We’re local to Kent, Washington, just south of Seattle. We do not currently have a physical store.

You’re in the right place! You can buy my yarn right here on my website! We ship anywhere in the U.S. We also sometimes go to shows and festivals, so keep up to date with our social media!

Please allow 2-3 business days for shipping. I try to get orders out quickly, but sometimes life gets in the way, and I’m only one person!

Arrival times will depend on the shipping options you selected at checkout.

Returns are accepted only if the product arrives in an unusable condition. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at therovingcat@gmail.com

I wish! Then I could sleep for a hundred years!

But, seriously, no, because I don’t use that kind of spinning wheel. The spinning wheel implied by the Sleeping Beauty story uses a “quill spindle.” It’s basically a metal spike and functions like a drop spindle turned sideways and powered by the drive wheel. I’ve used one for demonstration purposes in the past, but my Ashford Traditional has an orifice on a flyer instead, which is how most handspinning on wheels is done today. Instead of a spike, it’s actually a hole, so there’s nothing to prick your finger on!

All over the place, but mostly locally! Check the item description for exactly where each skein’s fiber came from. I like to buy fiber at festivals where I can feel the texture and see the colors in person. Some of the fibers I spin are gifted to me by people who know I love to spin. Some are bought while roving around. But I will always keep track of where I get every ounce, and I’ll pass that information along in the item descriptions as completely as I can!

I “wet set” and “snap” my yarns when they’re spun, and then hang them to dry in the rare PNW sun. My typical process is to wash the skeins in hot water with Dawn dish soap and then rinse and wring them out. I “snap” them by tugging hard and fast on the skeins in multiple places. This helps the yarn distribute the twist more evenly and slightly felt the fibers together to make a more consistent yarn. It also allows fluffier fibers, such as angora or merino, to “bloom” and show their fluffiness better.

I mostly spin sheep wool because it’s easy to spin and easy to obtain, but also harder to find in mass-produced yarns. However, I also like to experiment with other fibers, so you’ll find interesting non-wool fibers in the shop from time to time.

But I’m only one person spinning alongside other professional work. I can’t provide every fiber. There are lots of other handspinners out there, and they’re all making beautiful, unique things, so please do seek them out if my yarns aren’t right for your project!

Yes, you can get much cheaper yarn at the craft store. And that’s the right yarn for a lot of projects. I use it too! Mass-produced yarn offers consistency and affordability, but handspun yarn offers a wider range of natural fibers, a unique palette for your own fiber art, and a deeper knowledge of your yarn’s story.

When you buy handspun yarn, you’re paying for the experience, expertise, story, and tradition as well as the fiber itself. Mass produced yarn will be more consistent and you can get it in any quantity, but handspun yarn is for when you want a project to be really special and unique.

For some perspective, a skein of handspun yarn easily takes anywhere from four to eight hours to produce. Buying fiber from small farms and local dye artists is also expensive compared to getting mass-produced fiber, because these vendors can’t use economies of scale to keep prices down—but they know their animals by name and their fiber personally, so I love working with them.

My process involves traditional, pre-industrial techniques and tools. The industrial revolution hit the textile industry first and foremost, and completely changed the way we see textiles. Fabric went from being one of the most ostentatious displays of wealth to being cheap and disposable. Clothing went from being bespoke, intimate, and precious to being generic, mass-produced, and cheap. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it means that we can have more and cleaner clothes, for instance. But sometimes we want something made the old ways, by hand, with love and care. When you buy handspun yarn, you know that every inch of that yarn has passed through someone’s expert hands multiple times.

When you make a baby bootie out of handspun yarn to welcome your new grandchild, you know that the yarn was made with as much care as you are making the bootie. When you make a hat for your best friend with handspun yarn, you know that the yarn was loved as much as you love making that hat for your beloved friend.

I spin my yarn as best I can, but all handspun yarn will have inconsistency because humans are not machines, and neither are sheep! The fibers I spin are often direct from the farmers, and often processed either by hand or by small mills, which can be less consistent than industrial processes. My own spinning then introduces another natural, human element to the yarn, and I draft my fibers by hand without any specialized tools.

Some of the yarns are intentionally inconsistent; these will say so in the product descriptions.

Most yarns, however, are going to have only natural inconsistencies that are inherent to any handspun yarn. I measure my yarn in multiple places to be sure that I’m reporting the closest yarn weight information possible so you know what gauge you need for your project, but please understand that there may be some variation that will lend your project a unique, charming handspun look.

Social media! Please follow our social media accounts for more cat pictures.

I don’t force my cats to pose or interact with the yarn-making in any way, so I can only get pics when the cats feel like working. But when I get good cat pics, I’ll post them on social media!