I was disappointed by the sparkliness of the yarn I spun last night. So I decided to try again. So I carded up a batt of lime green wool with the green/purple angelina. This time I used a bit more liberal amount of sparkes.
Anyway, I wasn’t in the mood to do my usual predrafting so I just split the batt into some slivers and started spinnging. Magically somewhere in there I randomly figured out how to do long draw drafting! Halleujah!!! My yarn is so much more smooth and even now that I’m doing long draw. I definitely need more practice, but even with my beginning effort I can see a marked difference in the quality and speed of my spinning.
I’m going to have to figure out what I want to ply it with! I’m thinking maybe some chocolate brown. Mint chip yarn anyone?
I scratched my itch and did some spinning tonight. First up I spun a single using white romney I carded with some green/purle angelina. Its my first time spinning with angelina and I didn’t use enough. Oh well. I also decided to give some new drafting techniques a whirl. I can sort of do spinning from the fold, but despite reading instructions i have no idea how to do long draw.
Then I took some of the green, purple, and lavender wool I dyed awhile ago. I carded a layered batt using all three. Then I spun up a single. I plied them and got about 76 yards. It’s sort of thick and thin. I’m not exactly sure if I like it plied with the white. A mint green would have looked better. I think it looks better in this photo than it does in person.
I ended up with 50 extra yards of the green/purple single. I really like the way the colors look.
update: I set the twist on the plied yarn last night. Looking at it again this morning, I think I like it better.
So I spent this evening dyeing up a storm. First I took all of my Washfast Acid Dye kit and made stock dyes. I knew I was drinking all of those 1L bottles of ginger ale for a reason! Then I while the fiber was soaking I started planning my dyeing according to Deb Menz’s dyeing book.
The first few I did, I was very scientific. I tried microwaving but it wasn’t going so well, so I switched to the stove. That didn’t work too well either. So I reread the Washfast direction and it said if in the end it doesn’t absorb all the dye to add some vinegar. A ha!
I was out of white vinegar so I used some apple vinegar and then it all started coming together. I also abandoned my scientific approach and just started throwing dye together. I have a pretty good eye so that usually works out for me. So in the end…I had 2lbs of domestic wool dyed in 11 lovely colors. If I just had red I would have had a nice rainbow.
I have to go to Long Island tomorrow for a christening, but hopefully I’ll have some carding time before I get ready.
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| the first carding of the fiber. (sorry my camera is way overexposing the pink for some reason) |
After some searching last night I found the ball of roving I had painted with the leftover dye from painting yarn for Natalie’s Christmas gift. I decided to card it up and ended up with 3 batts.
Now theoretically I should probably have split and drafted those batts, and then mixed them together as I spun. However, being the impatient person I am, I just grabbed the first one and started spinning. Hot damn it’s so easy to draft fresh carded fiber! I was spinning pretty thin so I decided I would end up plying this yarn. So I did a batt and a half on one spool, and the same on another. The first batt I carded 3 times and it still had a lot of purple in it. The other 2 ended up much more evenly blended.
So tonight after work I got plying! I was much happier with my plying today than what I did yesterday…and I actually filled a bobbin. That’s the first time ever for me. So here is my yarn (once again the colors suck. it’s got some very hot pinks, some lighter pink, and bits of lavender too)
I’m so happy with myself today. There are definitely some spots where its too thin or too thick but overall I’m definitely getting better at spinning evenly. Plus it’s a real usable skein at 108yds and 104g.
Here is a closeup
It’s also pretty cool that I used the exact same painted fiber to make this yarn, but with a different preparation I got totally different results.
About 10lbs of wool (merino, domestic, romney, falklands) arrived today, so I’m going to be dyeing and carding more this weekend.
And on a side note, I discovered that when my wheel squeaks it completely freaks out my cat. She stood by me and whined until I got the WD40 out, and once it was oiled up she plopped down next to me and went to sleep.
So you know how yesterday I was whining that I got my drum carder and didn’t have anything to card? Well guess just what showed up at my doorstep? 10lbs of fiber! Woo hoo! I must have good karma or something this week.
Plus I found the ball of rainbow dyed roving last night and I carded it and am working on spinning it up. I’ll have some photos tonight.
Guess what was at my doorstep today????
My drum carder! Woohoo! Time to go play!
I got a shipping notice from Hello Yarn today. My drum carder is on its way! I didn’t get a tracking number or a notice of how it was shipped, but I looked online and the Louet distributor seems to be in New York. So I would reckon I should have it tommorow or friday. Saturday should be chock full of fibery goodness.
I was kind of whining that I haven’t had much time to spin lately, when it was suggested to me by Pippi Knee Socks that I just find 15 minutes to spin before I go to bed or when I get up in the morning. So I did. I had some roving I had dyed with the leftover dye from painting that yarn for Natalie. While it was out Lola got at it, and basically turned nice roving into a pile of fluff.
Since I’m out of practice i grabbed the pile o’fluff and spun that up. It’s amazing how much thinner I’m spinning these days now that I figured out that I needed to loosen the tension on my bobbin. Anyway that fiber was kind of a mess with the staple going every which way and me with out carders or a comb to straighten it out. So the the singles were a bit slubby, but when I got home last night I plied it up. I also discovered that your really do need to overspin alittle..the first few shots of plying my singles were falling apart. But once I got it going it was alright. Before I went on spinning hiatus I had figured out what I was doing wrong with my plying and now I can’t remember what I changed. They look ok but not as good as when I was doing them before. There’s about 30yds of a, oh lets say, laceweight yarn.
I can’t wait for all my new goodies to get here!
For future reference
NYS Sheep and Wool is October 15th & 16th.
NJ Sheep & Fiber Festival is September 24 & 25.
