For our February meeting we worked on carding the fleeces that Donna won for the guild at the Spin In Fundraising Event this fall. Two of the fleeces were cleaned and bagged in small amounts for guild members to work with; the third was bagged dirty (my cats really think I brought home a present for them.) The last fleece – a Romney – was at home with Carol, so there is still fleece available to work with if you missed the meeting!! 

Members who have drum carders bought them in an...

Continue reading ...

Spindle and Dyepot Guild was featured in a story written by the Spinning Daily E- magazine. We also made it on the Spin-off Facebook page. Check out the story at  http://www.spinningdaily.com/blogs/connection/archive/2012/06/29/spinning-guilds-share-their-craft-at-county-fairs.aspx

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SpinOffMag

Continue reading ...

Helpful Tips
Source: Handspinners' Tipbook: Spinning, Knitting, Weaving, Dying
 Compiled by the members of the Spindle and Dyepot Guild, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

-Hand spun singles sometimes cause knitted fabric to "bias". To prevent a knitted piece from going on the slant when doing stockinette stitch-- knit into the back of each stitch in the knit row. ( If using circular needles, do this every other row.

-To avoid static cling in your fiber ( like mohair and angora ) put them in the freezer for aw...
Continue reading ...

Interested members received about 2 ounces of Teeswater fleece we purchased from Susan McFarland. It had been washed. Members were to work with the fleece * prepare it and spin it and hopefully make something using it.  Everyone agreed it was soft and lustrous. It is a very long staple and seemed to work best combing it. One member did use a drum carder and had no problem because of the long staple, but she was not able to spin it very fine. There does seem to be a lot of waste when it is com...
Continue reading ...