What online spinning (and weaving) forums are there?

By Amelia © September 24, 2008

Two more than a week ago ... no, seriously. And more are coming (update, 2010: they're here, the list is updated with input from the comments and new sites: Spin-off, WeaveZine, WeavOlution, and more!).

I like to "collect" online forums, as there is always something new to learn from the folks there. Sure, there's overlap, I run into various on-line friends in several, but there are also people who have to limit their internet time, so they choose, and stick with, one or only a few of those out there.

Here are the ones I've found.

• Yahoo Groups -- for spindle spinners, spindlers and spindlitis are tops! Spin-List and TechSpin are more generic, also very helpful. There are more fiber, dyeing and spinning groups on Yahoo too, these are the main ones. You'll find nalbinding, weaving, particular sheep breeds, llamas, and more. I've definitely seen some fading of activity in Yahoo due to the increase in interest in ...
  
• Ravelry! -- yep. I joined waaay back and saw only one, teeny-tiny spinning forum, not much on it. Now, spinning on Ravelry is h-u-g-e. There's a great Spindlers group there, Beginning Spinners, Spinner Central, and Ravelers Who Spin are also big groups welcoming to every sort of spin. There's a group for every major wheel maker, one for Charkas, one for studying fibers, and more.
  
• LiveJournal -- has a great Handspinner's Community and several sister groups to it, too. A little slow for dial-up but terrific for DSL and T1 lines. Most of the spinning activity here also seems to have moved to Ravelry.
  
• Knitty Forums -- has a nice spinning forum to accompany KnittySpin.
  
• Craftster has a fun spinning board with useful FAQ's compiled and active posters.
  
• Knitting Daily has started a forum for Spin-Off readers. Yay! A fun way to have immediate input to the crew at Spin-Off, with the "What are You Spinning" thread and the re-cap of what you found and enjoyed at shows (as I write this, Estes Wool Market just past, SOAR's up next!)
  
• Handspun Collective looks like a great new home for yarn spinners of all sorts. My invite came through the Spinning On The Edge Yahoo group (see, I said there were more!), and I see quite alot of gorgeous art yarns there already. Nice flavor!
  
• Josiane pointed me to Knitter's Review, they have a Spinner Central forum.
  
• Hockey Mom pointed me to Bella Online's Spinning section. The articles there are written by a long-time spinner, full of great information!
  
• Pat reminded me about All Fiber Arts, which has a nice collection of information with forums too.
  
• Spin-off Magazine added an online forum in 2009 for discussing their magazine and all things spinning. Discussions are organized by topic, and all their freebies are on the site as well.
  
• WeaveZine is an online magazine, podcast, and blog run by Syne Mitchell. A great place to find information.
  
• WeavOlution is the online place for weavers to be, with drafts, projects, forums, and more.
  
• Just looking for a little visual treat? Try flickr, there are several photo pools there of spinning tools, such as Spindle Shots, and many dedicated to fiber, handspun yarn and textiles.
  
• And you know what? I'm finding more of my fiber friends involved on FaceBook every day -- shops, groups, and blogs put pages on FaceBook to announce events and updates. I even put one up for Ask The Bellwether -- fan it for me, thanks!
  

My favorites? I keep up with the Yahoo groups mentioned (and a few others), Ravelry, and WeaveZine. I try to keep up with WeavOlution and Spin-off, and I'm exploring the world of social networks -- who knows what's out there beyond FaceBook, I know there are lots of them, addthis.com alone lists over 200!

The forums that provide RSS feeds or email are the easiest for me to keep up with.

Feel free to let me know of others in the comments. The exploring continues!
~~
© 24 September 2008 by Ask The Bellwether, posted at http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/. Updated 17 February 2010.

What classes are coming up?

It's the fall, and that means a new round of teaching at A Dropped Stitch in Sequim, WA as well as classes at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival later this month!

At A Dropped Stitch I'm teaching:

Tuesdays, 10:30-12:30, September 16, 23, 30:
Learn to Spin on a Wheel, $40 includes materials
minimum 2 students
Please note if you have a wheel already or not.

