About

I’m Dystini.  I’ve been crafting in one form or another for most of my life.  These days I’m all about fiber.  I’ve been knitting since November of 2011, crocheting (although not very well) since August of 2012, spinning since March of 2014, working with raw fleece since July of 2014 and weaving since April 2016.

I first started knitting on looms (actually I did knit with needles back when I was 20 or so but forgot anything I had learned back then).  First those brightly colored plastic ones and then a wooden sock loom.  After 6 months or so of this I decided that I could probably handle 2 sticks and gave regular knitting a try.  I kept up with the sock loom for another 6 months or so (dpns scared me) but since then it’s been all needle knitting (I got over my fear of dpns.)

Crocheting – not much to say.  I can do granny squares.  That’s about it.

I should add a side note here.  I don’t use much in the way of commercial yarns.  The majority of my yarn is unraveled from thrift store commercial sweaters and frequently plied and dyed.

And that leads into spinning.  I actually started spinning on a spindle much earlier than I said above.  I don’t count it because I was plying strands of those unraveled sweaters and not spinning actual fiber.  After several years of this I decided to try spinning with fiber and got a starter kit online.  I loved it.  But already prepped fiber is expensive so I started hunting for raw fleeces.  I got some Hampshire for free and then found a local shepherdess and have been buying from her ever since.  In July of 2015 I got my first spinning wheels ( one with a broken flyer and a working one, both antiques).  The working wheel has her quirks but I do love her and spin frequently.

Weaving is the newest thing – since June 2016.  I picked up an Easy Weaver rigid heddle loom at an estate sale.  So far I’m just doing pet mats out of mostly acrylic (some commercial, some unraveled).

I’ll not say much about my non-crafty life on here but if you’re curious, I’ve been married for 23 years to a wonderful man who totally encourages and enables my craftyness.  We have 2 cats, no kids. I also do some vegetable gardening, a lot of reading and occasionally some coloring.