Spinning Art Yarn While Traveling on the SpinOlution Pollywog
One of the best parts of designing and creating your own yarn is having a great excuse to stay home and rechage your batteries. This is something I’m hugely passionate about because as in “ introverted - extrovert” or “ Empath” or whatever you want to call us( I think there are a lot of us here…. We thrive best when we have time out around people to be engaged in our community and laugh and share and be a part of the world but that can really take it toll on you. This is where being able to have a nice rainy day at the house with no pressure to do too much except play around with your yarn can really help to keep you grounded.
I guess you could say I fully understand the desire to both have wanderlust and solitude. My Aunt Kay always says the best thing about travel is getting to come home agian and find everything right where you left it. Well I think there’s also a lot to be said for being able to take your passion for spinning and maybe a quite corner to yourself along on the journey with you.
This can at first glance seem arduous due to many wheels not fitting in cars that are already packed to the gils ( you feel me Mommas) and then there’s trying to convince loved ones that you don’t have to just bring a wheel but also something to spin and on yeah let’s use www.mylocalwool.com ( shameless plug) to find some farms or yarn shops along the way to pick up a wooly souvenir .
I digress… as you see having everything get packed up nice and tidy can be really handy and a must for stress free travel. I myself turn into a complete psychopath for just about a full week before and after any trip so keeping that packing stress down is key for me or I’ll just throw in the whole towel.
So this is where my favorite little freindly travel wheel comes in handy. While it’s big brother the king bee is also fabulous and folds into a box at this point with our two small kids and dog and all of their crap and then all of my husbands coolers with food and drinks going into the car sometimes even a cool folded into a box wheel can seem like too much.
However! for me at least when I take my pollywog apart and it goes really well in a large craft bag like I’d put a sweater project in well then that seems totally reasonable.
Reasons I Love My Polly
It’s so fun to spin on. It’s like you think about pushing the treadle with one toe and there it goes.. My larger problem is spinning too fast because it’s too fun.
No weird wires and do-hickeys to get messed up or snagged while traveling.
Super easy to take apart and put together.
Open hook orifice and pegs so yes you can spin “ artsy type yarn”
This brings me to the point of this and my video. One of the things I’m most asked about as a top SpinOlution Dealer is “ Is it true you can spin yarn yarn or chunky yarn on the 4 oz pollywog?”
Well I have indeed made entire videos about this here is another.
My main points here is yes you can. Thanks to the open hook and the open pegs you can spin some crazy yarn on this tiny wheel. The only limit is the 4 oz size of the bobbin. However with some tips from yours truly and realistic expectations that you may end up with 2 balls of art yarn instead of one big ball of art yarn ( but really who cares…) You can have a grand ole time spinning some rebellious yarn and impressing all of your friends while drinking wine at your next scenic destination even if it’s just next to your neighbors kiddie pool with a Trader Joe’s Margarita ( they have the best premade mix trust me).
I loaded up the pollywog and two 2oz batts from my personal favotire queen of the batts Heidi that I had been hoarding for personal use and away we went to Lake Lure NC. I absolutely adore the house we rent there. You have to drive up all of these scary little roads that don’t seem like roads an then at the top you are rewarded with an epic view of mountains and deep blue lake water. The house has two balconies and both are great for spinning I made sure to try them both out. I filmed the following video spinning these two batts 1.5 batts thick chunky thick and thin and the last half a batt thinner and even more like a dk or sport single. ( want to learn what I’m talking about here hop on over and get access to the dream yarn course…)
I then did a 2 ply letting the different textures really play off of each other. I was super happy with how this yarn turned out and it was the perfect long weekend project. I hope you find these tips helpful and as always if you have any questions about the wheels or yarn spinning let me know.
