making yarn on a drop spindle // spinning vlog

[@mattyreed316]

when you said “as if you need a new hobby” i felt that. at the same time this will probably be a new hobby for me

[@minigru.studios]

always too many hobbies to count 😅

[@Abbe1133]

Absolutely want to see you spin that in another video!! I’m in love with spinning now and I REALLY want to try it!! Also I’m in the knitting stage of my fiber arts journey lol. I started out knitting when I was little, started crocheting and forgot how to knit, and now I’m relearning by knitting with the raglan video you have! Next project will be spinning 😋 love the video!!

[@minigru.studios]

I love it so much it’s so meditative!! 🤍 It’s definitely hard to learn the crocheting if you learned knitting first bc it’s the same in my experience 😅 hope you enjoy knitting your raglan & learning how to spin ☺️ thanks for watching!

[@bluewisdomtriforce]

this was the perfect video to show up in my feed, because I have just started learning how to spin, and seeing you start out with the exact same type of issues I did is incredibly validating looking forward to seeing more of your spinning journey

[@minigru.studios]

Yes I agree so much!! I love watching people learn new things as well!! It's like learning a new skill with a friend :) Thanks so much for watching

[@madisonwhittemore10]

girl me starting embroidery then crochet to knitting and now I'm spinning... I don't need new hobbies but I want them hahaha

[@minigru.studios]

yesssss the perfect pipeline 🤭

[@basicoftextile]

very nice video

[@madisonharris9179]

I can't wait to try spinning 😆 I want to learn so I can spin and dye my own yarns🥰 thank you for this video cuz it's inspired me to finally get into it🥰🫶🤗

[@minigru.studios]

definitely give it a shot!! it’s so much fun :) I wanna try out dying next!! thanks for watching 🤍

[@Aardbei1911]

loved this video! i actually recently got a spindle from my aunt who was getting rid of it + some roving to practice with but its been really intimidating! seeing you makes me want to start :)

[@minigru.studios]

no way!!! passed down supplies are the best :) good luck on the start of your spinning journey 🤍 thanks for watching!

[@faradayfarm4800]

Look up plying. That is how you deal with the twist. Your first tries are looking good!

[@esc-uj3vd]

Yesss dordy! love having both of your spinning vids to watch now :) I tried to learn to spin in march but since then I haven't found the time to continue...this makes me want to try again

[@minigru.studios]

Yes definitely give it another shot :) it's a learning curve but a lot of it is building muscle memory!

[@irenemarie9399]

Love this vidio

[@mistrzu2001]

i really want to try spinning

[@minigru.studios]

definitely give it a shot! :)

[@simplyknitw.croshaay]

Yes more spinning videos!!!!!!

[@minigru.studios]

will do :))) it's so much fun!

[@anamendoza1157]

Hi I know I’m a little late to this video but if you wanted to card the fibers again you can use 2 dog slicker brushes and make rolags and spin from them too

[@minigru.studios]

I have heard this as well! do you have a brand that you recommend! :)

[@Kaylabarss]

Thanks for the video! I just got a spindle and fleece to spin but I needed to build up the courage to go for it. I think I’m ready to dive in now. Thank you!

[@minigru.studios]

You got this!! good luck :)

[@BASurvival]

i'm on the leaning process of taking raw fleece, carding and spinning before trying to make my won garments from it. its reassuring to watch some one else spin for the first time as most channels make it seem a lot easier than it is. Thank you for sharing really enjoyed watching.

[@minigru.studios]

it's such a long process but I'm sure very rewarding in the end!! good luck with your journey! :)

[@paintnknitter]

Your yarn is looking great!

[@minigru.studios]

thank you so much :)

[@saga4646]

You did great! How wonderful to go through the complete process it makes it even more your own.

[@mansiprakash6150]

you sound like Aubrey Plaza

[@sambarrett481]

i loved this! I am also a newbie spinner, but ive had a bit of practice. the advice i can give you for spinning is to be more gentle with your drafting! it can be difficult to get the hang of it but under tension, the fibers don't come apart as easily. use a light hand to draft, and you can gently untwist the yarn with the other hand in case the twist travels up into your fiber. Thanks so much for this video, it's giving me so much inspiration

[@minigru.studios]

I do feel like I have a death grip on the fiber sometimes haha so thank u for the tip! It's definitely a lot of building muscle memory when first starting!! I'm excited to get some more practice in :) Thank u so much for watching!

