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May 23, 2005
Ply me a river
This weekend I went up to the spare room and dug out my drop spindle for the first time in more than two years and gave it another go. I am hopelessly bad at this, and I need some advice from all you pros out there.
In a bag with my spinning stuff I found a snarled pile of my first singles, spun almost three years ago from some blue and green mystery wool that the woman I bought my carding brushes from gave me to practice with. The yarn I made with it was uneven and sloppy. After I untangled it all, split it into two lengths and plied them together it looked a lot better and less uneven so I got cocky and tried making more singles with some madder-dyed merino roving, which was a freaking disaster. I don't mind so much the thick-and-thin thing, and I know that if I'm lucky some of that won't show so much once I get two plies together. But what's really driving me to distraction is how some parts of the yarn are spun way too tightly while other parts don't seem spun at all. Why does this happen? I don't really understand why the twist doesn't even itself out along the strand, and it's making me mental. Also this roving is a colossal pain in the arse; I've pulled it apart so it's a little thinner, and snapped it a little to loosen it up. Is there something else I'm supposed to be doing to get roving ready to spin? I think for now I'm just going to go back to some of the unprocessed fleece and the carders and spin from that, but I have a lot of roving (how on earth did I get this much?) and will need to figure out what to do with it sooner or later.
After my patience with the merino had run out, I looked in the bottom of my basket and there was a pile of rolags from the blue and green practice stuff; I spun those up, and then, because I don't know from ugly, I plied it together with the merino. And because I have no shame, here's a picture.
My plying is not all that even either. There's a shock. The blue-green looks okay, but do you see how in some places the orange is practically straight with the green wrapping around it? Oy.
I'm not too worried about the hideous colour combination right now; I'd rather just get my spinning a little better first, and this stuff was free. I'll probably knit a hat with this, because isn't that what everyone does with their sloppy first handspun? I'd make wristers but I would probably never wear them, and nobody else would want them.
Another question: a while ago I bought a sari at the dollar a pound Goodwill that is teal and mauve, two of my least favourite colours; I figured six metres of ugly silk is still six metres of silk, and it cost me less than a dollar. If I were to cut the sari into strips and spin singles with it, what do you think would happen if I tried to ply it together with a yarn from an unraveled sweater? Would I be smarter to just spin something to ply it with? I like the idea of making something from all recycled materials, but not if I'm just going to make a mess.
Posted by jodi at May 23, 2005 12:01 PM | categories: projects
Comments
Why would you spin the sari? I would think if you cut it into thin enough strips, you could just knit with that, which would be incredible. Matter of fact, I have a ugly forest green and gold sari that I just might do that to. I saw an incredible pillow in some book where they took a huge piece of felt, randomly spattered it with gold fabric paint and then cut it into a thin, continuous piece. You knit it into a pillow cover and it looked fantastic.
As far as spinning with the spindle, I tried it for 3 days before I got frustrated. I went out and bought a wheel the next day and never looked back, so unfortunately, no advice there.
Good luck though. I love the yarns you spun.
Posted by: Christiane at May 23, 2005 02:55 PM
I think your spinning looks gorgeous. The slubs (bits of unspun fiber) in your yarn happen because you are allowing greater, then smaller amounts of fiber into your "drafting zone". With practice, you won't anymore. Then later on when you want slubs, you won't be able to make them. Nope, you're right -- the twist will never jump the slub.
Posted by: claudia at May 23, 2005 03:58 PM
ohh shopping at the pound! I have no spinning advice at all, I have never tried but I am excited hat you found a sari at the pound ( as I call it). Good Luck
Posted by: justine at May 23, 2005 06:56 PM
For me (who has only been spinning a short time) to get really even yarn on my spindle I have to pre draft it twice. The second time I get to about half of what I want it to be when spun. Like Claudia said a slub is a road bump. If you get one you can park the spindle and go to the underspun part and untwist it and draft it out again. But you have to do it slowly other wise you will pull the whole thing apart. I don't spin Merino well on my spindle yet. Its a little to slippery for my heavier spindle.
I have read several ways to spin sari silk one is thin strips in different lenghts where you spin two at a time and never let them end in the same spot. Then I have read about carding small bits with other fibers to spin for lots of texture.
I think it would be fine to ply with another yarn as long as they were spun the same direction.
I also wonder if there is a way to cut the sari in a way to get one large spiral piece so you don't have to knot the shorter pieces together. Do you think it matters how you cut the sari? On the bias, up, sideways?
Posted by: Danielle at May 23, 2005 07:55 PM
I'm really crappy with a drop-spindle. I highly recommend a spinning wheel, though.
Posted by: Snowball at May 24, 2005 06:53 PM
Nice title. I'll e-mail you soon.
Posted by: Cap'n Pete at May 24, 2005 10:15 PM
Well, it is the nature of fleece that if one section is thinner, then the twist will collect there and the thicker sections will remain less twisted.
When I prep a roving, I note only snap it, I tease the whole thing apart, which is basically pulling perpindicular to the staple until I can almost run my fingers through it. A general rule for me is make it as loose as possible.
You can also spin from the fold, which I found to a bomb ass way to spin. You fold the roving aver your index finger and draft from the fold, google it and you will find directions.
The sari thing sounds hot, spun or unspun.
Posted by: Rachel T at May 25, 2005 03:15 PM