Thank you! I wasn’t planning on making another video on this, but I did share images of the samples and talk about the differences between the yarns in this blog post - www.craftmehappy.com/2024/08/questionable-blend-number-8-hickory.html

Hi Jen, thank you so much for your lovely kind words. You’re very kind. Love and hugs, Kathryn xXx

There are so many ways of making tweedy heathered yarns, sometimes I will spin from the fold and then chain ply it, other times I will just spin it from the tips, moving side to side to pick up a different colour every so often. For a more blending yarn I will just draft the fibres out a little, or place a length on my blending board and diz it off.

Thank you so much, ah yes, I can appreciate the feeling of just enjoying looking at the yarn you’ve spun. Sometimes it will take me years so to get around to knitting it, but I love looking at it and squishing it while I ponder what to do with it.

Oh I will knit this up one day. I think it will look beautiful alongside several other reds I’ve spun for a V back Tee sweater.

Thank you so much! It is great fun 😀

@@wklilly1 I haven’t got a wooden orifice reducer. I have a resin one that I made myself or you might be thinking of a pretty pottery one I’ve got that was made by @CharanSachar who’s a talented artist who works with both fibre and clay.

@@ginnymaurer2580 Thank you! I chain plied it at the wheel to keep all the colours clean. There’s a close up video of my chain plying technique here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6arepSLmKt6erMsi=uiOeDh2ADaSwSRUo

@@SBlaine0917 Oh bless you, thank you so much! You’re very welcome 😀🥰😊

Hi 👋 The tool is a diz and it’s used by spinners to control the thickness of the fibre as they draft it. A diz is simply any solid shape with a hole in, so it could be a button, or a needle gauge. I’ve used a piping tip before. The tool isn’t particularly clever, I’m just drafting the fibre through the hole and stopping to return it back to the fibre to draft more fibre through it. I never draft beyond the staple length of the fibre which allows me to draft off what appears to be a continuous length.

​@@KathrynCraftmehappy Quite Clever and Could be used as 'Magic Trick'. Perhaps the Twisting of Ends, before you started 'Dizzing' is the Secret 'move'. : } Smooth quick hands ... looks puzzling, but Works. *TOUCHE'!* *Thanks* for answer.

This video is part of my Questionable blends series where I show 4 different ways of spinning the same vertical blend. I did also split the top and spin it from the end which gave me a much more variegated yarn than this one. This method gave me a much more blended yarn with very subtle colour variations. It was also much more open and easier to draft having been pulled through a diz. I really just wanted to show the effect that fibre preparation has on the colours within a multicoloured vertical blend and show spinners how to take better control of the amount of colour blending in the final yarn.

🥰

@@suzannecooke2055 I’ve done that too! It’s very frustrating and it’s the reason I decided to explore various ways of avoiding spinning mud.

Ha, thank you! I do when it comes to playing with colour - I could do that all day.

You’re very welcome. I love sideways drafting. It’s so much kinder on my shoulders.

Hi Jen, Oh bless you, I’m so glad you’ve found my videos helpful! Happy spinning, Kathryn

@@KathrynCraftmehappy Hi Kathryn, I hope you're OK and that you're having a Wonderful Weekend. ✨️🌞🌞 Thankyou so much for your lovely reply. 🔆🙂😊 and for the Heart ♥ Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞 I love watching your videos and reading your Blog that goes with them. 🌞🙂🙂 Thankyou for sharing your expertise, your videos and your Blog, they're all very much appreciated. ✨️🌞🔆🌟😊 Happy Spinning Fibre Friend 🎡🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑

Thank you so much! 🥰

Thank you!!

Oh wow, thank you so much! 🥰

Oh you’re very welcome! Thank you so much for your lovely kind words.

Bless your heart, thank you so much for your lovely kind words. Playing with colour and fibre really is the best kind of therapy. 🥰

Thank you so much for your lovely kind words! I’m a sideways drafter and I normally spin with the wheel to my side, perpendicular to my knee. As I find it painful to turn my neck to look at the bobbin I had to find another way to remind me to move the yarn guides. As necessity is the mother of invention, I came up with using an interval timer, and I found it gives me lovely neat bobbins too. 😀

@@lindaxiangwang559 some people save them up and put them on a drum carder with longer fibres to spin art yarns. I tend to either use them for needle felting or I wait until I have a lot and spin core-spun yarns with them. In the past, I’ve also used them to stuff toys or quilted squares.

Thank you! Be sure to check out the blog post about this as I show my updated version showing how I made a top for it to allow me to squeeze a lot more fibre on. I still use this all the time and it’s brilliant for finer fibres like merino and bamboo.

Awesome! I just read through it, thank you for sharing!! This is definitely in my future to do list❤

Oh bless you, thank you so much 😊 have fun blending and experimenting.

Oh thank you again for taking the time to leave a beautiful comment. It means a lot to me. I’ve always struggled to be ‘free’ with my creativity so this methodical approach really appeals to me and taps into my strengths.

