BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning What are you going to do with your yarns?

What are you going to do with the new yarns? Are you knitting, crocheting, weaving?

I have nearly enough "cotton candy" stuff spun up to weave a skirt length. I am planning on using white rambouillet stripe, cotton candy stripe, down the length, then pleating the skirt. When I have it completed I will wear it this fall for my demo spinning sessions.

The "cotton candy" stuff is mostly a blend of kid mohair and merino wools that friends have dyed and blended. Some of it has glitz in it as well. Nice pastel colors!

I am planning to do just tabby on this project.

hi Sue, I'm one of those who spins because I enjoy it, and am happy to create the yarns. Doing something with them is quite a different matter, LoL! I am teaching myself to knit, hehe, and I crochet, experiment with felting, and play around with small looms as I can no longer cope with a floor loom, but its the rhythm of spinning, and the fun of dyeing and preparing the fibres that gets me sucked in big-time. So my fibre stash rapidly becomes a yarn mountain - it just doesn't take up quite so much room, and I am rapidly running out of hidey-holes, ;-)!
I must really get into knitting and felting bags, it would solve my Chrissie present problem too!
Cheers, Caroline

Hey Aussie spinner have you thought about selling your spun wool.Wool is worth about $12 per 100 grams spun add $2 for dyed wool and exotic fibre $16 per 100 grams spun. If you have a friend at a market who would put some on a stall you could see how it sells. Wrapping mohair in bright colours and selling knitting needles and patterns in a kit like for a simple scarf brings in some $. So you don't have to spin for yourself alone.Alpaca sells well this time of year.(i'm in Qld )

Have either of you tried the knitting looms? There was a home made one in my mother-in-laws yarn and equipment stash. Hexagon shaped about 6 inches to a side and using finishing nails.

Until a couple of weeks ago I didn't know what to do with her loom, so put it with other little hand looms in a box. I found a pattern for really cute little caps that take about 3 hours to finish. Granddaughter bought me a package of the plastic knitting looms with instructions. She wanted to learn how to do that, and easiest way was to buy 2 kits and come visit.

Started one using really cool rainbow painted sock yarn last night. It will be a really thin, soft cap, but wildly colored. I am not sure what granddaughter Jinger will do with hers, but I am enjoying the morning news while working on mine.

Hi everyone! I have a set of knifty knitter looms, and have made myself a large adjustable knitting loom, that fits on my tapestry stand. However it means I have to put my spinning wheel away (my lounge room is rather small). I also have to take my table-top loom off it, grin. I got a bit clever and made these all to fit on the stand so I could use them while watching TV.
I have wondered about selling my yarn; its a bit like selling a part of oneself as I spin to please myself, not to actually have a use for the yarn. I have bits of different yarns I have experimented with that I may get around to using one day.
I'm spinning to felt at the moment, aiming to ply my yarn with commercial yarns. I have knitted and felted up a swatch of dyed Romney with a multi-coloured fuzzy nylon/acrylic yarn for a furry cushion, and was very happy with the result as I was able to use the underlying wool to tone down the original yucky colours, and pull them together. It felted quite nicely with one go in the washing machine, so this would be ideal as an accent yarn on a knitted or crocheted bag.
Talking of felting, have any of you found the free felting patterns atBellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

What a cool site!! Thanks bundles! I go surfing the net a lot, but hadn't come across this site! Thanks for posting it.

I have actually had the Knifty Knitters from the USA sent to me a year and a half ago by a friend.Last year i joined every online group i could and spent months teaching myself as you couldn't get them here. Then our spotlight stores started selling KK knock offs but little else. So i could safely use mine in public and people could buy them if they wanted. I ended up giving the lady at Spotlight some web addy's so she could learn for herself and have been pummped for info ever since when i go in there as she thought you could only make hats. There is so much more you can do with them.Lots of yahoo groups are devoted to loom knitting and now we have the Loom Knitters Circle e magazine. Its really taking offI love my KKs and am going to make some other looms myselfthey are good when my tendonitis makes it impossible to crochet and spin.

Yes, I don't understand why these looms have never taken off here in Australia. They are so easy to use, and are ideal if you have arthritis or problems with your hands and/or wrists. I like those lovely wooden ones in the shape of a S, that look as if they can be used as boards as well, though the fabric they produce would be too warm and heavy for normal wear here in Adelaide (except at the moment - its none too warm, loL!). I haven't used mine very much yet, apart from a couple of pairs of socks I unsuccessfully tried to felt, made from handspun Merino. As I can usually accidentally felt almost anything, I have a sneaking suspicion that they were made from superwool. Thats my story anyway!
I'll try the pattern again with some Corriedale I have been spinning once I've finished my current project, a wool cardigan/jacket for my husband. I also have some Romney I can experiment with.

I think they haven't taken off because no one has marketed them properly. I was afraid to go out in public with mine as every time i did someone wanted me to teach them and while i don't mind teaching them I didn't want to lend out looms.So i was pleased when Spotlight started selling the knock off KKs. I keep a spare set of them in my car just in case someone wants to learn now.

I haven't seen them in my local Spotlight yet, but the place is such a mess you almost need a compass and a map to find anything, lol! I've seen them at the Fox Collection, and their price is actually quite reasonable. I only got mine for less because I used sea-mail from the States, they took 3 months.