Yarnspinners Tales's Podcast

Latest Episodes:

YST Episode 156 Drafting Jan 08, 2019

Show notes

Happy New Year! It is always full of thoughts and plans for the spinning projects ahead. In today's podcast I talk about maintaining watch on the drafting zone to make your yarn more intentional. Watching the drafting zone will help you break out of making the same WPI yarn all the time to making art yarns that feature thick and thin singles. All of this is the topic of this podcast.

I have done previous podcasts on drafting if you care to find those and listen to them. Just click on the links to go to them. Episode 26 (woolen and worsted spinning) episode 40 (spinning intentional yarn) and episode 67 (woolen spinning).

Links to things I also mention in the podcast are:

Book of Days, something I came across while looking up distaff day.

Fellviewfibres

The source of the punis I spun, made from wool and silk.

The videos I viewed while researching spinning thick and thin can be found on Youtube by searching the topic.

YST Episode 155 Stitches Midwest Oct 09, 2018

Show notes

Links to vendors mentioned in the podcast:

Stitches events in general Atlanta Ga event May 30-June 2 2019 Stitches United is on that page too.

Youghiogheny Yarns Keri Fosbrink dyer

Fiberlady bamboo fiber

Buffalo Wool Co Buffalo wool yarn and fiber

Franklin Habit

Shirsty Cat Designs Merino silk fiber

2 Guys Yarn Company

Soak Flatter spray

Lost City knits Denise Bell Applecross Highland shawl Ravelry pattern

Knitted Knockers

knitbahpurl

Stevenbe

Vintage Lace book by Gladys Amedro

The video blogger I mentioned is Quayln Stark and he blogs on youtube. The stitches midwest podcast can be found here

I talk about a fiber processor but failed to mention the name. The farm business is called Alpaca Pines and their website can be found here.

There was a what I called a wood ball winder that I was unable to find online to show you. I have found out since that this item has another use, which is to hold the ball of yarn wound on to it as you knit. So the concept for it I think is to wind the yarn on it from a skein and then let it sit near you as you knit, it will rotate release the yarn. No balls of yarn rolling away from you.

I was not able to find any 1500 yard one dye lot skeins of yarn online, like I saw in the market. I think this concept is a custom dye project, so if interested contact your favorite dyer, see if they can purchase the yarn in the large skein and dye it for you.

YST Episode 154 Sep 04, 2018

Show notes

In this discussion of what I did during the 2018 Tour de Fleece, I talk about the wool breed Zwartbles, spinning buffalo fiber on a drop spindle and finally a very rare breed of wool, Dor Galen.

The buffalo fiber was included in the Clouds of Luxury from the Etsy store Sericin

The Dor Galen fiber was purchased at a fiber festival several years ago from Sandy Ferguson's Dyed in the Wool

Dor Galen is no longer available, the horned dorset at the bottom of the above linked page is probably a good close substitute.

YST Episode 153 TdF2018 Part 1 Aug 18, 2018

Show notes

My favorite time of the spinning year, the Tour de Fleece event. As promised, here is the review of what I spun this year.

This is part one of the two part podcast.

A few links. To see photos of all of the lovely fibers and yarns I talked about, go to my group in Ravelry, yarnspinners spin in and look at the TdF2018 thread in the discussions. You must be signed into Ravelry for the link to work.

Links to the fiber artists whose fiber I spun and talked about are:

A Star is Shorn the Etsy store. I spun a superwash merino

Fellview Fibres the source of the wool/silk rolags I spun for the first challenge day.

YST Episode 152 Jul 05, 2018

Show notes

When I find that a podcast has no specific topic, but many different stories, I call them a spin-in. I also likened this to writing you a letter, dear listener! But mostly it feels like when we gather together with our spinning wheels and spin and talk. One never really knows what the conversations will be.

I catch you up on my recent projects, spinning and otherwise, tell you about a few things I read online, rant a bit about books and bookcases, and end with the promise of lots of spinning to come as I participate in this years TdF on Ravelry.

I took time to update the episode list last month, so if you want to find a specific topic in a podcast, check out that list. It will show the date the podcast was released. Use that date to find the podcast in the archives on this website.

