In this podcast, I talk about what I learned about cotton and spinning cotton in a class at SAFF this year. I also had the chance to do some fiber and fleece shopping, and talk about that experience. I mentioned that I would list the four currently grown species of cotton plants and their details. Gossypium hirsutum Known as upland cotton and native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Southern Florida. This species accounts for 90% of commercial cotton grown. Gossypium barbadense Known...
Dec 04, 2021•39 min•Ep. 189
A short podcast talking about the last five skeins in the yarn wash up, and my recent spinning. I mention fiber from a Phatt fiber box, they can be found here . The other fiber I have been spinning awhile is from Hobby Lobby. I finally looked it up online and can provide a link. I am spinning Yarn Bee Showstopper in the Winter Solstice colorway....
Sep 26, 2021•25 min•Ep. 188
After I spin a skein of yarn, it needs to be washed. I put this off until I have enough to take several days of washing. I also talk about doing a burn test on fiber to determine the fiber content. One was a very big surprise! The flow chart I was using for this burn test can be found here. My pack of luxury fibers contained white angora and it is shown on the Nano spinning wheel in the photo with this podcast. The pack of fibers came from Sericin Silk Etsy store....
Sep 18, 2021•38 min•Ep. 187
This podcast is for the week of Sept 5th, and talks about prepping cormo fiber for the dyepot, and spinning a merino silk bamboo blend. I also refer to two past podcasts so here are the links: Episode 38 talks about buying a fleece. Episode 39 talks about buying non wool fibers and how to store all fibers. Also the ghost story that I wrote is at the end of this episode. The fiber I was spinning was from Wooliebullie . Right now the Etsy store is only selling art batts, and hand knitted items....
Sep 11, 2021•33 min•Ep. 186
A catch up podcast talking about Stashdash, the state fair and a black and white Shetland fleece. Stashdash is a challenge created by the podcast TheKnitGirlls. The young spinner I mention in the state fair has grown up and now has her own fiber business at Cedar Ridge Fiber Farm . If you would like to see the daily streams I did during Tour de Fleece, they are archived here. I am still uploading those, but all will be there soon. My current streams can be found at Yarnspinnerstales on Twitch.TV...
Sep 04, 2021•29 min•Ep. 185
Just a brief note to fill those of you that haven't heard of my Mom's illness. I have to stop the podcast for awhile, as I spend time with her.
Jul 26, 2021•5 min
A tiny but perfectly acceptable spinning wheel is being 3D printed by Dreaming Robots. I have the smaller version called the Nano and I talk about it in this podcast. I purchased it at the Hoosier Hill fiber fair at the booth for Susan's fiber shop . I referenced the book Big Book of Handspinning by Alden Amos. This is just one source for the book....
Jul 23, 2021•27 min•Ep. 184
The podcasts will have a new format starting with this one. The good news is they will be more frequent, and the maybe or maybe not bad news is they will be shorter. For years I have been using this podcast to teach many things about the spinning of yarn. Those are available on the website by checking under archives. There is even listings of the episode topics to find specific podcasts. With the future podcasts, I will be sharing my experiences and stories of working with fiber everyday. These ...
Jul 20, 2021•19 min•Ep. 183
Podcasting for me is on the back burner at this time. I plan to return with the Tour de Fleece in July 2021.
Mar 24, 2021•4 min
Last podcast of 2020 and maybe the last breed reviews I do for awhile. It is time to move forward into other areas of spinning and the new year seems a good time to start. The breeds reviewed today are Llanowag and Lleyn. The fiber was part of a Welsh breed study pack from Wychwood Spinners This podcast was created from the audio of a livestream I did when I reviewed these fibers. It is different than my normal podcasting, but I think the addition of the actual sounds of processing and spinning ...
Dec 30, 2020•59 min•Ep. 182
In the last two podcasts, for some reason I said the livestreams were archived on Facebook, which is not true. I didn't even catch it as I was editing. Instead of the tedious process of edit and releasing the episodes, I decided to record this separate little audio. The livestreams originate on Twitch.TV under Yarnspinnerstales The videos will stay there for a month to six weeks, if you do not catch me when I am live streaming. After that, the videos are archived to you tube. Once you go to you ...