*** see Oregon Flock and Fiber below for more September classes!

Tuesdays, 10:30-12:30, Spinning Two, $15 each or $40 all three
minimum 2 students
Tues., October 7, Wheel details: controlling yarn thickness and more
Tues., October 14, Color in spinning: striping, spirals, neutrals and more
Tues., October 21, Plying Around: Navajo ply, Cable, boucle, coil and more

Tuesdays, 10:30-12:30, Spinning Again, $15 each or $40 all three
minimum 2 students
Tues., November 4th: Spinning Slippery Fibers: silk, alpaca, mohair, bamboo
Tues., November 11th: Spinning Fine Yarns
Tues., November 18th: Spin a necklace or keychain for lovely gifts

Saturday, November 8th: 1:30-4:30, Weave a Hat, $15
No weaving or knitting skills required. Bring 5 ounces of yarn (leftovers are great!), a yarn needle and scissors. This hat is a Beret or Tam style hat. Weaving template and instructions provided in class. A great gift to make!
Minimum 2 students

Spinning With Amelia, one-on-one instruction at A Dropped Stitch, 2 hours, $30. Spindle or Wheel, beginner or experienced. Great if you'd like a refresher or want to get started right away! Scheduled at your request.

At Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, I'm teaching:

WS 807 Drum Carding for Spinners & Felters: Using the Batt Machine
Fee - $48 (Fiber Prep- all levels)
Friday, Sept. 26 ® 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

WS 810 The Woven Hat: You Wove What ? ! ?
Fee $54 (Weaving--no weaving or knitting experience necessary; see above for details)
Friday, Sept. 26 ® 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

WS 827 Beginning Spindling aka I Wanna Spindle
Fee - $55 (Spinning--no experience needed)
Saturday, Sept. 27 ® 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
and a second time, WS 861 Sunday, Sept. 28 ® 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

WS 856 Drop Spindle Ph.D.
Fee - $48 (Spinning - be able to spin a continuous thread)
Sunday, Sept. 28 ® 9:00 am - 12:00 pm


You can see descriptions of these classes in What Workshops Do You Teach?

Would you recommend an Ashford Joy?

Jeannine asked,

I am looking into raising White French Angora Bunnies and White Angora Goats for yarn. I have been looking into spinning wheels for making this mixed yarn. I am thinking I want the Ashford Joy Wheel because it is portable. Its ratios are 6, 8, 12 & 15:1. Do you think these ratios would work for the French Angora Mohair yarn mix?

Thanks for asking, Jeannine!

Now, as readers of my blog know, I love portable wheels. Why haven't I written about the Joy before? Well, because I don't have one ... I'm a tall lady, and the Joy sits just a little low for me. I suppose I was influenced by my local guild -- almost all of them have tried the Ashford Joy for some length of time. Alot of them have them, still -- anyone of average to short height. The tall ladies either sell them on, or don't buy them to begin with.

I've been giving that some thought, since Jeannine's question came in a few days ago, and I wonder about it. After all, my pocket wheel sits very low -- I may even sit so I can't see the orifice, just the fiber in my hands and yarn just in front of my hand. I admit, it made me feel a little insecure. But then I realized the yarn was just as good. It was definitely a "Look Ma, No Hands!" kind of moment. So, perhaps personal height is not really an issue.

So, my friends with a Joy ... love its bag: Beth packs in a ton of fiber, so she never runs out at Spin-Ins; Melissa stuffs in bobbins galore; and Kym has personalized hers with a patch or three (or was that Mikie's?)

Melissa has a very early Ashford Joy. She's had it a long time, and takes it everywhere. Her stay-at-home wheel is a Schacht Matchless, so you know she likes good wheels! Recently, the Joy kept popping off its bobbins -- the flyer wouldn't stay screwed in place. She called the USA distributor, who conveniently lives about an hour away. And I went with her ("road trip!") when she took it in for repair. It was repaired in about 2 hours, we had a nice lunch-and-shop around Bainbridge, and then we took it home.

