About the yarn artisan….or the spinning gypsy
Aspen Moon Arts is a one woman shop. I wash fleeces, dye wool, spin yarn, dye yarn, list yarn for sale, participate in a very random craft show, answer questions and pack online orders. This is currently something I do more for passion and some sanity than great monetary profit- I still have a day job.
Curious and creative….. two words that I think would accurately describe me. I am self-taught in many types of craft including making jewelry from simple beading to bead embroidery to sewing from clothes construction to making quilts. I am a long time (25+ years) knitter from afghans to gloves, hats, and sweaters. I love knitting lace. I also have done needle and wet felting ranging from fully felted scarves from my spinning wool and decorative flower pins. I am a weaver also, mostly plain weave from my handpainted yarns which highlight the yarn’s colors. I am a doodler, painter of paintings, and I love Chinese brush painting. I make jewelry and have been on a vintage style kick for years now. Someday I want to learn to make glass beads and pottery.
I have been spinning yarn for 10 years. My biggest passion for as long as I can remember has always been textiles (I made my first skirt in junior high) so I guess it was a natural progression to go “back to the beginning”- literally. It all started when I was living in East Tennessee and working for a museum whose collection included incredible handmade spinning wheels and barn looms the size of a small bedroom. I wanted to know how these artifacts were used 100+ years ago so to start the journey I picked up a drop spindle for $5.00 from the Earth Guild, which is a craft supply store located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The first week was very frustrating. I kept dropping it- not spinning enough- one time spun so hard out of frustration I launched it ½ way across the room. But by the second week I really got the hang of it and thought to myself… -that's all it is? Spinning has had a hold of me ever since. I love playing with different types of wool, colors in dyeing, and textures in spinning.
My first spinning wheel was a Louet S17 single treadle. The wheel is painted with different mandalas on each side. After thousands of yards of yarn, and almost 10 years, I have added an Ashford Kiwi 2 double treadle, which is painted moss green with a purple wheel that is hand stamped with a butterfly and leaf motif in yellow. I also own a lot of drop spindles and continue to spin regularly with them. Other equipment I have are a Strauch Petite Drum Carder, a homemade wool picker, Ashford hand cards, a LeClerc Nilus 4-shaft floor loom (proof you can find some interesting stuff at a garage sale, and a Schact Flip loom.
To date I have spun mostly wools from different breeds of sheep- Lincoln, Border Leicester, Romney, Navajo Churro, Corriedale, Merino, Scottish Blackface, Karakul, Jacob, Leicester Longwool, Romedale, Perendale, California Variegated Mutant, Gulf Coast Native, Cheviot, Black Welsh Mountain, Bluefaced Leicester, California Red, Coopworth, Shetland, Cormo, Dorset, Finnsheep, Gotland, Hampshite, Herdwick, Icelandic, Polypay, Suffolk, Targhee, Columbia, American Tunis, Texel, Wensleydale, and Babydoll Southdown. And that’s a fraction of the sheep breeds available in the world!
I have also spun Suri and Huacaya alpaca, llama, acala, pima, colorgrown, and recycled cottons, tencel, flax, bast and processed bamboo, ramie, recycled fibers from plastic soda bottles, polyester batting, waste thread silk, tussah and mulberry silk, and strips of fabric.
As I continue to learn and grow with the fiber arts, the dream list of equipment I hope to add someday includes the Ashford Country Spinner 2 or Spinolution Wind, an Ashford Wild Carder, maybe an Ashford Joy 2(my current wheels are small but I would like a real folding wheel for travel), a felting machine, and wool combs (these are different than the cards, these looks more like torture devices with their long teeth).
And a real studio with separate dye, spinning, and packing orders areas would be wonderful.
Someday…. Until then I will continue to creatively spin and let curiosity prevail so I will explore.
Aspen Moon Arts is a one woman shop. I wash fleeces, dye wool, spin yarn, dye yarn, list yarn for sale, participate in a very random craft show, answer questions and pack online orders. This is currently something I do more for passion and some sanity than great monetary profit- I still have a day job.
Curious and creative….. two words that I think would accurately describe me. I am self-taught in many types of craft including making jewelry from simple beading to bead embroidery to sewing from clothes construction to making quilts. I am a long time (25+ years) knitter from afghans to gloves, hats, and sweaters. I love knitting lace. I also have done needle and wet felting ranging from fully felted scarves from my spinning wool and decorative flower pins. I am a weaver also, mostly plain weave from my handpainted yarns which highlight the yarn’s colors. I am a doodler, painter of paintings, and I love Chinese brush painting. I make jewelry and have been on a vintage style kick for years now. Someday I want to learn to make glass beads and pottery.
I have been spinning yarn for 10 years. My biggest passion for as long as I can remember has always been textiles (I made my first skirt in junior high) so I guess it was a natural progression to go “back to the beginning”- literally. It all started when I was living in East Tennessee and working for a museum whose collection included incredible handmade spinning wheels and barn looms the size of a small bedroom. I wanted to know how these artifacts were used 100+ years ago so to start the journey I picked up a drop spindle for $5.00 from the Earth Guild, which is a craft supply store located in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The first week was very frustrating. I kept dropping it- not spinning enough- one time spun so hard out of frustration I launched it ½ way across the room. But by the second week I really got the hang of it and thought to myself… -that's all it is? Spinning has had a hold of me ever since. I love playing with different types of wool, colors in dyeing, and textures in spinning.
My first spinning wheel was a Louet S17 single treadle. The wheel is painted with different mandalas on each side. After thousands of yards of yarn, and almost 10 years, I have added an Ashford Kiwi 2 double treadle, which is painted moss green with a purple wheel that is hand stamped with a butterfly and leaf motif in yellow. I also own a lot of drop spindles and continue to spin regularly with them. Other equipment I have are a Strauch Petite Drum Carder, a homemade wool picker, Ashford hand cards, a LeClerc Nilus 4-shaft floor loom (proof you can find some interesting stuff at a garage sale, and a Schact Flip loom.
To date I have spun mostly wools from different breeds of sheep- Lincoln, Border Leicester, Romney, Navajo Churro, Corriedale, Merino, Scottish Blackface, Karakul, Jacob, Leicester Longwool, Romedale, Perendale, California Variegated Mutant, Gulf Coast Native, Cheviot, Black Welsh Mountain, Bluefaced Leicester, California Red, Coopworth, Shetland, Cormo, Dorset, Finnsheep, Gotland, Hampshite, Herdwick, Icelandic, Polypay, Suffolk, Targhee, Columbia, American Tunis, Texel, Wensleydale, and Babydoll Southdown. And that’s a fraction of the sheep breeds available in the world!
I have also spun Suri and Huacaya alpaca, llama, acala, pima, colorgrown, and recycled cottons, tencel, flax, bast and processed bamboo, ramie, recycled fibers from plastic soda bottles, polyester batting, waste thread silk, tussah and mulberry silk, and strips of fabric.
As I continue to learn and grow with the fiber arts, the dream list of equipment I hope to add someday includes the Ashford Country Spinner 2 or Spinolution Wind, an Ashford Wild Carder, maybe an Ashford Joy 2(my current wheels are small but I would like a real folding wheel for travel), a felting machine, and wool combs (these are different than the cards, these looks more like torture devices with their long teeth).
And a real studio with separate dye, spinning, and packing orders areas would be wonderful.
Someday…. Until then I will continue to creatively spin and let curiosity prevail so I will explore.
