Category: Spinning

I had purchased this yarn from an Etsy seller about a month ago. Almost immediately, I realized it would not work for what I had planned: a cozy. The yarn was thick and thin and wouldn’t completely hide the item it was wrapped around, i.e. cozy-ing.

Before I go any further, I want to stress that the fault does not lie with the artist. The fault is all mine. I am too picky. I prefer a yarn to have the following features: consistent thickness throughout the majority – occasional bumps and nubs are fine, minimal friction when sliding through my fingers, and balance – although some unbalance is fine and preferable for certain projects.

Because the yarn was over-plyed with a thread, it was very elastic. It’s a nice feature in certain projects (NO fault lies with the artist), but I found it to be annoying because the yarn would not glide through my fingers. It kept bunching up.

So, I un-plyed the thread from the yarn.
Then, I plyed the now-just-wool skein with Knit Pick’s Quarry.

Then, I folded the yarn back onto itself using the Andean method, creating a 4-ply yarn.
Lastly, I removed the orange and black ribbons, since they no longer complemented the yarn.

I’ve renamed it Royal Sunshine.

I think I’ll use it to knit myself a headband for the winter months. It should keep my ears toasty and warm.

In the past week, I have purchased an amazing amount of fleece: over 2.25 pounds. I am still reeling from the experience and lapse in sanity. 

WHAT was I thinking? I’m not exactly sure, but I will try to communicate my train of thought.

My 1st attempt of spinning was from Corriedale roving that had been sitting in my cedar closet for about 5 years. The years had not been kind to it; time had compacted the fibers into a very flat disk. The roving measured approximately 4 inches in width. These two facts meant that I had to do a lot of pre-drafting. Additional drafting had to be done as it was being spun onto my Ashford spindle.

My 2nd and current attempt at spinning is from Shetland roving. This roving is soft and lofty. More importantly, it was carded into pencil roving, roving that is approximately 1 inch wide. My first thought when I received it was that I won’t have to do any pre-drafting. Wrong. I still do though it has been greatly reduced. Pre-drafting consists of just teasing the fibers further apart so that the yarn can be spun thinner than the initial carded 1-inch width.

These two wools have been great to work with as a beginner spinner. Yet, my favorite wool is alpaca. It’s heaven in your hands. My entire reason for spinning was so that I could eventually spin my own alpaca. There you have it: Reason #1.

Reason #2: If there is no amount of carding that can eliminate pre-drafting, why not skip the step altogether? Why not indeed. So, I did my research. Come to find out – it is possible to eliminate the carding process with certain fibers. Alpaca is one of those fibers that can be spun straight from the locks (sections pulled off of a fleece).

Reason #3: I love to take something and strip it down to the basics. In design work, I start with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. In gardening, I start with seeds or bulbs. Short of shearing the animal yourself, the closest I can get to the basics of wool is to purchase the fleece and start from scratch.

Reason #4: It’s Maple’s fault. She wooed me. I was browsing through her Etsy store to purchase yarn for my swap partner and I came across her listings for alpaca roving and raw fleece. Her description of Sunshine’s fleece grabbed my attention. “By the way, this fleece has hardly any vegetation in it. I am going to spin this without further preparation, like carding or combing. Because it is crimpy and long this is easily spun.”

So, my 1st purchase of raw alpaca fleece was from Maple of North Star Alpacas. Here are pictures of the raw fleece she sent me.

Sunshine

A lock of Sunshine: Do you see how it changes from cream to fawn and back to cream?

Polaris

On Sunday, I received a call from my local alpaca farmer. She invited me to come out and see the bounty from her latest shearing.

As I was walking towards her house on the farm, I was greeted by Sammy.

I heard Sammy’s greeting of Meow, Meow before I even saw him. Walking swiftly to me was an orange tabby cat. I knelt down to meet him and he bowed his head so I could scratch his ears. I spent the next several minutes taking photos of Sammy and petting him. What a sweet cat!

Show and Tell of Shearing

Though I had no plans to purchase anything more than a sampling of fibers totaling one pound. I came home with two pounds. What can I say? I have no will power.

