spinning plants

yarn

posted on by Lee Cattarin

3 small skeins of handspun yarn, each made from a different plant fiber. the top skein is probably, though not definitely, lotus, and it has a lovely golden color and looks shiny and soft. the middle skein is flax, which looks quite rough and is a medium brown. the bottom skein is banana fiber and is white and shiny

work in progress! To be updated as I continue spinning.

notes on handspinning various plant fibers. Fibers were purchased as a sample pack from Hearthside Fibers. Unfortunately, I spun the first sample - flax - in 2023, so don’t have thoughts on that left in my head. I also received a mystery sample along with the 12 named samples that may have been lotus - it’s the smallest skein in the image. The lotus was also spun in 2023.

ease of spinning

  • easy: flax, hemp
  • middling: banana
  • hard: rose

texture (of final yarn)

  • softest: rose
  • pleasant: banana
  • itchy: hemp, flax

per-fiber breakdown

banana

  • felt a bit wear-y on the hands - that may have been the silk I spun earlier that day though
  • a bit hard to draft, quite liked to stick to itself and clump, but once moving was quite slippery
  • softish, not wildly soft but pleasant to the touch

hemp

  • awful feeling. awful awful awful. hate.
  • easy to spin, quite grippy, easy joins
  • difficult to tell apart from stray plant matter

rose

  • incredibly soft. shiny and very pretty
  • quite difficult to spin. wanted to go thin. joins were tough, it’s quite slippery
  • needed slow and careful drafting because of the above - I brought my wheel down to a lower ratio which is rare