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

I loved your video! Loks like we started spinning almost at the same time. One difference: I started out with a supported spindle. A friend of mine is based in Australia and has been spinning for years. I was feeling frustrated because I’m a lace knitter and because of a back injury I can’t sit still for long enough to follow the complex knitting charts I love so much. She knowsle very well and knows I’d ultimately want to be able to spin laceweight yarn. The issue with drop spindles is that the weight of your spindle dictates how thick your yarn will be. If you spin too thin. The yarn will break before you’ve got enough twist in for the yarn to be strong enough simply because the weight of the spindle will break the fibre apart. So she advised me to get a supported spindle as weight doesn’t matter as much. Within days I was spinning singles in lace weight and now I’m able to spin singles thin enough to make 2-ply lace weight yarn. Spinning is very meditative. I’ve spun myself through 500 grams (roughly 1 lb?) of merino and have just ordered myself some malabrigo roving. My friend gave me an invaluable tip on malabrigo: the fibre is very compacted. Steam it to fluff it back up, and it becoles much, much easier to draft. Perhaps your fibre was quite compacted as well. Maybe if you stealed it, it’d be easier to draft. Because I can see you having to pull quite hard on your fibre. That leads to uneven drafting and either you draft too thick, or you break the yarn whilst twist is still working its way into the fibre. And perhaps you might have a drop spindle that’s a bit heavy? I am going to have a look if you’ve published more spinning videos. I hope you did… Happy spinning!

[@minigru.studios]

Hi thanks so much for all the info! I can imagine that spinning lace weight would be VERY difficult and take a long time, but I'm glad that you found out a way to accomplish it that's awesome! and I'm definitely going to try the steaming trick because I agree the malabrigo is SO compacted I had to do so much pre drafting and it still was pretty difficult. hopefully will get another spinning video out soon! I'm thinking of doing a garment start to finish including spinning the yarn I think that would be fun! I've watched fellow fiber artists get super good through the last few months so I definitely want to get some more practice in! thanks for the comment! happy spinning to you as well! :)

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

@@minigru.studios - I’d love a follow-up video from you! Funnily enough, for me spinning bulky yarn is a lot harder than spinning fine yarn. My friend predicted that. My friend who encouraged me to give spinning a go explained to me that we seem to be hard-wired to want consistency. And apparently that’s harder to get with bulky yarn as you have to draft out more fibre at once and this makes it hard to judge how much to grab/draft. She also told me to hold the fibre as if it were a wounded baby bird you want to keep from escaping but don’t want to hurt more. I was holding on to that fibre with a death grip and that made drafting a nightmare. If your fibre is nice and fluffy and you manage to keep your fibre holding hand loose whilst letting your drafting hand do the pinching, somehow things start to fall into place. If that makes sense. For you, as you’re using a drop spindle, the weight of your spindle will very much dictate the thickness of your yarn. If you ever feel like giving the supported spindle a go, I’d say have fun with it. It’s easier than you’d imagine. And you’ll find that spindle weight doesn’t really matter anymore: the spindle rests in a bowl which means the bulk of the yarn is entirely up to you (and up to the size cop it can support). My friend told le that if I ever want to give drop spindle spinning a go, I should go fora bottom whorl drop spindle with a sharp(ish) tip at the bottom and a tapered top shaft with a small ridge instead of a hook: if I find it too hard to use as a drop spindle I can always use it as a supported spindle. That would work for you in the opposite direction as you could use it as a drop spindle (using a half hitch to secure your yarn instead of the hook) if you find spinning supported isn’t agreeing with you (or if you beed a break from it!). I’ve got a bottom whorl spindle I could use but for now I’m sticking to what makes me giddy with that accomplished “Eek! This is actually working!” - and that’s spinning with a bowl in my lap. Now I can’t wait to see what garment you’ll make from your homespun yarn. 😊