This week’s spotlight is on Jessica, @naturallyknitty:
Q. Favorite fiber to spin?
Jessica: Oh goodness that’s a hard one, I love wool of all kinds! My current favorites are polwarth, targhee and cormo! They are so springy! But I also love a good silk/whatever blend (merino, bfl…) or a Polwarth silk blend, SWOON! I love trying all sorts of new-to-me fibers as well… I enjoy them all, finn, falkland and even the good old standbys like merino and bfl make me happy. I just love wool!
Q. Do you prefer worsted or woolen methods of spinning?
Jessica: I kinda do a mix in how I draft but it’s mainly worsted method. I do enjoy doing long draw when that’s the end product i’m looking for!
Q. Who or what inspires you?
Jessica: I would have to say my fiber friends! Oh my goodness have you seen all the spinners on IG?! Of course you have, there are so many talented spinners out there, each one inspires me! And color, a lot of the time i’ll see a braid of fiber and it will just sing to me that it needs to be spun. NOW. So I do!
Q. Any future spinning goals?
Jessica: I would love to get to the point where i spin all of my yarn… at least for those who can take care of it (my family and friends who I knit for). No more purchasing of yarn, but that’s kind of unrealistic for now.
Q. Do you knit, weave, or gift/sell your handspun?
Jessica: Yes. haha I knit with it a lot… all sorts of things, socks, mittens, hats, scarves. I think I’ve made 6 or 7 sweaters with my handspun and 4 of those i’ve processed the wool for them too, yet another passion of mine! I’ve recently, the past year or so, started weaving and it is so much fun to weave with handspun! I also LOVE to gift my hand crafted items to knitworthy people! I really like gifting my handspun to other knitters, because who doesn’t love a special one of a kind skein of yarn spun just for them?! I’ve thought of selling it but just never got around to it.
Q. What has Instagram done for you in spinning?
Jessica: It has opened my eyes to some amazing people and the things you can do with fiber. I’ve also made so many friends through IG, I only have a couple of people in RL who spin and i don’t get together with them to spin much at all. So IG is like my spinning family, a group of people who i know will appreciate my work and “get” my excitement over new fiber or a new spin! And I am LOVING the #spin15in15, I find new spinners every day and am constantly amazed at all the different spins going on! I also love that i’m spinning every day, i think i’ve only missed a handful of days due to sickness, kids or myself.
Q. Without spinning, what might your other passions be?
Jessica: haha…. I like to cook and bake and do some gardening but I think I’ve always been fairly artistic… in high school i loved art class, I had 3 of them my senior year! I think somehow, someway, I would have found the land of yarn and fiber, it was destiny!
If you haven’t seen much of Jessica’s work, go take a look on Instagram, @naturallyknitty
I want to thank Jessica for taking the time to answer these fiber-minded questions and for being part of the #spin15in15 movement on Instagram.
Spin on!