tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356Sun, 26 Apr 2026 07:25:52 +0000TBWNewsmemeWPIamount of twistply back testsilkspinning3-plyAnne FieldCrosspatchTPIahkaakhaangoracobwebcotton spinningcrimphand-blending.merinonalbindingply spindlesplyingplying twist TPIsculpeysilk noilsinglessock machinesspinspindlespindlesspindlingspinning singlessupport spindleswooldefinition: bel · _weth_ · er *archaic:* lead sheep of the flock, typically with a bell around its neck so the shepherd could locate the flock. *modern:* leader, indicator of trends. *me:* teacher, mentor, student, listener.http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)Blogger525125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-7549588502470941042Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:32:00 +00002026-04-20T12:32:40.468-07:00By Amelia © April 20, 2026 Me, spindling in the Olympics F <!--F-->is for Fiber Artist. When people call me a fiber artist, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. I don’t instinctively feel like an artist. I tend to think of myself as an artisan. I’m drawn to the craft itself — the methods, the repeatability, the satisfaction of using tools and technique to reliably achieve a http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/04/spinners-alphabet-what-begins-with-f.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-3298001016718830871Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:00:00 +00002026-04-13T00:00:00.122-07:00By Amelia © April 13, 2026 I much prefer to measure twist angle in my yarn instead of twists per inch. Part of this stems from my unwillingness to count treadles when using a wheel, perhaps because neither my spindles or my espinners have a treadle. The other part is that twist angle has the same impact on yarn whether I spin thick or thin, while twists per inch (TPI) change as wraps per http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/04/how-do-you-measure-twist-angle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-7769026038743607839Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:30:00 +00002026-04-06T08:30:00.124-07:00By Amelia © April 6, 2026 My HansenCrafts miniSpinner Pro, 3900 E <!--E-->is for e-spinner. E-spinners have long existed, I remember when I was learning to spin in 2001, the Roberta Eortl was popular as a plying tool. In fact, the early e-spinners seemed to mostly be focused on making plying take minimal time. However, they were not all that friendly for spinning in groups as they http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/04/spinners-alphabet-what-begins-with-e.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-3519326125327061147Mon, 30 Mar 2026 07:00:00 +00002026-03-30T03:27:37.060-07:00By Amelia © March 30, 2026 Typically we tell new spinners to seek balance in their plied yarn ... see How Much Twist do I Need When I Ply? for that advice. If you let singles rest, the twist in the single is still there, but dormant. Don't wake it up before plying! Instead, keep a fresh ply-back from when the singles were spun to guide plying twist and realize that the dormant twist will show http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/04/how-much-ply-twist-is-balanced.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-4939863197189826430Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:30:00 +00002026-03-23T08:30:00.118-07:00By Amelia © March 23, 2026 spindle long-draw D <!--D--> is for Drafting Style. Do you draft woolen or worsted or something in-between? Woolen draft is a long-draw draft, usually to allow maximum air in the yarn. Worsted draft is a short-draw draft, pinched continuously to minimize air in the yarn. Both can be fast; both can be fun. Most folks are somewhere in-between in their draftinghttp://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/03/spinners-alphabet-what-begins-with-d.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-5734583249551460896Thu, 19 Mar 2026 04:14:00 +00002026-03-18T21:14:34.970-07:00By Amelia © March 18, 2026 My e-trade industries improved book charka I started spinning cotton on a Tahkli so I could spin cashmere — and quickly discovered two truths: cashmere is easier to spin than cotton, and I was hooked on cotton. I then mastered cotton on a charkha. But I had a friend who spun lovely cotton on her wheel, so I wanted to learn that. When I finally showed her a skein, she http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/03/what-do-you-spin-cotton-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-8514011083280343668Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +00002026-03-17T12:36:15.416-07:00By Amelia © March 9, 2026 A sample of cable yarn C <!--C--> is for Cable, that crazy often tightly spun yarn where you overply a 2-ply. then ply it back on itself in what I like to call a cable ply, to bring it back into balance. So it's four strands and very tough. Then there's Chain Ply, a 3-ply construction made by making loops as you ply a single strand, like http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/03/spinners-alphabet-what-begins-with-c.