Melissa has spun for years on her wheel -- always without a WooLee Winder. Recently she's taken to one of those, and does enjoy it (it had nothing to do with the other problem, as the WW came after). I would let you know, though, that Ashford USA doesn't recommend them with the Joy, because of the additional weight. Nathan Lee has engineered the Joy WW to be as lightweight as possible, but it's still heavier than the normal flyer.

On the other hand, Kym's had a WW on her Joy for many years, and not had any issues.

The Joy comes in Single Treadle and Double Treadle configurations. The Single has a nice treadle, so you can put both feet on it and "ride tandem" (or would that be sidesaddle? If I rode sidesaddle, the horse would be forever going to the left...)

Now about fiber, I'll be honest with Jeannine and everyone else who has read this far. Angora and Mohair? Wow. That will be one slippery combination! My first hat was a 2-ply of Romney and Mohair, with a little 2-ply Angora band in it. Spun on: a hooky stick, a CD spindle, a Mongold spindle, and a Louet S-10. The Louet S-10 is not an easy wheel to spin slippery fibers on -- its Irish Tension pulls the fiber in fairly strongly; you can lace across the bobbin to decrease the pull, but beginners don't generally know that. I didn't. In fact, the Angora at that time was spun just on the hooky stick. I think I realized that, as a beginner, the Angora was going to be really tough for me.

The Joy has Scotch Tension, which can be adjusted minutely to allow for minimal draw-in ... a necessity with slippery fibers. For me, personally, the ratios are a little limited, but I love to spin fast. There is a lady I know who spins lovely laceweight cashmere on her Ashford Joy, using 12:1 for the singles and 8:1 to ply. If you want to get technical (but who does), then you want to look at what thickness of yarn you want to spin, how much twist per inch it might need (here's a great table of WPI/TPI match-ups for basic knitting yarns), and how long a length you're likely to draft at a time.

For example ... my draft with that combination might be about 4 inches (probably less at the start!) If I'm shooting for a DK (14-15wpi) 2-ply, they recommend 3 tpi (which honestly seems a little low, to me). That means the singles will be about 21-25 wpi, and would need about 4.5 tpi. So, my 4 inches of drafted out fiber needs 18 twists in it -- or, at 12:1, 1-and-a-half treadles. Not too bad.

The Joy has ball bearings in all the right places, so its treadle action is smooth and easy. It would be a suitable wheel for many uses. In fact, my local Joy-owning friends spin pretty much the full gamut -- fine high-twist weaving yarns, thick low-twist knitting yarns, art yarns, singles, 2-ply, wool, llama, wool/silk blends, and I bet some angora and mohair along the way, too. Melissa isn't the only one to pair the Joy with a Schacht Matchless; Kym does, too. Beth has some Ashford Traditionals as well, as she teaches and is a wonderful local enabler. I believe Mikie has just the Ashford Joy -- she's tried a few others along the way, and this suits her spinning and lifestyle as an "only" wheel.

So, in conclusion ... the Ashford Joy is a very portable wheel, and would spin your fiber combination just fine. For finer yarns, you may find yourself treadling alot or drafting more slowly to ensure enough twist -- but it's hard to find a wheel with a ratio above 18:1, especially a portable wheel.

If you are shopping around wheel brands, The Woolery has a very nicely done wheel comparison and another that focuses on several folding wheel. I expect their focus is on wheels they carry -- so the SpinOlution Mach 1, the Journey Wheel, the Pocket Wheel, and others may not show up there. The Fall 2008 issue of Spin-Off (appearing soon!) contains a big wheel review section covering many wheels. Spin-List on Yahoo is a good resource for wheel information, if you like searching archives; Ravelry's Spinner Central is another good place, as well as the wheel-specific groups that abound there.

If you've fallen in love with the look of the Joy, then go for it! Enjoying how your wheel looks and feels is as much a part of the process as ensuring it's suitable for the fiber you intend to throw at it and the yarn you want to take off of it afterwards.