[SmallTimeSmallholder]

I am soooooooo excited! I've only been spinning a short while but Oh boy, have I got the bug! 
My lovely Mum decided recently she wanted to buy me a drum carder (Hoooray!!!) and this morning, out of the blue a beautiful book arrived, about spinning with a modern twist.
Well, to think that this time yesterday I was pleased with myself for starting to crochet a cushion cover in my own handspun, and now I'm about to go upstairs and cut up old clothes to experiment with.
I haven't even dyed any wool yet 
How have you all got on with dyeing? Has anyone tried spinning anything other than fleece? 

[jaykay]

Ha, welcome to the wormhole, full of wheels, fluff, yarn and other lovelies designed to remove all your money and time   

To answer some of your questions, I'm spinning silk on one of my wheels at the moment, which is like spinning water, amazing I've dyed with some natural dyes that I could collect around here and I've microwave dyed. Both are good fun.

Mainly i spin wool. I've just got a good longdraw going, but though I find it great fun to do, I don't really love woollen yarn and prefer what I spin with a worsted draw.

I've got the 'Guild challenge' stuff to spin for now, and then I want to learn to spin a boucle yarn  I will be learning and playing for years 

Oh and i'm saving up for a drum carder too, so I can process my own Shetlands fleeces and spin them 

[SallyintNorth]

No turning back now... 

Ha, welcome to the wormhole, full of wheels, fluff, yarn and other lovelies designed to remove all your money and time   

Exactly that. 

I spent yesterday at a friend's house experimenting with stove-top rainbow dyeing and with microwave dyeing.  What a lot of fun, I still have one blue eyebrow and hands as colourful as they are at lambing    (Too impatient to remember to use the gloves every time... )  I dyed all kinds of woolly fibre and fleece, and my first non-wool fibre, which was bamboo.  If it turns back into fibre from what looks like a pad of wet cotton wool, I'll spin it for a ply to add strength to the heels of socks. 

The friend rainbow-dyed her share of the Teeswater lamb's fleece we just bought between us - oh!  so very gorgeous!  What lustre!  What depth of colour!    and microwave-dyed some nettle and some banana, both red/yellow, which she is going to blend with some coloured Ryeland.

[Bionic]

STS, yes sounds like you are definitely hooked and it only gets worse from there 
I am quite new to spinning and bought a drum carder a couple of months ago. What a difference it makes. I never enjoyed hand carding and it was taking me ages.
Dyeing is new to me too and I have dabbled in it in the last few months.  There are a couple of threads on here showing my results. I am sure you will get hooked on that too.
Sally

[FiB]

Lovely to hear your excitement - I've got the bug too and am loving spinning my own Beulah fleece that I hand sheared and finally got around to washing this week!!  Have you joined ravelry yet - its a revalation!!!!!  (By the way SallyITN - I found a spinning group nearish me so Thanks So much for that tip  ). JK love to know more about your stove top dyeing!

[SmallTimeSmallholder]

Oooooooo, spinning silk sounds heavenly! I've have been spinning some baby alpaca recently, I thought that was soft, but I bet silk is amazing- where did you get it from?
I've been into town this morning to see if I could buy some wool dye, I don't know why I'm disappointed, needless to say, they didn't have any. I'm looking now online but it's a minefield!! I think I'm going to start with an acid dye (got to start somewhere!) but how much wool will 10g dye? Any ideas??

[Ina]

One of these days (or years, more likely) I'll get round to spinning, too. I've had some cashmere in the cupboard for years - don't even know whether it's still ok, don't dare to look! - and half a merino fleece... Plus a few others, I think one Shetland and one Jacobs.  It all needs space more than anything.

[Bionic]

STS 10g will dye about 200 grams of fleece
Sally

[SmallTimeSmallholder]

Thanks Sally,
I've just ordered a variety of colours... Just have to wait for them to come now 

[SallyintNorth]

STS 10g will dye about 200 grams of fleece
Sally

Oh!  The dyes I have bought, and the Ashford ones, say 10g dyes 1kg of fibre, or 2/3 that if you want really strong colours.

But I am no expert...    - only done it the once, and that was yesterday, results still drying!   

[Bionic]

Sally, I am no expert either as I have only done it once as well.  I was reading from the instructions on the Omega website.
Having said that I used the amount they said when I dyed the Castlemilk moorit fleece which is brown so needed a strong colour to cover it. I definitely think you could get away with less if you were dyeing pale fleece.
STS, I would suggest you use a smallish amount to start with. Its so easy to do, especially if you do it in the microwave, as I did. If the colour isn't strong enough for you it can be done again. That would save you using more than you need.
Sally

[jaykay]

I bought the silk tops from Oliver Twists at Woolfest. They seem not to have a website but they appear at all the big craft festivals and shows. Another good reasons for going to one 

[Anke]

I'm spinning silk on one of my wheels at the moment

ON ONE OF MY WHEELS....   You have more than ONE spinning wheel... I get told off for merely buying another couple of bobbins... One of these days I will get another wheel, and I am saving up for a Schacht.... but that will take a while...

[jaykay]

Oh, a Schacht-Reeves saxony is my dream wheel  Not in the foreseeable future however

I have an old, local pattern double drive wheel that I began on. I don't use that now so it needs moving on (probably just for decoration, though it does spin).

I then bought myself a Lendrum folding, which is great and as it does everything I want it to I really didn't need another wheel!

But I hankered after a large wheel saxony and when this

William Gordon Clarke wheel came up on eBay at a very good price, I went for it. A day's drive and some TLC and sorting out, it spins beautifully and I love using it. I love just looking at it too 

The Lendrum is scotch tension and the WGC is double drive.

[Bionic]

Jaykay,
I have an Ashford traditional and I believe that has scotch tension. Can you explain what difference a double drive makes please.
thanks
Sally