Yarnspinners Tales's Podcast

In the first part of the podcast I fill you in on what Has happened in the last two months. I have spun some yarn, found some fiber that needs processing, and made some wonderful purchases (see links below) I also talk about my plans to enter items in the State Fair, and some preliminary plans for the Tour de Fleece. The last part of the podcast is about my recent knit with hand spun project the Kensington Steeked Pot by Gemma Pickford-Waugh.  It is shown in the photo for this podcast. The different fiber breed tops came from Laughing Lamb Fibers. The blended rolags are from Fellview Fibres and can be found in their Etsy store. If you are looking for the spinners journal, it can be found here.

This month's podcast has a review of Craftsy and also talks about my finished knitted with hand spun project and plans for the next project. If you are looking to buy the Spinners Journal I made, it can be found here. The fiber Three Feet of Sheep is from Frabjous Fibers. Google and buy it from your favorite vendor. The shawl I plan to knit for Tour de Fleece this year is the Oslo Shawl. The pattern for the fingerless mitts I knit is Te Ara.  You may have to sign into Ravelry to see this link. The creator of the circular cable needle is Leslie Wind and her website is here.

My first completed project for this year of knitting with my hand spun yarn was a garter stitch hat made from a cabled yarn from a Jacob fleece.  This was a true start to finish project, I bought the fleece raw, processed it, spun it and then knit the hat, The inspiration for the hat came from the book HomeSpun HandKnit by Linda Ligon.  The pattern was the garter stitch cap. The second knitting project started in Jan 2016 was the Painted Sky Cowl provided free by KnittingFever.  I am using a worsted spun 2 ply yarn I also made from the Jacob.   My blog can be found here. Contact me with any comments (don't just talk to the podcast I can't hear you!) here or on Ravelry as Yarnspinnerstales.    

In this podcast there is news about what I have done with spinning, carding and my spinning wheels over the last six weeks. I also talk about another big sorting of my hand spun. And finally the first project for the year of knitting with hand spun has been chosen. A thank you to Jon Caspi for his music that I use in the opening theme song. The Unraveling podcast can be found here. Find my group on Ravelry by searching under groups for Yarnspinnerstales Spin In.  Join us there for the discussions about spinning with hand spun and other topics. The Spinners Journal that I published can be found here. My blog is here. Thanks for listening!  

A chatty podcast to close up the spinning year.  I review a fiber fair, talk about drum carding and what's on my spinning wheels.  Then after a bit of daydreaming, I have a plan for some of next year's projects. There are no links to mention for this podcast.   I want to say thank you to all my listeners for being there over these last eight years of podcasting.  I am truly thankful for every one!  Looking forward to many more years of spinning together. Happy Holidays to one and all, see you on Roc Day.

The Spinzilla report is actually the second part of the podcast.  In the first part, I continue the review of using the Ashford quill spindle, using mohair, angora, hemp, bamboo and cotton. A few links for things mentioned in the podcast: Needle Junkies podcast has a link on their website Spinzilla total yards this years was 5,246,497.  See more details here. Get your free pattern and yarn recommendations and help knit for Knitted Knockers at this website. Fibers spun on the quill were from the following: WC Mercantile Sweet Pea Fibers Mohair and More

It seems I really have made many skeins of yarns over the last three years.  Since I had the habit of not washing yarns until I was ready to use them, I discovered I had many skeins that really should be washed.  In this podcast I talk about the sorting, and washing of these skeins, enjoying the memories of their making.

Besides going over the spinning during the final days of the Tour de Fleece, I discuss several topics in detail. First is my experience with spinning on a quill set up on my Ashford Traditional.  A photo of the quill can be seen here.  I also recommend searching Youtube for good videos if you plan to try this too.  Here is one that shows a quick method for wrapping the single onto the cop. Second I talk about spinning Suri alpaca, both on a drop spindle and a spinning wheel. Last is a discussion of plying and one of my observations and ah ha moments.

I continue talking about my TdF spinning projects in the first part of this podcast.  In the second part, I go over some tips and troubleshooting for an old Ashford Tradition spinning wheel. The snippet of music today is Wild Mountain Thyme by Big Sea.   The fiber I started spinning on my Ashford wheel is from Chamomile Connection.  Check out the website, she still has merino/seasilk listed.  And Sheep Street fibers has a fun website to check out too.  That is where I got the dyed Shetland fiber I am spinning.   I used this website for information about the seacell fiber.

It's that time again, Tour de Fleece errr France. First update discusses what I have been doing during the first ten days of the tour.  Although the main focus is alpaca, there is one raw fleece processing part too. The spindle I am using to spin alpaca top came from Linda Dyak, formerly Grafton Fibers, now DyakCrafts. The three feet of sheep fiber came from Frabjous Fibers. The wool shampoo I used to wash the fleece came from Namaste Farm's product, found here.

There's a few odds and ends of old business at the beginning of this podcast, and then I talk about my trip to the Kentucky sheep and fiber festival in May.   The fiber I have been spinning is CVM batts from Wild Hare Fibers. I could not find the April fool's joke emailed by the Woolery. Instead, take a look at their blog, it's really interesting. The new designed drum carder by Majacraft can be seen here. I must correct something in the podcast, the black merino fiber I got from Ohio Valley is dyed.  It is listed here and all there other colors too. You can find the Fiber Pusher podcast on her website. And the Transient Wool Merchants podcast is on this website. A fiber processing mill is in North Carolina, called Echoview. And there is a grand opening of the store July 1 2015 for a fiber processing mill in Cynthiana Ky, called Heartfelt Fleece and Fiber.

