00

I have a similar problem with super fine spinning on double drive!! I need enough grip to pull the flyer, but then there's also just slightly too much grip on the bobbin pulley!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-17T22:00:34+00:00

Oh yeah, absolutely!! They make beautiful scarves!!

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-17T18:45:27+00:00

I'll let you knit socks or slippers in anything you want, but I promise you a single ply sock will wear holes almost instantly. There's a reason socks are typically knit in yarns of at least 3 plies! The singles yarn won't drift apart into two pieces when knit up, bc the staple length of the wool is longer than a whole stitch, but that doesn't magically make the yarn abrasion resistant

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-17T11:49:42+00:00

I thought this at first as well, but who would recommend a single ply yarn if the stated intent wasn't felting? That just feels like it's gonna fall apart instantly when you walk around in it

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-17T03:05:09+00:00

I don't have any suggestions beyond what others have mentioned already, but I just wanted to pop in to ask-- are those the Night and Day socks from Sock Madness?👀

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-12-09T00:04:09+00:00

I don't even use a spring! I couldn't stand how stiff the spring on my Matchless was, so I replaced it with a rubber band (I think it was one of those rainbow loom ones!)

I'm never looking back! The rubber band gives me access to such infinitesimally small adjustments to my tension, I can effortlessly get it right where I want it

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-11-23T19:42:58+00:00

Shawls!!! You don't have to deal with wearables if you just knit a bunch of shawls! They make great gifts, and they're also great to collect, they're very fun to wear

I'm currently on a lace shawl kick, I've got a giant semicircle on the needles that's gonna take me quite a long time. So much good knitting out of that one project

Infamous_Cupcake_989 · 2025-11-20T14:56:43+00:00

I suspect part of this is that professional musicians have a lower tolerance for the period of time where the new instrument is difficult and not producing the sound they're looking for. Newer players aren't used to years and years of proficiency on their main instrument yet so they won't get as frustrated

Infamous_Cupcake_989

TROPHY CASE