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-1347990241410088878Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +00002026-03-02T08:00:00.109-08:00 By Amelia © March 2, 2026; originally written October 9, 2012 Preface (in 2026): I have been blogging again, did you notice? and in reviewing the blog's back stage I found many unpublished drafts. This is one. It is a topic I have written about on the blog over the years, but this gives yet another view on the topic. And now on to the Amelia of 2012... Getting more yarn on your spindle http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-can-i-get-more-on-my-spindle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-3396871983832300178Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:00:00 +00002026-02-23T08:00:00.119-08:00By Amelia © February 23, 2026 Betty Roberts Wheel B <!--B--> is for the Bee that is always in each Betty Roberts spinning wheel. It took me a while to find mine, but it was there. Schacht put a ladybug pin on each Ladybug spinning wheel, in a different place. Those were fun to find also! Betty Roberts Wheels were made in Washington by Betty. She has since retired though http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/02/spinners-alphabet-what-begins-with-b.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-6264785585099400539Tue, 17 Feb 2026 05:11:00 +00002026-02-20T17:24:11.633-08:00By Amelia © February 16, 2026 Follow along with me while I explore the A to Z of spinning. Today marks the letter A, a great place to start. A is for Angora - angora rabbits have lovely angora fiber (so warm!). Angora was one of the first three fibers I learned with. I had Romney, Mohair, and Angora. Angora was definitely the hardest of the three. It is a very fine fiber, very http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/02/spinners-alphabet-a.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-3198498155071218127Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:23:00 +00002026-02-09T05:23:38.323-08:00By Amelia © February 9, 2026 Have you ever had yarn drift apart when plying? That can happen when you hit a slightly thicker part with less twist in it, and the plying twist becomes enough to undo that part. It slips apart and you realize you no longer have 2 strands in your hands (or, one less strand if you are doing a higher ply). Uh-oh. Or, have you had yarn snap and break when plying? This http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/02/how-do-you-make-joins-when-plying.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-1010680460149500466Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:58:00 +00002026-01-20T09:58:09.817-08:00By Amelia © January 20, 2026 If you spin on a wheel or e-spinner, you put leaders on your bobbins. I have a great post on a no-fail leader here: How do you make a leader on your bobbin? In this image is a bobbin with its ends removed - I do enjoy flat-pack bobbins! You might notice, the red acrylic yarn used in the previous post is not present. I am happy to report that it is all used up - I http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/01/keeping-leaders-straight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-8180081547304835729Thu, 01 Jan 2026 22:38:00 +00002026-01-01T14:41:25.721-08:00By Amelia © January 1, 2026 When teaching plying I usually pass along a few facts about 2-ply vs. 3-ply: From the same single, the 3-ply will be thicker than the 2-ply &mdash; yeah, this one is pretty obvious. From the same single, the balanced 3-ply will have a steeper twist-angle than the balanced 2-ply &mdash; less obvious, but consider that 3 singles are contributing twist in the 3-ply, http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2026/01/2-ply-and-3-ply-by-numbers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-959739423703102136Tue, 16 Dec 2025 20:48:00 +00002025-12-17T06:05:32.568-08:00By Amelia © December 16, 2025 Your most typical truly Turkish spindle shaped spindle has four arms - made up of two pieces where one goes through a hole in the other, and the combination of the hole in one arm and the shaft holds the two pieces in place. The length and shape of shaft, the length and thickness of the arms, and how high up the shaft the arms sit all play a role in how well that http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2025/12/how-many-arms-does-turkish-spindle-need.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-5640835452108206717Fri, 16 Aug 2019 19:56:00 +00002019-08-16T13:01:52.262-07:00By Amelia © August 16, 2019 Every specialty has its own vocabulary, but a word shared by many is "stable". It's an acronym: "Stash Beyond Life Expectancy" I knew I was STABLE with my fiber stash, but I'm a newly empty-nester and looking at spending part of the year in an RV to have some fun before my grandparent years (no hurry, kids!) The US has so much natural beauty to enjoy and I've not hadhttp://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2019/08/stabler.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-5133730648297099460Fri, 15 Jul 2016 15:56:00 +00002016-07-15T08:56:54.161-07:00By Amelia © July 15, 2016 My nephew is visiting, and amidst my studio spring cleaning, I found a NIB Duncan butterfly yo-yo, so of course I offered it to him. He knew exactly what it was and proceeded to rip open the package and give it a spin. Only to be sadly disappointed because it has been sitting on the shelf for too long. The string's twist had re-formed itself, and so when spun, the http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/07/why-should-i-care-about-twist.