Oct 30, 2020•4 min
The Hebridean sheep have long dual coated wool in various colors. I used my study to not only spin the fiber but to show on live stream how to separate the two coats. The fiber was purchased from Wychwood Spinner Etsy shop. A short video on Twitch.tv show how to pull for long tog from the short thel using this fiber....
Oct 29, 2020•19 min•Ep. 181
First up in the podcast is a report on my study of the Lonk Sheep Breed. It's short so I went on to talk about all the spinning projects I have currently going that involve the Merino Breed. Later, I will do a more complete breed study for that breed. Finally, I talk about the second Tour de Fleece that ran from Aug 26th to Sept 20th, and what I spun during that time. Lonk fiber was purchased from Wychwood Spinner Superwash merino that I spun into sock yarn was purchased from Yarn Hollow. Sadly,...
Oct 29, 2020•36 min•Ep. 180
In this unusual year, even the Tour de Fleece was affected. The Tour de France did not run in July as usual, but was celebrated on Ravelry anyway. Then when the Tour did ride in Sept, we did it again. This podcast is about what I spun and learned during the first Tour. I also included the breed review for Yak fiber, since spinning it was one of my challenge day projects. The Yak fiber was purchased from Laughing Lamb fibers. If you are looking for my live stream, it is on Twitch.tv Need a way to...
Sep 12, 2020•50 min•Ep. 179
The Coopworth Sheep breed is a relatively new breed, as sheep breeds go. The sample I worked with was from a lamb and contained long lovely locks. I cover in this podcast how to wash and spin locks, and the specifics of this sampling. Information on the Breed is from the Fleece and Fiber Source Book. Another book I mention is Merino by Margaret Stove. Previously I reviewed Coopworth in Episode 45 . I have also done a live stream on washing locks. In the second part of this live stream, I show ho...
Aug 20, 2020•37 min•Ep. 178
A new computer meant a whole new learning curve on new software to record and edit podcasts. I think I finally have a set up I am happy to release. In this short podcast, I review one of the 52 weeks of sheep breeds, called Ryeland. I talked about this breed in the first part of a previous podcast, you can access that with this link. The Ryeland fiber was purchased from Marie Redding fibe r on Etsy....
Aug 12, 2020•23 min•Ep. 177
So much behind that title! I am not stopping the audio podcast. I am moving forward on the wave of technology and taking my concept for YST with it. I have set up a channel on TwitchTV You can find me under the same name as the podcast, yarnspinnerstales. I plan to live stream twice a week and during those videos you can join me, chat by typing, watch in the video what I am working on (and have been trying to explain with words for 12 years in the podcast!) ask me questions,tell me what you are ...
Jul 07, 2020•13 min
The breed White Face Woodland was studied by the 52 weeks of sheep group on week 14. Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain a sample of this fiber yet. But this breed is not new to me, I reviewed it way back on Feb15 2014. It is Episode 104 and I encourage you to hit the link and listen to it again. The picture I show with this podcast are the tiny skeins I did during that first study. The fiber came from Hilltop Cloud. In the second part of this podcast I talk about doing a virtual shopping tour...
Jul 02, 2020•21 min•Ep. 176
This breed review, second of the three I did at the same time, covers the Shropshire breed, another Down breed from the British Isles. I had two sources of the fiber. The first, a small sample, came from Wychwood Spinner . The second was from Marie Redding Fiber Arts Etsy store. The samples were completely different, so I combined them into one yarn, a tail spun yarn to display the lovely long locks in the Marie Redding sample. I mention the book The Spinners Book of Yarn Designs , as a source f...
Jul 02, 2020•36 min•Ep. 175
For this month, I am releasing three shorter podcasts, all reviewing sheep breeds. These do not ave to be listened to in any specific order, it was just how I recorded and edited these. The sample I used to review the fiber was part of a Down Breed study from Wychwood Spinner . I also refer to the book The Fleece and Fiber Source Book by Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson. This breed was studied by the group 52 weeks of sheep on week 12....
Jul 02, 2020•19 min•Ep. 174
The sheep breed for this podcast was new to me, after all my years of reviewing. The Gulf Coast Native was raised long ago for it's tolerance to the conditions of the deep US south regions. But it lost it's favored position, and is now on the critical list of sheep breeds. The group 52 weeks of sheep included it this year in it's list to study. I purchased my fiber sample from Herie7 in the Etsy store . I also spend some time talking about washing fleeces that are very dirty. Beside the dish det...