Updated Episode Listing Jun 28, 2018

Show notes

Epi # Topic Date

1 Using Combs/Shetland 10/28/07 2 Spin In General Chatter 11/13/07 3 Raising Angora Rabbits 12/01/07 4 Christmas music only 12/16/07 5 Spinning Angora 01/18/08 6 Border Leicester and BFL 02/02/08 7 Skirting a Shetland Fleece 02/16/08 8 Cheviot and Corriedale 03/02/08 9 Washing a fleece 04/02/08 10 Finn and Perendale 04/22/08 11 Book reviews 05/09/08 12 Cotton Dyeing part 1 Chemical 05/30/08 13 Cotton dyeing part 2 Natural 06/01/08 14 Cormo and Montadale 06/20/08 15 Cotton prep and spinning 07/08/08 16 Romney and Targhee 07/31/08 17 Andean Ply, Fleece Picking 08/17/08 Spinning Bulky yarn 18 CVM and Maine Island Sheep 09/01/08 19 Wheels and how they work 09/16/08 20 Navajo Churro and Jacob 09/30/08 21 Felting a fleece, faking pelts 10/27/08 22 Alpaca 10/31/08 23 Drop Spindles 12/20/08 24 Spinning and Dyeing Silk 01/25/09 25 Cashgora 01/31/09 26 Woolen vs Worsted spinning 02/15/09 27 Tunis and Karakul 03/14/09 28 Dyeing wool Discolored fleece 03/30/09 29 Spaelsau and Icelandic 04/23/09 30 Plying 04/30/09 31 Bamboo and tencel 05/16/09 32 Silk, Soy and Milk fibers 06/01/09 33 Dog hair,Spinning DesignerYarn 06/22/09 Review of Intentional Spinner 34 Carding and Blending fibers 07/07/09 35 Angora rabbits and the heat 07/31/09 Washing alpaca fiber 36 Spinning with a Charkha 08/21/09 37 Southdown,Polworth 09/13/09 Setting up a wheel to spin 38 Selecting a wool fleece 10/10/09 39 Selecting non wool fiber,storing fiber An original ghost story 10/24/09 40 Spinning for a specific yarn 11/21/09 41 Discussing grist 11/29/09 42 Changing yarn size by adjusting 12/18/09 tension 43 Spinners block unlocking creative 01/20/10 juices 44 Fiber Fairs 04/05/10 45 Coopworth and Polypay 04/18/10 46 Spinning tools 05/08/10 47 Natural Dyeing book reviews 05/31/10 48 Planning a dye day 06/22/10 49 Carbonized bamboo TdF 07/12/10 history of wheels I own 50 Saran Wrap dyeing 08/14/10 51 Dyeing for specific colors 08/28/10 tertiary color study 52 Natural dyeing with walnut leaves 09/28/10 53 Front porch spinning Creativity 10/23/10 54 Color Theory with digitaldurga 11/10/10 55 Color Theory part 2 11/10/10 56 Blending the Tertiary colors 01/10/11 57 Blending Hackle 01/29/11 58 Types of Fiber combs 02/14/11 59 Washing and combing 5 breeds 02/28/11 60 Spinners' single study 04/07/11 Forsyth product review 61 A new Wheel Majacraft Aura 05/07011 62 Black Welsh Mountain Clun Forest 05/17/11 63 Lock and fold spinning 06/02/11 64 Oogie McGuire interview BWM breed 07/22/11 65 A podcast for knitters who want to 08/20/11 become spinners 66 Learning the Aura and beaded yarn 08/21/11 67 Spinning Woolen 10/05/11 Special Episode Happy fourth Year YST 10/15/11 Promo podcast for The Spinners Journal 11/05/11 68 Interviews with two scholar spinners 11/16/11 69 Leicester longwool, lincoln longwool 01/07/12 spinning DVD review and Stitches East 70 Drum Carding projects 02/21/12 71 Digital Sheep 03/31/12 72 Support Spindles 04/28/12 73 Chatting with Fiber folks 05/26/12 74 Let the Spinning Begin 07/02/12 Tour de fleece 2012 75 The Wheel Keeps Spinning TdF12 07/05/12 76 Listen to your inner spinner TdF12 07/08/12 77 Is it rest day yet? TdF12 07/11/12 78 Two types of plying TdF12 07/15/12 79 How the fiber speaks to me TdF12 07/18/12 80 Fractal spinning and finished yarn 08/02/12 81 The finish line TdF12 08/07/12 82 California Red and combing CVM 08/16/12 83 Ryeland and Salish 09/17/12 84 Positive Spin YST on Stash naming 10/05/12 85 Five year anniversary podcast 10/31/12 86 Katahdan review and porch spin in 12/10/12 87 A Fresh Start Review of 2012 spinning 12/31/12 88 Exchanges, an angora spinning 01/27/13 exchange 89 Thin, thinner, thinnest, a froghair 02/04/13 spinning exchange 90 Plying with commercial yarns 03/16/13 91 The more I teach, the more I learn 04/26/13 92 Chain plying (navajo plying) 05/31/12 93 Preparing for TdF 2013 06/25/13 94 TdF13 day 1 and 2 07/02/13 95 TdF13 days 3 thru 5 07/06/13 96 TdF13 days 6 thru 9 07/09/13 97 TdF13 traveling with baby 07/19/13 98 TdF13 final report 07/30/13 99 Book Review Hand Designs for 09/09/13 Spinners and Knitters 100 Finishing yarn 10/20/13 101 Machine Washing alpaca 01/11/14 102 Spinning alpaca 01/30/14 103 Norfolk Horn 02/11/14 104 White faced Woodland 02/14/14 105 Portland fiber 02/18/14 106 Ravellenic spinning 02/22/14 107 Manx Loaghton and Hill Radnor 03/16/14 108 Dyeing Alpaca 04/24/14 109 Greencastle Fiber event 06/02/14 110 Ky Sheep and Wool Festival 06/25/14 111 Preparing for TdF14 07/09/14 112 TdF14 Team Painted Tiger 07/16/14 113 TdF14 Team Majacraft 07/21/14 114 TdF14 Team Farm Fiber Marketplace 07/26/14 115 TdF14 Team Support Spindlers 07/31/14 116 TdF14 Final recap 08/10/14 117 A Wool Gathering Yellow Springs Ohio 10/04/14 118 Spinailla 2014 11/07/14 119 Fortutous fleeces 11/27/14 Interview with Digitaldurga 120 Roc Day 2015 01/07/15 121 Wool Wash review interview with 02/03/15 Natalie Redding 122 Review of Norman Kennedy's DVD 03/26/15 123 Alpaca in the dyepots 05/16/15 124 Spin In General Chatter 06/30/15 125 TdF15 part 1 07/15/15 126 TdF15 part 2 07/23/15 127 TdF15 final update 08/03/15 128 Washing handspun yarn 09/13/15 129 Spinzilla 2015 Ashford spinning quill 10/22/15 130 This, that and daydreams spin in chat 11/26/15 131 New Year, New spinning 01/07/16 132 A Hand spun hat and a mystery yarn 02/17/16 133 Review of Craftsy, and more knitting 03/30/16 with hand spun yarn 134 Fiber purchases, state fair prep and 06/15/16 Tdf spinning plans 135 Pre TdF and a swap 07/03/16 136 TdF16 podcast 1 08/01/16 137 TdF16 podcast 2 08/15/16 138 TdF16 podcast 3 08/27/16 139 Ravellenics 2016 and State Fair 09/27/16 140 Spinzilla and Natural Dye mordants 12/02/16 141 Spinning New Year's resolutions 02/02/17 Book review Yarn.i.tec.ture A Spinning Sabatical 03/10/17 142 Life Changes,Why Worry? 06/16/17 A conversation with my daughter 143 Counting Treadles for even plying 07/03/17 144 Dyeing with Lichens part 1 07/14/17 145 Dyeing with Lichens part 2 08/19/17 146 Spindle Crane review 10/01/17 147 Spinzilla 2017 Recap 11/02/17 148 Dyeing with Lichens part 3 11/21/17 149 Ten Years of Podcasting 01/25/18 150 Ravellenics 2018 03/28/18 151 Episode 151 Fiber Fairs 04/20/18

