Back in 2020 I wrote about returning to my love of spinning. Well, since then, though it seems like I haven’t spent that much time spinning, the fibre and the finished yarns have piled up!
I knit my first handspun sweater (and my second!)
My original goal was to spin enough for a sweater, and then knit it.
Stating that bold intention, in public, on the internet seemed… risky! But frankly, the yarn for my handspun Flax sweater flew quickly off the wheel and onto my needles, and the project was a big joy from start to finish.

That first handspun sweater was closely followed by the next, which turned into a new design! Unfortunately, I can’t share that one with you quite yet, because the pattern isn’t ready (but you’re gonna love it). Here’s a cheeky sneak peek at the yarn I made, and the start of the sweater.



And I gotta say… I can’t stop spinning these ‘wild balls’ that form a whole set of different marls using a bit of various different colourways. There’s this kind of magic in seeing how the colours combine, how they come out.




Gotta love a rainbow!
This year I’ve also spun quite a bit of wild rainbows … The boisterously colourful Lullaby blanket pattern was conceived after I spun 400g of bright and beautiful ‘Lucky Dip’ from Hedgehog Fibres. You can follow the process of this project from fibre to finished design in my post about the Lullaby Blanket.
And recently, I continued on the unicorn rainbow barf theme by spinning this cotton candy rainbow and knitting on something special for my daughter Neve…
I also love a good neutral
I’ve also spun a sweater’s amount of 2-ply Shetland, and this was a VERY enjoyable spin. It’s also being knit up into a new design prototype, so sharing the finished knit itself will have to wait.
How about yarns that KNITTERS can buy?!
I’ll admit, I’m currently in a phase of knitting and designing ALL the things in handspun. Do I prefer taking the difficult route to nearly every destination? Perhaps…
But don’t worry, we also have several new designs on the needles that are knit in yarns that are available to purchase, ready spun!
~ Em
July 16, 2022 @ 10:32 am
Congratulations, beautiful goals met and you should be very proud of yourself and thanks for sharing!
July 15, 2022 @ 10:48 pm
So nice to see as a not (yet?) spinner how that attractive fibers turn out!
July 14, 2022 @ 10:23 am
Emily, you’ve given me itchy fingers – I’ve yet to knit a lot with my own hand spun… never a whole jumper worth of fibre. I might just have to spin some of my hand dyed wool top and make my own Flax Sweater…
July 14, 2022 @ 8:06 am
Yarn is beautiful..
July 14, 2022 @ 6:23 am
Thank you so much for all of the lovely photos and your spinning story! I’m learning to drop spin. Such cushy, lovely fiber. I’m a knitter too, and any way I can get my hands on fiber makes me very happy!