Jun 19, 2020•42 min•Ep. 173
This podcast is a review of spinning the fibers from two Welsh sheep breeds. The Black Welsh Mountain is commonly known in the US, but it considered a conservation breed, due to it's small number of animals. The Welsh mountain sheep is white, and not raised much in the US. I had reviewed the BWM breed in several previous podcasts, so I will provide links to those. Episode 62 is a review of the breed's fiber Episode 64 is an interview with a BWM breeder Oogie McGuire. Her ranch is call Desert Wey...
May 16, 2020•42 min•Ep. 172
This is another short breed review podcast. The East Fresian fiber I spun was a lovely brown color and very easy to spin in roving. There is a short information portion included at the end for a breed of hair sheep called Barbados Blackbelly. Unfortunately I have not been able to get a fiber sample yet for this Shave 'Em to Save 'Em passport breed. But the group 52 weeks of sheep had it on the list for week 8, which is part of this podcast timing. If I ever have the chance to spin some of the fi...
May 01, 2020•22 min•Ep. 171
This is the first of a series of sheep breed fleece reviews. Today's episode is about the Cheviot sheep. I was able to spin sample from two different families of this sheep, the Classic Cheviot from the US farm Yucca Farm. I was not able to find a web link for them on Google. The Brecknock Hill Cheviot sample came from Wychwood Spinner. It was part of a Welsh Experience sampler pack. I previously reviewed this breed in Episode 8 of this podcast, if you would like to listen to that also....
Apr 25, 2020•26 min•Ep. 170
Today's podcast includes an interview with Deborah Niemann, who has the wonderful job of working for the Livestock Conservancy organization. In our interview, she shares all the details of the next two year program to introduce spinners and fiber artists to the 22 rare and recovering breeds of sheep through the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em program. I recently got the passport that is used to record whenever you use a fiber from one of these breeds and will be talking about working with these fibers in ...
Mar 26, 2020•45 min•Ep. 169
One of my year long projects is being a part of the FaceBook group called 52 Weeks of Sheep. Each week we study a different breed of fiber producing animals, mostly sheep. In this podcast I talk about the last month of those studies, and go into detail on two new to me breeds. Both are French in origin, the Bleu du Maine and the Charollais. One thing I failed to mention in the podcast was after spinning the Charollais fiber, I used for the first time a small sampler loom. It is a fun way to samp...
Feb 29, 2020•59 min•Ep. 168
Happy New Year! 2020 oh my. I start out this podcast with a yarnspinnerstales, about seeing life with perfect vision. And speaking of new, Santa brought a brand new mic set up for the YST studio. It meant a new learning curve, and I think the sound will improve more as I work with it, but all in all I am happy with it. Over the next two years, I am going to revisit and redo my rare breed sample files. It has always been a passion of mine to find and spin as many breeds of sheep as I can. I have ...
Jan 23, 2020•46 min•Ep. 167
The book Spinning Wool beyond the Basics is by Anne Field. This podcast is a review of the book. There are two editions of this book. The first, published in 2010 by Trafalgar Square Publishing is shown here on Ebay. Google book link is here . The second edition was published by A & C Black Publishers. It seems to be the same book and information, although I have not seen an actual copy of the book yet. It is shown in this link at Alibris. I talk about her differentiating between four ways t...
Nov 18, 2019•36 min•Ep. 166
This podcast continues from episode 164, for Oct 2019. I talk about a few problems I had to solve during the Spin Together, with my wheel and spinning. The strange title of this podcast. is all about a major reorganization I did of my fiber. The 100 year shawl along I mention, can be found as a group on Facebook. That is also true of the other group I am in called 52 Weeks of Sheep . One of the breeds this group recently studied was Babydoll Southdown, and I talk some in the podcast about this b...
Nov 03, 2019•51 min•Ep. 165
So much happening on the spinning front for me this month, that I needed two podcasts to talk about it all. So this is the first one, and Episode 165 will continue with more spinning goodness. As promised, some links to people mentioned in the podcast: A lovely squishy package arrived at my house one day full of Baby Doll South down fiber. It was processed and mixed with lovely mohair and a tiny bit of nylon. The ewe's name is Lily and was white. The ram's name is Ray, and is a lovely silver gra...
Oct 29, 2019•54 min