@@KathrynCraftmehappy Hi Kathryn, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for the Heart ♥ Sending Heart ♥ back to you ❤️💞 I completely understand what you mean about your creativity being "free". I'm exactly the same. You know what you want to do, but actually doing it is where we run into "Freeing " our images that is the hardest part. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who has this kind of problem .🤔🤔🤔 Thankyou so much for sharing your videos and your expertise , they're all very much appreciated. ✨️🌞🌟😊 Happy Spinning Fibre Friend 🎡🐑🥰 Take care and stay safe Lots of love and Huge Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐑🐑

@@oppositeofh8 thank you!☺️

@@zoedoodle9824 oh thank you, I really appreciate that 🥰

@@nblmqst1167 oh bless you, you’re very welcome 😊 ♥️

Oh that’s wonderful to hear. I’ve been spinning for over 30 years but it’s only in this last year that I’ve made more of an effort to find a position to spin long-draw that doesn’t strain my shoulder. I recommend practicing just a little every day and soon it will become muscle memory. I can’t spin from the fold now without it turning into long-draw.

@@KathrynCraftmehappy I will stick with it. I just purchased some John Arbon fibre which you highlighted in one of your other videos. I'll use your demonstration to guide me. Thank you so much for your shared wisdom. 🤩

Oh thank you so much for leaving a lovely comment. It means a lot to me. I’ve turned rainbows into mud before myself which is what inspired me to find the best ways of spinning these multi-coloured tops. I do find that spinning is especially relaxing for the ADHD brain. There seems to be a lot of us in the spinning world 😀

I’m so glad you think so!

Thank you! Well, as it took me quite a while to spin 6 bobbins, most of the singles were rested for several days, but one bobbin would only have been rested over-night. I didn't measure the plied yarn this time but when I've done this previously, I lost about 11% in length through plying. I wrote quite a detailed post about this when I was testing the Yarn Counter for Maurice here - www.craftmehappy.com/2021/06/using-electric-eel-wheel-yarn-counter.html.

@@KathrynCraftmehappy thank you, I should have looked into your blog myself, it is a treasure-trove after all!

@@lovestoswatch2694 Oh bless you, thank you!

I don’t have any videos like that but I recommend taking a look at @JillianEve’s channel. She has a playlist for absolute beginners and informative videos on regular drop spindles and Turkish spindles - (my favourite is the Turkish spindle but I only turned to drop spindles after spinning solely on wheels and e-spinners for 25 years. Many people find it easier to learn on an e-spinner or treadle wheel, but a drop spindle is obviously the cheapest option.) A lot of new spinners are able to find a cheap spinning wheel on Facebook marketplace but I would always recommend seeing it in person. Sadly there are a lot of scammers claiming to sell spinning wheels that they don’t own… there are also a lot of ‘spinning wheel shaped objects’ that were only ever built to be decorative so you need to exercise caution. Buying a second hand Ashford wheel is a good starter wheel as they’re fairly beginner friendly, more affordable, and the parts are pretty easy to get hold of. As for e-spinners. The Dreaming Robots Electric Eel Wheels are the most affordable spinning wheels, treadle or otherwise. The current Nano 2.0 is the smallest and cheapest wheel around but I would recommend waiting a little while for the future Nano 2.1 as it will have a couple of features which will make it a lot more beginner friendly. The Electric Eel Wheel 6.1 is much bigger than the Nano and is much more versatile. It’s very easy to ‘grow out’ of the Nano but only a tiny number of high-speed long draw spinners grow out of the Electric Eel Wheel 6.1 I love the Electric Eel Wheels, but I am very biased!

Oh I’m sorry. This was chain-plied at the wheel to try to keep the colours as clean and fresh as possible.

Thank you so much!

I’ve actually started using it like this and, as you say, it does give me the best of both worlds. There doesn’t seem to be any issues with the difference in weights.

Thank you! This method will result in a more blended yarn. If you’re looking to get more colour variations but also want to find an easier way to spin from rolags it often helps to draft them out by hand first to open up the fibres. This gives you a kind of pencil roving which is quite a bit easier to spin from.

You’re very welcome!

Thank you!☺️

Yes, the instructions say not to, but as long as you wind on neatly and don’t go past the ends of the bobbins it works well. You can read about the threads I used here - www.craftmehappy.com/2023/10/refilling-kumikreator-bobbins-and.html

Thank you for your feedback. I agree, it is a little confusing that I’m demonstrating a different ratio than the one earlier highlighted. That is a fair criticism. This video was more about demonstrating my blending technique and sharing how to read the graph. I have actually shown my work in a separate blog post and you can read more about the process here - www.craftmehappy.com/2022/01/linear-blending-wool-gradient.html It just wasn’t possible to convey my whole technique in a video and have people still want to watch it till the end 😂 The whole point of my linear blending technique is that it makes the maths a whole lot easier, and you can choose to use any number of blends you like and start at whichever point on the graph you like. I’ve learned that a lot of creative people will switch off when you start talking maths and this is a more visual way of breaking down the maths involved in blending a gradient.

@@KathrynCraftmehappy yes i agree about creative types and maths 🤣 and i understand that this is a more visual way of representing the linear blending concept. Good job there BTW; know your audience and all that 👍

Aren’t they beautiful?! I was so pleased with how this yarn turned out 🥰