YST Episode 151 Apr 20, 2018

Show notes

Ahhh, tis the season of freshly shorn fleeces. But what if your cupboard is already full?

If you have an answer, come to the Ravelry group and search for Yanrspinnerstales spin in. Join us there for the conversation.

A nice solution to at least organizing your fleece project is The Spinners Journal, a daily spinning book I created to sell. Your purchase supports the archiving of my past podcasts. Thank-You!

YST Episode 150 Ravellenics 2018 Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

Ravellenics, for those that haven't heard the term, is an event hosted on Ravelry during the Olympics. There are events you can enter projects, and win digital medals. The rules state you start at the opening ceremony and finish by the closing ceremony.

I have done this many years now, every two years. Most years I do a spinning project, but the last two times I have done knitting projects with hand spun yarn.

This podcast talks about three of this years projects for Ravellenics, two completed and one still in progress.

YST Episode 149 Ten Years of Podcasting Jan 25, 2018

Show notes

It's true, I have been podcasting for 10 years now!

In the first part of today's podcast, I review the book The Weaving,Spinning and Dyeing book by Rachel Brown.

In the second part I give a little bit of the download statistics for the podcast, some listener's comments about spinning in their lives over the last 10 years, and my favorite and least favorite parts of spinning.

I was able to include music with this podcast, thanks for the website Free Music Archive. They have an archive on non traditional birthday music and I pulled the following songs from that:

Another year older by Jazzy-J

Singing Happy Birthday to you by BackyardMusic

It must be somebody's birthday by The Pendulum Swings

I mention a breed sampler shawl made by one listener, the pattern is The Dimpsey Shawl on Ravelry (you will have to be signed into Ravelry for the link to work)

Finally go you my blog and see the medal from Feedspot, for being named number nine in the top spinning podcasts!

Looking for the Spinners Journal? It's here at lulu.com. Thanks for supporting this podcast, with your purchase, and listening.

In top twenty spinning podcasts! Jan 11, 2018

Show notes

Who knew there were so many spinning podcasts! I have the pleasure of being listed number 9.