sharing secrets: least favorite thing about spinning?

[Nesse]

let me indulge you in a secret.
my absolute,
least favorite thing...
...about spinning
...is...

drafting,

yes, that's right.
I said it...
drafting.



I hate dislike it a whole lot.
I find it rather tedious,
time consuming,
and frustrating.
my hands are always super sore after,
and it squashes my mood to spin.



...yet, I just can't spin without drafting.
maybe my hands don't work fast enough,
or I don't comprehend how it works -
spinning and drafting,
simultaneously.
blasphemy!



well, that's my secret.
what's yours?

[The Angry Hippie]

Yummmmmy pics!

Mine's drafting too! I loathe it for many reasons, so i never draft.  I just split my roving.   

[mullerslanefarm]

My least favorite thing is actually not spinning, but fiber prep ... I'm fine with skirting a fleece, but I get real bored sorting the fleece and especially opening up each and every tip before scouring.  I've sometimes have spent a whole day prepping a fleece and have nothing to show for it but dirty, well opened locks that still need to be scoured and dried and picked and carded and dyed.

[Antsy]

Well first I dislike how expensive it is, and I'm doing it on the cheaper side.
Second, I dislike plying (well sort of, it's more getting the singles ready to ply that I dislike, and my spinning wheel, Lorraine, dislikes Navajo plying).
Third, I hate (dislike) having to set the twist, I'm not all that patient and I want to be able to use it right then.
Fourth, I hate prepping the fleece. I don't know what I'm doing really, the only fleeces I have are dirty nasty, I burn my hands washing it, I cut and scrape my hands carding and flicking it, it hurts!

[SpecialKRJ]

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.

[Nesse]

Angry Hippie, really? never? do you draft a little as your spinning? or do you split the roving in small enough sections?

MLF, absolutely agree! I have given up on buying raw fleeces for this very reason.

Third, I hate (dislike) having to set the twist, I'm not all that patient and I want to be able to use it right then.

I totally feel you! I'm rather impatient, but knitting with 'set' singles is actually worth the wait. have you tried streaming the yarn instead of soaking? same effect, and then you get the use the yarn quicker!

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.

oh no! I get stuck in this mindset at times, and I have to force myself to even touch the prettiness. but I promise you it's worth it! there's no such thing as "ruining" handspun yarn (well... unless certain small creatures gets to it and rips it apart. ahem.) here's what I do when I'm in a fiber-funk... just grab your fiber, no questions, no thinking, and start spinning! spin the fiber however it wants to be spun

[The Angry Hippie]

Oops i meant predraft I draft as i spin usually.  If i do a bulky yarn i'll just split or if i'm doing something like silk or tencel i'll only split it.  The silk from this weeks fiber friday was only split.

Mullerslane, i forget how much work raw fiber is.  Compared to cleaning and skirting whole fleeces drafting doesn't really seems that bad.


I don't like mixing dyes or having my whole house smell like sheep and vinegar. My downstairs neighbors don't like it much either.
However I LOVE setting the twist, love it!  On plied yarn, u get to see it bloom and full and on singles it tightens up all the fibers in the yarn which makes it wear better when knit/crocheted. 

[kiera-oona]

Least favorite thing is when Im carding and the stray fibers get up my nose.  I have enough problems with allergies as it is

[Minimummy]

I really dislike picking; it's soooo boring!
And I dislike the fact that I encouraged my 7 year old daughter's interest in spinning. Because now when I've washed, dried, picked and carded raw fleece, she walks in, picks up the roving and spins it up!

[nikschaf]

Love your pics Nesse!

It's funny, predrafting is actually one of my favorite things.  If it's a multicolor roving, I like to see how the colors blend, and I love how light and airy it looks afterwards, like soft serve ice cream.

I dislike the first few minutes of spinning because if it doesn't seem like the yarn's turning out well in the first couple of minutes, I have to fight frustration and the urge to abandon the spinning session altogether.  And, since I usually need to adjust the tension and get into the groove, often the first few minutes do not go well.

I really dislike getting the yarn into a skein, and then later winding the skein into a ball.  It's not that I don't like my yarn swift, but having to get the equipment out and set it up is a pain, and I don't have enough room to leave it out in the open.

Combing a raw alpaca fleece has been very frustrating.  I've had high hopes for it, but it is really slow going.  It's so tedious and slow that I rarely do the combing, because I don't have a lot of crafting time, and I feel like I make very little progress with the combing.

I do love dyeing roving though!  The past couple times, the colors have turned out just as I'd imagined in my head, and it's so much fun to dye with my 4 year-old.  (We use Wilton's.)