Totally late here, but the way I make roving is by carding it and then putting it on a hackle. My hackle's homemade; I got a stand-up breakfast tray, screwed a bunch of hair picks to the side, and use a guitar pick with holes drilled in to draw out a strip of roving.

Well... I don't like plying, because I'm rubbish at it. And I don't like that moment where you actually pick up the fiber and start pulling it apart and drafting it and actually making the move to start spinning it. Because I can never get to tha tmoment, especially with gorgeous fibers. I have a bunch of drop-dead-beautiful fiber in my room right now, teasing me with their prettiness, and I can't bring myself to spin them because I'm just positive that I'll ruin them.

I started spinning when I didn't know how to knit (and had no desire to learn, because I thought it was hard) and I barely understood crochet and didn't like it. I was on Artfire when I saw a cool knitted dress that was for sale, supposedly knit from a 'slub yarn', which I didn't know what it was. Googled it, got swept up in spinning, and then I found out that knitting uses less yarn than crochet, so would be better for small amounts of yarn like what I spun.

I am a hoarder too! In fact, I go one step further. I buy a gorgeous batt, then let it sit, staring at me, wanting to be spun. I can't bring myself to spin it because what if I do a bad job and ruin the prettiness!

Kay so! I have this awesome 100% cashmere sweater of my dad's. It has like two or three moth holes in it, but it's mostly fine, so I took off the sleeve and have unraveled from the shoulder to the armpit, nd it's filled up a whole bobbin with gorgeous laceweight cashmere. Problem is, the yarn tends to break pretty easily. I was thinking of running it through my wheel once to add a little bit more plying twist to it, but I dunno if I should do that or just ply it with itself or what. I'm so excited, though. THis stuff is gorgeous! ANy suggestions? I shall post pics!

These are the BEST because you can make the coolest projects out of them. This epic hat pattern was actually made for small bits of handspun. I highly recommend learning more about knitting. When I first started spinning, I could basically only do a knit stitch, and not very well, but I crocheted. Then I found out that knitting uses less yarn than crocheting, so you can make more with less yarn. And now i barely crochet, lol. Anyway, I've made hats for my friends out of a zillion different fibers/textures/sizes/colors, and the more varied, the cooler it looks. Really! Also, if you have a Ravelry account, you can find lots of patterns for projects with small bits of yarn. Bracelets, mini-scarves, wristwarmers, cute little whimsical stuff. If you don't have a Ravelry account, you should definitely get one. It's the greatest thing ever.

Yay, thank you! My boyfriend fell in love with these when he saw something similar for sale on some site or another... So I figured since I couldn't afford one, I'd make him one, but I had no idea how I was going to do the hood. (I don't usually sew!) You're a savior!

Darn. I think I knew I was gonna get those answers when I asked, but I was just praying there'd be some magical trick that you more experienced knitters could pass on to me. Ah well, can't really complain when it means another trip to the yarn store!

My brother insisted on this pattern for his kilt hose. I bought the pattern, I went with him and picked out yarn to match his kilt. The problem is, the yarn is worsted and the pattern calls for fingering weight. On size 0 needles, I can get the right row gauge, but I can't get the right stitch gauge. Instead of being 4 inches, I get 5 inches in 32 stitches. This pattern has several different size possibilities, depending on the measurements of the person's foot, ankle, and calf.

The question: Should I try to follow the pattern for an inch smaller than my brother's measurements, or is that way too risky?

My other option is trying to un-ply the yarn and knit with the individual plies, but that is definitely a tedious task, and if there's a possibility that I can get away with knitting a smaller size with a bigger gauge, I will definitely take the chance.

Thanks. Sometimes the simplest answers are the ones to elude me. >.< I just finished trying a few different combos, so it's off to the dyepot.

Basically, I picked up the darkest blue of this yarn that I could find, but it's not QUITE right. It's kind of a slate blue, and I need almost navy-ish. I have some gel food coloring, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I've always been awful with colors. I know that you add the opposite color if you want to dull the brightness, but I'm not sure how to actually darken it. Should I just try a mostly-blue dye bath with some orange added? Should I go out and buy some black food color and try that?