Hi,
It's been awhile. Here's a sample of the silk yarn I spun
I knit a sample of it. It's a very small ball, and I spun it on my homemade spinning wheel, cranking by hand. Sadly the wheel took a big fall, and I'm having a ton of difficulty repairing it.
There's actually quite a bit of yardage in that one small ball(I lost count), but it's definitely fingering weight, since it comes in at approximately 14wpi, that's wraps per inch, for those who don't know. I even made a bamboo nostie for center pull balls, and it works quite well indeed.
It occurs to me that if I had a good beginner's wheel, I could get a real feel for how my homemade/found parts wheel should really run. That's where donations come in.
If you knit, but haven't any interest in spinning, this might be just the proposition for you.
I'm posting a donations button at the end of this post and in the links section. There's an identical button at
Spinning On A Dime.
I like knitting with fingering weight or lighter yarn. You get more bang for your buck. Lots more fun knitting, especially when it comes to socks and lace patterns, because you get lots more yardage for the weight. So here's the bargain. For any donation, you'll get a ball of yarn, or a hank of yarn with bamboo nostie + instructions for using it to wind a center pull ball. You'll receive the yarn at cost, and I'll throw in the nostie for free, because they're both easy and inexpensive to make.
It works like this; the ammount of money donated, will first go towards the purchase of a good quality beginner's spinning wheel. As soon as there's enough in the account to purchase the wheel, the donation drive ends. I'll remove the buttons, and notify everyone when the wheel arrives. Any excess in the account will go towards the purchase of fiber for spinning. Not just any fiber but good, quality, fiber. I'm talking silk, super wash wool, and probably alpaca as well. I have been able to find sources of high quality fiber at tremendous savings.
To save even more money, the silk cocoons will be hand processed into silk hankies by yours truly. The superwash wool is an assortment of colors, and from the photos it's a very fine quality wool. It costs less than $1 per ounce. So that's $2 for 2 ounces of superwash wool. I can sort the wool by colors, and easily blend primary colors into secondary colors. I just have to recomb some of it, but it's quality combed top. The alpaca that has me so interrested is $2 per ounce for blanket, and $1 per ounce for neck(and neck is touted as being very soft, so really once I research some more, maybe, just maybe I'll go for neck, and the savings will be enormous).
So what's with all the savings? I want to pass the savings on to the donors. A fair ammount of the money will be out of pocket, but as I said before, only the excess funds from the donation drive will go towards fiber. Example: if a wheel costs $225 - $275 and I get $250 in donations, then I'll have to foot the difference. However, if there is a serge in donations, and there's $25 or so over the ammount for a wheel, I'll put that $25 towards fiber).
Let me boil it down further. If someone is only capable of donating 50¢, I won't hold it against them. To the contrary, they will get at least 4 cocoons worth of hand dyed hand spun silk yarn(it depends on what source is available, one source is far less expensive than the other, you get more cocoons for the same ammount of money). 4 cocoons doesn't sound like much, but I can get 4-5 yards of roving from a single cocoon without trying, much more when I really concentrate on getting a nice, very thin, even strand of silk roving). So 50¢ yields enough yarn for an accent piece, a nice sampling of the yarn/fiber, and enough yarn to snuggle with. It's not enough for an entire garment obviously, but that's hardly the point right?
So here's how it works, and I need to adjust the 411 in the spinning blog; when you make a donation, you're offered the option of including comments. Please include your mailing adress and preferences in the donation comments; if you want the yarn, and I can't imagine why you wouldn't, the mailing adress is absolutely necessary.
Smaller donations will be easiest and quickest to fill, by my simply spinning silk. It's easy enough, if I pay $2 for 20 cocoons, then you get 4 cocoons worth of pure silk yarn, and stretched, hand dyed, and handspun by moi. For larger donations I have more wiggle room with options. 20 cocoons yeild over 2oz before processing, the silkworm is dried inside, and very light. So if you want pure silk yarn for a $5 donation, that's 50 cocoons(when they're $2.00 for 20, prices vary, but I will keep everyone informed as to actual cost). 50 cocoons before processing weighs in at over 5 ounces, and if you're curious, 2 ounces is approximately 50 grams of yarn. If you want a silk/superwash blend, I'll have to do the math, same for pure superwash. Still, I'll keep you up to date and fully informed.
I will spin the first bobbin(which eventually ends up being a ball of yarn) with undonated fiber. That is to say a small ammount of wool I already have, because I thought I could use it for my homemade wheel, before the accident). It's plenty of fiber for me to predraft, spin, and get a feel for the wheel. That way I won't have to get the hang of a new wheel with fiber intended for donors.
After the first bobbin(photographed and posted for posterity and so that you can get an idea of the fineness of the yarn I can spin) is spun, all spinning will be devoted to donors until each and every donor who wants yarn gets yarn. I have friends who don't knit and might make anonymous donations, in those instances I wouldn't be able to send yarn to people who don't want yarn. But if you fill in your mailing adress, you will get yarn.
So what's the catch? Time, it's that simple. I need time to collect donations(that's if anybody even donates in the first place), then I need time to receive the wheel and fiber, then I need time to spin the yarn, and time for it to arrive to you safely. This is based on kindness and trust. If you can find it in your heart to trust me, you can get handspun yarn at cost. Considering handspun yarn goes for $25 and up in yarn shops, this is a tremendous savings, even if it does take longer to receive your yarn than it does when you order something to be fedexed to you.
It's kind of an adopt a spinster program. When spinners adopt a sheep for a year(for a whole lot of $, but well spent I assure you), they get letters from their sheep, and the fleece in the spring. When you adopt a spinster, you get regular updates of the tally, a glowing thankyou in my blog, and handspun yarn. I get to keep the wheel, and everyone breaks even :).
If you're wondering what 4 mawatas worth of yarn can make, I'll even create a pattern. Something sweet, and cute, that you know means you helped me more than you'll ever know, but other people will just think is pretty. Oh, but what if guys help? I didn't think of that, I'll have to come up with something nice for the fellas to knit too. No problem:). I'm good at this stuff.
You get full 411 about the wheel, pics of it, and yarn. Technically I'm not really proposing donations, just loans, paid back in yarn :).
P.S. If you're into astrology, I can spin yarn in colors to match your sun sign/birth stone. If you have a favorite color, I can spin yarn in either a gradient of your fave color, or complimentary stripes of your fave color(remember green matches everything).
Is this really any zanier than trading a red paper clip for stuff till you eventually trade for a house? I think not :D