I tackle yet more of my never ending stash of alpaca fiber and talk about using the wool shampoo to wash suri, and the wash and dye product for a white huacaya alpaca.  These are products available from Namaste Farms and can be purchased here. Music for the show is by Project Grand Slam and is called Spring Dance.  Sadly the source for podsafe music. Musicalley, seems to have gone away.  It just does not do anything when I go to the site, nor can I find any information about it.  I will not link the group today, and certainly thank them publically for putting that music on the site for use.  I will continue to investigate into this, but feel the time has come that it is no longer available as a place for listeners to support the musicians that had allowed their music to be listened to in podcasts. It has been wonderful to add music to the podcast over these past years, for I love music as much as spinning.  All things change though, and new is always shiny and good.  

This podcast has a review of the DVD titled From Wool to Waulking, with Norman Kennedy.  Fulll of knowledge of the old ways of handling, spinning or weaving wool, this DVD is also good for new spinners just learning the craft. The second part of the podcast is a chatty update of my life and spinning projects. Music is from Musicalley.  The haunting interlude music is by Keldarin and is called Gaelic Shores.  The closing song is by John Torres and is titled Here in History. If anyone is interesting in the video of the stitch I am using to crochet a blanket that I mention in the podcast, it can be found here.

There are two new products out for those of us that process raw fiber, DRB wool shampoo and the Wash and Dye.  I had the opportunity to try both and loved them so much I contacted Natalie Redding of Namaste Farms, the source of these products for an interview.  In this podcast, I talk to Natalie, via Skype. In the second part of the podcast I talk about my experiences using both products. Here's a direct link to the wool shampoo website, where you can buy the products. Other links for this podcast include: Namaste Farms and Fibery Goodness.  Music in the podcast is from MusicAlley. The opening interlude music is Nano Flowers by The DJ's. Deep Space Ocean provides Live Free. I chose the closing song, Techno Canon by DanMan because it is a great blending of the new meets the old. There is so much of that now in spinning, the new fiber community members bringing improvements to our craft.

Rock day or Saint Distaff Day, Jan 7 is the spinner's New Year.  I talk about that and my year's plans in this podcast. Music is from Musicalley and has a new year theme. Opening song is Happy New Year by Colie Brice Closing song is It's a New Year's Day with Denise Moser. Here is a nice website with information about Rock Day. St Distaff Day, or the Morrow after Twelfth Day is a poem by Robert Herrick. It has been recorded on LibriVox here. I also read the poem in the podcast. The Spinner's Journal is available on lulu.com and here is a direct link.  

My daughter joins me, via Skype, to tell about her lucky find in fleeces and what she did with them.  Then the story morphs into her experience dyeing silk with henna. Music is from Musicalley and revolves around the theme 'lucky'.   AJ & The Frozen Tundra Band tells us It's Your Lucky Day Now. Great Big Sea sings Lucky Me Stavia closes the podcast with Lucky Day

First in the podcast, some thoughts on the wide variety of niche markets we have in this fiber world.  Then I tell about my three Spinzilla projects and how I figured my yardage for submission to their total amounts. There is more music in today's podcast, and it  is from Musicalley First interlude is from Space Agency and is called Godzilla. Middle break music is from the FuMP, always a fun romp, and is also called Godzilla (yes just pretend it is really Spinzilla).  Since this group has lots and lots of songs, find this specific one by searching Godzilla on Musicalley. The closing song is by Tracy Jane Comer and is Drive for Miles.  I think of it as Spin for Miles since that is one of the measurements used by Spinzilla.  Lovely song, whether you are driving or spinning.

This is a 10 minute podcast that I will release on the first of every month (more or less). It has all the information about how to find specific episodes, where to contact me and how to get your very own spinner's journal. I listen to many podcasts and get tired of hearing the podcaster's information over and over before we get to the podcast. I have decided that to avoid that in this podcast, I would put all this information here and release it once a month.  If you need the information, just listen in. If you don't, you can just wait for the next podcast. Happy spinning!

A Wool Gathering fiber event is at Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs Ohio every year on the third weekend in Sept.  I had the fun of attending this year, and give a review of my trip. Lots of links for things I mention in the podcast: A Wool Gathering website TNNA website Spinzilla website Spinzilla FAQ Spinzilla rules for measuring yarn Woven Thoughts blog Fiber Optic Yarns Noah's Landing Yarns National Custom Spinworks Ed the Wheel Healer can be contacted at erowe132 @ aol. com Today's podcast music is from musicalley and is by Jon Caspi and the First Guns.  My thanks to them for letting me use this song as the intro to the podcast.

This is a 10 minute podcast that I will release on the first of every month.  It has all the information about how to find specific episodes, where to contact me and how to get your very own Spinners' Journal. I listen to many podcasts and get tired of hearing the podcaster's information over and over before we get to the podcast.  I have decided that to avoid that in this podcast, I would put all this information here and release it once a month. If you need the information, just listen in. If you don't, you can wait for the next podcast. Happy spinning!