Buddy, the blind alpaca, before any processing

Buddy after shaking (to remove the vegetation) and carding (to blend in the sun-dried tips)

Magnum whose fiber is red!

Dan commented that Magnum’s fiber looked eerily like my hair.

And more goodies starting from the top right and working clockwise: Cream alpaca blended with brown alpaca roving, Dark grey – almost black alpaca roving, undyed silk roving, and lastly brown alpaca roving.

Oh, yes, I have enough fiber and roving to last me for many months. I am NOT allowed to purchase anymore no matter how pretty it is.

Which begs the question, how am I coming along on that Shetland roving? Well, I still have 4 more ounces in my cedar closet, untouched. On the positive side, I am making mean work of the roving upstairs.

I LOVE my new spindle. It spins and spins. I highly recommend Jenkins Woodworking.

I don’t know about you, but my creative urges typically hit me late at night. Living in a small town, most stores close between 5 and 7 pm, except for good, ole Walmart which stays open till midnight. Of course, the nearest LYS is a half hour drive away. So, the chances of me obtaining a 2nd spindle at ten o’clock last night were nil.

My 1st spindle is hard at work spinning the brown roving from Serenity Sheep Woolens into yarn.

Yet, I had to ply my 1st handspun ball of wool together. I had to.

So, I drug out my kitchen scale and attempted to equally divide the ball of yarn. (Note to self: Buy a digital kitchen scale).

Then, holding the (inexact) middle point in my left hand, I drew out an equal length of yarn from my now 2 balls of yarn. The laws of Physics took over. The yarn fell back onto itself, naturally plying together until it was completely balanced. I repeated these steps twice over until I had a length of plyed yarn measuring approximately 3 yards.

Next, I wound up the plyed yarn into a small ball. Retrieving the rubber band from my hair, I wrapped it around the ball.

Again, I drew out an equal length of yarn from each of the two balls. I pinched the yarns together at the point where they met the two balls of single plyed yarn. Then, I stood on chair, holding my hands out in front of me, and let gravity do the rest.

You’ll forgive the lack of process pictures. I didn’t think the blogland needed to see a picture of me in my pajamas with my hair in shambles. A scary sight if ever there was one.

Instead, I will show you a picture of my handspun, two-plyed yarn cake. The yarn is bulky, measuring about 3 wpi (wraps per inch).

If you look closely at the separate length of yarn that was left over once I had plyed the balls together (a reminder that my kitchen scale lacks precision), you’ll notice that the yarn is not tightly plyed.

This is not a mark against my resourceful (a.k.a. cheap) method of plying. Rather it is a mark against the lack of tension I spun into the single plyed yarn.

As Merike Saarniit taught in her Spinning for Knitting class, “If you want it [the yarn] strong and tighter, you’ll need more twist on your singles – NOT more twist in your plying.” I highly recommend her class, assuming they are still offering it. I took Merike’s class at Stitches East in Baltimore, Maryland two years ago.

The only technique she didn’t discuss in her class was pre-drafting. I’ve found that the more you pre-draft the fiber, the easier it is to spin. Plus, it gives you a more consistent yarn. As Windyridge says, “Preparation is key. What you put in – you get out.”

As to what my plans are for this newly plyed wool, I’m not exactly sure. Last night I fell asleep with cabled pillows dancing in my head.

I finished spinning up the last of my Corriedale roving this morning!

Here is a closer pic of how the spun wool looks.

After taking several deep breaths, I slowly started to pull the spindle apart.

It worked perfectly. The ball didn’t collapse afterward nor did the hook snag any wool when I pulled it through the middle of the ball.

Now, I don’t know what to do with it. I would prefer the finished product to be a two-ply yarn. Plying it will help balance the yarn and lend it a more consistent thickness. I started out spinning with my muscles and nerves tensed and finished very relaxed. If left single ply, the yarn will read like a book.

I had originally intended to ply it with the brown roving I received two days ago. Yet, that would leave me in the same predicament. I would need to search for something to ply the 2nd ball of brown roving with.

I could ply the wool back onto itself, but I’ve never done that with such a large ball. I’ve only tried the method with just a few yards.

Well, that settles it. I need to go buy more roving. Grin.