Ask a Spinner – Do you have a studio?

By Tara, on February 26th, 2009

A little departure from the weekly “Ask Tara”, this week I asked a few spinners what their Spin-Life is like. I’m delighted by the variety of places and ways people spin!

Today I’ll share their fiber “studio” set-up and next week we’ll talk about when and where they actually sit at their wheel.

But first, let’s meet the spinners:

Liz of Hobbledehoy
Esther of JazzyTurtle
Velma of ColorBOMB Creations
Rachel-Marie of KnittyDirtyGirl
Lacey of In A Circle of Fog
Erin of Wooly Hands
Mia of Knit and Play with Fire

Do you have spinning studio? If so, what’s it like?

Liz:

I have little corners of storage space set up like this:

for fiber to spin, handspun yarn, and batt bags. I spin out in my
living room most of the time, but I have a giant bedroom that I
sectioned into studio space (it’s seriously ginormous!) I usually
card at a table in my dining area (where we store my loom, but never
eat).
My bedroom studio area is a cat-free zone, so I keep finished products
there, a long L shaped desk with my sewing machine, a computer, my
fabric stash, and crates of bagged batts. I have a separate closet
for storing bumps of wool or large quantities of un-dyed fiber, but
bumps only last a couple of weeks, so that closet is mostly filled
with packaging supplies.

Esther:

I usually spin in the living room because that’s where the tv/dvr is. I keep my prepped fiber in a big wooden salad bowl- next to my wheel, and a pile of ‘next on the wheel’ fiber next to the couch (unless hubby puts it back in my studio b/c he’s a neat freak)

My studio has my desk/computer a bookshelf and 2 metal 5 shelves for rubbermaid tubs full of fabric, my sewing machine, serger and other supplies. I have a table for my printer and carder with fiber underneath. I have an entire wall of cubbies (that i got from target) where most of my fiber lives (what’s not under the carding table) the closet holds 9 cubes from the craft store that organizes all my scrapbooking supplies.

Velma:

For me, most of my house is my ‘studio’. I’ve taken over the larger of the 2 spare bedrooms, which is small (about 10×12), and it is designated as my ‘official’ workspace – aka The Bombshelter, the COLORBOMBshelter haha. But it is so packed with fibery & non-fibery stuff that I can’t actually work in there. I’ve been having fantasies of renting one of those portable ‘POD’ portable storage containers, plopping it in the driveway, carting all the stuff into the Shelter, & starting from scratch in that room! Then I could paint the room (I’m leaning toward orange & blue), & only put back what will reasonably fit in the space, so I can actually *use* the room for it’s designated purpose.In the meantime, I use the Shelter as a storage room for fiber, yarn, & extra spinning-related tools, like my 2 extra wheels & 1 of my drumcarders. I have a couple of those giant wire shelving units designed for garages and commercial kitchens; they’re filled with jumbo plastic totes & milk crates filled with my materials. If you want to see how crammed & disorganized they are, check out my studio set on Flickr.

Since I can’t actually work in there, I’ve spread out my working area over the entire main room of our house, which is about 12×17. The 3×6 table is covered with materials, laptop, tools, 1 of my carders, books, etc. There’s a pic of that in my Studio set, too.

Arrayed around the table & spilling over into the adjoining kitchen are my drying rack laden with skeins of wet yarn; skeinwinder with yarn ready to be set; jars of yarn scraps; a tub containing my current yarn stock; my Lendrum wheel, Harry; a bookcase w/ shipping supplies; etc., etc., etc… All the south-facing windows are on this side of the house, so I get good light for spinning & for photographs when the weather isn’t nice enough to use the backyard. Even the kitchen gets drafted into service: currently, the kitchen table is covered with a Husqvarna felting machine, felting supplies, my scale, and various bowls of fiber, tools, & miscellaneous work stuff.

Rachel Marie:

I store my drum carder on the shelf but I use it on the floor. I spin in the studio, use my laptop everywhere… My studio is right next to my baby’s room so I just gate off the steps and he can play in my studio and his room while I work.

I have my journal illustration supplies in a handy basket, so when I do need to work downstairs because I want to be around the family or something… it’s easy to take that down to the kitchen table.

Lacey:

My studio is shaping up nicely. Right now I have a pair of old bookshelves holding most of my fiber, but soon they will be replaced with an entire wall of built in shelves- I’ve been saving forever and am overly excited about them! I have all of my shipping supplies and art supplies stored on wire shelving in the closet. On one side of the room I have my drum carder and a wonderfully huge surface to work on, and my handmade light box, spinning wheels and comfy spinning chair fill up the rest of the room. Two weeks ago I painted the walls in my favorite color: peacock blue! I’ve never had a room that was 100% studio before and It is beyond inspiring!

Erin:

My yarn habits live in three spaces in my house. When I first moved into the place this past summer, my plans were to have it out on the back sun porch. It has AC and heat and electric, so I thought it would make a good place to spin. Even with AC and heat, the porch can get hot in the summer and very cool in the winter due to the leaky nature of the old porch windows. I’ve since moved my wheel inside even though my spinning chair and supplies (extra bobbins, plying thread, etc) live out on the porch. I have relocated my spinning wheel to the living room. It’s mostly out of the way so it just stays in there. I can spin while mindlessly listening to the tv and staying where the temp is more agreeable.

My wool stash lives inside of the guest room. The guest room has some wire shelving that I store it all in. I wish it were more organized, but there are still some boxes from the move in there, so I can’t really do what I want to do with the space. Maybe that will be a spring project for me. I keep all of my wool here. When I start a spinning project, I pick it out and take it into the living room. I can’t keep the wool in the living room ’cause my cat likes to eat it. I can close it up in the guest room.

Mia

I currently spin in m y living room but only because my studio is a complete and total disaster. My studio is a tiny room that also provides access to the attic. It is also my quilt studio and a place for books and fabric, needlework supplies, and yarn. Okay, I have yarn all over the house but the bulk of it is in the studio. There are also containers for spinning fiber in there too.

Come spring, that room will get repainted and finally finished. I have to have some place to put the drum carder I am planning on getting after all.

Thanks girls, for sharing your studios!

Where does your fiber and yarn stash reside? How do you have it organized? Answer in the comments!