If you’ve spent any time researching spinning wheels, you’ve probably run into the advice that you should eventually own two: a sturdy studio wheel for home and a smaller travel wheel for everything else.

For a long time, that was solid advice.

Studio wheels and travel wheels were designed with very different goals in mind, and most spinners eventually found themselves wishing they had one of each.

But spinning wheel design has changed quite a bit over the years. Today, there are wheels that comfortably blur the line between those two categories, making the decision much less straightforward than it used to be.

So, do you actually need two spinning wheels?

The answer depends much more on how you spin than on what category a wheel happens to fall into.

Most yarn doesn't have a story.

It has a label. A colorway name. A country of origin listed in small print. But the actual fiber — where it was raised, what breed it came from, how it was processed — is invisible by the time it reaches you. That's the industrial model. Efficient, consistent, anonymous.

Handspun yarn works differently. And a handspun yarn subscription built around sourcing means the fiber has a traceable, intentional origin before a single yard is spun. Most of the fiber used for the feral scene hand spun yarn subscription is the same fiber ( batts and braids) that you would find in our other fiber arts subscriptions for spinning fiber. ( If you want to spin your own!)

Here's what that actually looks like.

If you’ve been asking around in spinning communities — online or at your local guild — you’ve probably heard some version of the same conversation. Someone asks, “What’s the best spinning wheel for a beginner who wants a wheel they won’t outgrow?” And then the thread explodes with opinions.

We’ve had that conversation hundreds of times. And after years of helping spinners at every level find their perfect wheel, our answer keeps coming back to the same place: the SpinOlution Bullfrog.

Here’s why — and we’ll be honest about who it’s right for and who it isn’t.

What Is a Handspun Yarn Subscription — And Is It Right for You?

Jun 18

So many lovely options!

If you’ve ever happened across hand spun yarn at a craft fair or yarn shop you know it’s special. It has a delightful squishy hand feel that is hard to replicate.

It doesn't look like the yarn at the craft store. It doesn't behave like it either. There's a liveliness to it, slight variations in thickness, a texture that shifts as you work with it, a quality that's hard to name but immediately felt. That's not a flaw. That's the point.

A handspun yarn subscription is a monthly delivery of exactly that. One skein, handspun by an independent artist, chosen to showcase what handspun yarn can actually do.

We Went to the Museum. We Found Fiber Everywhere.

My girls and I have a tradition. Whenever we visit a museum, we run a fiber arts scavenger hunt. It started as a way to keep them engaged. It turned into something else — a way of seeing that, once developed, doesn’t switch off. In the last few weeks of the school year we took off for an overnight trip from Knoxville to Nashville to visit The Hermitage ( Andrew Jackson’s Home) as well as a few museums most notably the TN State museum.

The Tennessee State Museum surprised us with how much there was to find.

Why I Source Fiber Differently — And What That Actually Means for Your Subscription

When I started spinning in 2017, I did what most new spinners do. I signed up for the popular subscription boxes. The ones everyone was talking about. They were beautiful — genuinely, the colorways were stunning — but something always felt a little off. The fiber was fine. Consistent. Generic. Month after month, the same base, the same feel, no real story behind where it came from or whose hands had touched it before mine.

How Yarn Is Actually Made: The Full Process from Raw Fiber to Finished Skein

Most knitters and weavers have touched hundreds of skeins of yarn without ever knowing what happened before the label was tied. Spinning changes that — and once you understand the process, you can’t unsee it.

Gotland vs Jacob Wool for Yarn Spinning

If you’re choosing between Gotland and Jacob, you’re basically deciding what kind of chaos you want in your life. Both are heritage breeds with personality, but they behave very differently on the wheel.

The Striving Is the Point: Imperfection, Entrepreneurship, and the Art of Showing Up

There’s a certain rhythm to the creative life — one part inspiration, one part overwhelm, and one part quiet comparison you wish you weren’t doing. Whether you craft, spin, knit, or run a handmade business, it’s easy to feel like everyone else has a cleaner studio, better lighting, sleeker photos, or a steadier hand at the wheel.

We’re always told not to compare ourselves. That it steals joy, drains momentum, distracts us from our own path.
And while that might be true, it’s also human nature — especially in creative fields where the work feels personal and the results are public.

Rambouillet, Merino & Corriedale Wool Braid Comparison

How These Fibers Actually Behave at the Wheel

Not all wool is created equal — and if you’ve ever wondered why certain fibers draft effortlessly while others feel fussy, grabby, or inconsistent, the answer almost always lives in the fiber itself.

In this comparison, we’re looking at Rambouillet, Merino, and Corriedale wool braids side by side, focusing on how they perform in real spinning conditions — not just how they’re described on paper. Micron counts and breed reputations only tell part of the story. What matters most is how a fiber behaves in your hands.

This breakdown is designed to help you choose fiber with intention instead of guesswork.