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-9167241748638437477Mon, 04 Jul 2016 06:06:00 +00002016-07-03T23:06:09.991-07:00By Amelia © July 2, 2016 One of the things I really love about spindling is that there always seems to be more to learn. I came across yet-another-new-to-me spindle type recently, the Dealgan. So, what's a Dealgan? It's an 18th century Scottish spindle. A little piece of wood, really, about 5-6" long with a knob at the skinny end and a bulb at the far end, with a flat bottom and an X cut into http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/07/whats-dealgan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-2188961974691892636Wed, 29 Jun 2016 23:29:00 +00002016-06-30T09:25:59.096-07:00 By Amelia © June 29, 2016 I am absolutely thrilled to announce that there are now two more spindle videos available to spindle afficionados around the globe. These two are special for me - because I'm the one in them! Woot! That button above will take you to Interweave's store, where you can find "Supported Spindle Spinning with Amelia Garripoli" and "Spinning on a Turkish Spindle with http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/06/whats-it-like-to-shoot-video.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-8903947599165417287Fri, 24 Jun 2016 15:03:00 +00002016-06-24T08:03:12.122-07:00Me, teaching - circa 2012By Amelia © June 24, 2016 I've been around for a while now &mdash; I think you all know that, I know that I know that, for sure. I've often thought about writing about teaching, what it's like, how I prepare, that sort of thing. I think all teachers go there at some point. But I got to thinking about the other side &mdash; what's it like to sit in a student's chair. >> http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/06/whats-it-like-to-teach.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-1787604914065610969Tue, 21 Jun 2016 00:49:00 +00002016-06-20T18:37:11.239-07:00 Unwashed fleece (Costwold X Romney) By Amelia © June 20, 2016 I was recently asked how to deal with muddy tips in a fleece, and having been through a few fleeces, I had this advice: My favorite "tough fleece" cleaner is Louet's FiberMaster [I bought lots of this; if you can't find any, Unicorn Power Scour is good, too]. I don't use it for just any fleece -- most fleeces come clean with eitherhttp://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/06/do-you-have-muddy-tips.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-5051221484160310184Mon, 04 Jan 2016 16:00:00 +00002016-01-04T08:00:25.226-08:00By Amelia © January 4, 2016 The cost of a new wheel, drum carder, or loom is a lot of money for most of us. At the other end of the spectrum, the cost for a no-longer-made wheel, spindle, or book can also be right up there. I've posted several entries here in the past about finding wheels and looms second-hand, and out of print books: Where can I find a used spinning wheel? Where can I find a http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2016/01/where-can-i-find-retired-spindle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-2359911482953642063Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:09:00 +00002016-01-01T11:32:48.636-08:00By Amelia © December 30, 2015 I admit to being one of "those" people that pooh-pooh's spindles not made of wood. I love the warmth, the knowledge that my spindle was once part of a tree stretching out under the sun somewhere on the planet. I haven't ignored other materials, though. I have a lovely stained-glass spindle that has withstood several slimmings of the spindle flock. And my very firsthttp://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2015/12/whats-your-spindle-made-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-3847864154559712469Sun, 17 May 2015 22:53:00 +00002015-05-17T15:53:16.429-07:00By Amelia © May 17, 2015 Hi! I've a new job that is generally keeping me quite busy, but I still get to think about and touch fiber every day in my studio, so no complaints, and the steady paycheck makes up for not having an 'all fiber, all the time' life any longer! An interesting question came across "Ask The Bellwether"'s comment feed the other day: "What I need to know and I hope you canhttp://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-do-you-get-4-oz-of-fiber-onto-one.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-5629223156471358109Mon, 04 Aug 2014 03:05:00 +00002014-08-03T20:07:18.400-07:00By Amelia © August 3, 2014 It's been an eventful summer here with relatives and friends visiting, remodeling happening, and on and on. I had a very creative time with the young son of a friend playing with knitting looms and potholder looms. He wanted it all done faster, so being the kind to take comments to heart, I slept on it. The next morning, I found he had inspired an idea ... my http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-do-you-weave-on-potholder-loom.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6183250014956175356.post-4129469495317613889Thu, 02 Jan 2014 06:58:00 +00002014-01-02T13:50:16.197-08:00 By Amelia © January 1, 2014, AskTheBellwether.com Common spinning philosophy is that you "have to ply" so that your yarn is balanced. After all, if singles are unbalanced, and intrinsically they are, then they are hard to work with. Right? Well, yes-and-no. Like all things in life, the philosophy has its nay-sayers. There are folks who only learn to spin singles, never ply, and work with http://askthebellwether.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-do-you-use-singles-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Amelia of Ask The Bellwether)1