Thea Idea

You can be really proud of yourself! It takes courage to put yourself out there like this, and you did an amazing job. 😉

Thanks!
I was afraid that it would turn out muddy because of so many colours and plies.

A hank of marbled red, green, gold, and silver handspun yarn on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit scented candle in an opaque white glass jar with a golden rim, decorated with gold stars and Christmas motifs, and labelled “EIN DUFTENDES WEIHNACHTEN erleben”.

For the 25th and final World of Wool advent spin, I went for a wild combination of opposing, Hawser, and cable plying — because why not? 😆

The design and colours gave the final 4-ply yarn a lovely rustic, rich look.

#handspinning

Thanks! 😊

A hank of natural brown-to-cream handspun yarn on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit, sky-blue scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 24 from another advent calendar. The rim of the jar is decorated with glitter.

I’m so proud of the 24th World of Wool advent spin 😊

It’s a chained crepe yarn, and I challenged myself to spin the second singles thicker than the one being chain-plied. It turned out perfect, so soft and lofty, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

#handspinning #spinsky

Yes, I added some extra twist by plying on a smaller whorl than I would normally use.

I usually slightly overply intermediate steps. I still need to experiment a bit with the technicalities to see what works best.

A hank of minty green handspun yarn with glittery stellina on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit, teal scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 23 from another advent calendar.

The next experiment was what I call an opposing crepe yarn. 😁

For the 23rd WoW advent spin, I spun the first two singles in the opposite direction to get an opposing 2-ply, which I then plied with a third singles to get a balanced 3-ply yarn. I'm very happy with how the yarn feels.

#handspinning

This is so stunning! I wish I could spin cotton that well one day. I also like how the colours blend together, it’s a wonderful piece.

A hank of red, white, and green marbled handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit white scented candle in a glass jar labelled with the number 22, from another advent calendar.

I was deep in yarn design experimentation mode before I started the 22nd World of Wool advent spin. I’d realised there were not enough advent spins left for all of my ideas — oops 😬
So it was the perfect time for the first opposing 3-ply yarn in these lovely colours.
#handspinning

It looks gorgeous, though! 🤩

I started spinning from the fold when the short forward drafting of commercially combed fiber blends became too painful. It gets easier with time and now it’s my go to for spinning combed blended fibers.

A hank of soft pink handspun yarn with orange undertones and chunks of white fiber on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit, light beige scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 21, from another advent calendar.

I was quite intimidated by the 21st WoW advent spin due to the chunks of sari silk. So, logically, I challenged myself even more by making my first singles yarn 😁 I felted it slightly during wet finishing (another first!), and I’m very satisfied with the result.

#handspinning

Usually, you balance it by plying it with another hawser ply (or by plying it back on itself). You start with two pairs of Z-spun singles. Each pair is first plied together with Z-twist, and then those two plies are finally plied together in the S direction. The result is a balanced 4-ply yarn.

Thank you! 😊

I feel like I'm going down a rabbit hole with them, honestly.

The Hawser plying is simply plying two singles in the same direction as they were spun. And it's a funny plying technique. I found it well described in The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson.

A hank of purple handspun yarn with bursts of blue and white on a wooden table. Beside it is a lit dark purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 20, from another advent calendar.

It was time to go back to experimenting! For the 20th advent spin, I went for a crepe yarn with a twist: instead of a standard 2-ply, I Hawser-plied the first two singles.

The yarn turned out beautiful — very soft and surprisingly thin. I was really pleased with this #handspinning experience. 🤩

A hank of natural brown-to-cream handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit dark purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 19 from another advent calendar.

For the 19th WoW advent spin, I wanted something simple, so I took a break from experimenting with yarn designs and went with a 3-ply yarn. What I love about this spin is how it kept me distracted and helped me organize my thoughts, even though the fiber composition wasn’t my favorite.
#handspinning

A hank of gray handspun yarn with a violet undertone on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit teal scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 18, from another advent calendar.

The 18th WoW advent fiber with cashgora was incredibly soft. I wanted to make a crepe yarn by first plying two woolen-spun singles and then adding a worsted-spun single. I didn’t want too many leftovers, so the planning was quite a challenge! It turned into a really fun experiment.

#handspinning

A hank of violet handspun yarn with bits of blue, magenta, and white fibers on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit beige scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 17, from another advent calendar.

For the 17th WoW advent spin, I took out 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 by Sarah Anderson. I felt refreshed and was really looking forward to experimenting.⁣

I started with a 2×2 Hawser ply, and it went really well. I’m so happy that the advent #handspinning felt joyful again.

A hank of rustic handspun yarn in its natural brown-and-cream fiber color on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit white scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 16, from another advent calendar.

The 16th WoW advent spin was another one I wanted to finish as fast as possible. I’d reached the point where I desperately wanted to do other crafts. That made it even more surprising when the yarn exceeded my expectations — so much that it motivated me to continue #handspinning. 🥳

A purple hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit dark-purple scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 15, from another advent calendar.

The 15th WoW advent spinning is definitely my favorite color — it reminds me of blueberries (I looove blueberries!). 🫐

Spinning-wise, I gave cabled yarn another go. This time I chain-plied a 2-ply handspun, and I’m very pleased with the result, despite it being slightly over-twisted.

#handspinning

A light-gray hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit blue scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 14, from another advent calendar.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about the 14th WoW advent #handspinning. I’m not sure if it’s because it was the first one I spun after Christmas or because the advent spinning had become somewhat routine and monotonous at times. But I love the subtle sparks of color anyway!

And as far as I know seams help stabilising the knits, so knitting in the round is not necessarily the best approach in some cases.

You are not late 😁 I started my 2025 advent spinning a week before December 1st and I‘m at day 18 at the moment. Have fun spinning!

An orange hank of handspun yarn on a wooden table. Next to it is a lit, ecru-colored scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 13, from another advent calendar.

The 13th WoW advent #handspinning marked the halfway point, so I decided to spin one singles woolen from faux rolags and the second worsted from combed top. I also finally (and painfully!) learned that worsted spinning with waste sari silk is just way too hard on my hands.

A hank of cream-to-camel-brown cabled handspun yarn on a wooden table. Behind it is a lit, muted turquoise scented candle in a glass jar labeled with the number 12, from another advent calendar.

The 12th WoW advent #handspinning was time for my first-ever cabled yarn. I was so excited that I spun all the singles in one afternoon — it was such a smooth spinning experience. The yarn has slightly too much twist, but I’m very happy with the result anyway. 😃

It is. With the sewing machines any additional tech makes everything easier. It’s the complete opposite with machine knitting.

Happy to help!
I don’t have any experience with circular knitting machines, unfortunately. I just went straight with the more complex and more expensive machine.

LK150 doesn’t work with punch cards. It‘s a really basic flat bed knitting machine. I have a standard gauge metal bed knitting machine that works with punch cards and I‘ve got LK150 because I wanted to knit with thicker yarn and I actually enjoy/don‘t mind manually selecting the needles.

Is it an LK150 Silver Reed knitting machine? This one doesn’t do any automatic patterning, you always have to choose the needles manually (although there are some gadgets available to speed up selection). I‘ve just got mine so I cannot say yet how they hold up compared to metal bed machines.

I actually find the ratio for weaving on a floor/table loom even worse.