SpinnySpinny

While I was going through the closet, I pulled out a bag of brown Bluefaced Leicester top. It’s nice fiber, but the prep is less than spectacular. I knew this when I bought it and it was certainly a nice price, but the little bits of tangled fiber mixed in are a bother. I’ve taken it out several times to try to find a project for it, without coming up with something I could get excited about. And the nuisance of picking out the neps isn’t really the problem.

Modern handspinners love them some BFL. It’s hugely popular among novices: fast to spin, easy to find and not hideously expensive. I got it originally to practice short forward draft (I normally do short backward draft for worsted) so it’s ok if the yarn doesn’t come out perfect. But it’s not the fine wool that I normally work with and I can’t decide what to do with it. I’ve tried a bunch of different samples in different techniques and still nothing jumps out as “gotta do this!” I know that brown is part of the problem for me, but I thought it would be interesting to play with.

It drafts well with long draw either from the fold or directly from the end of the top, in 3-ply it makes a fuzzy knitting yarn. I can’t think of anything I’d want to knit except maybe another hat. Hats make nice gifts. I’d have to think about who I might give a handspun, hand knitted hat to who doesn’t have one already, can be trusted to take care of it and would actually wear it. Fuzzy yarn is warm, but prone to felting.

The next sample was sock yarn, a couple different ways. Directly from the top a 3-ply worsted was ok but uninspiring and picking out the lumps a nuisance. I combed some to see how annoying it would be to remove the bits and the results were only so-so. There is a huge range of fiber lengths so combing makes a top that is half the fiber length at the shorter end. This makes it draft differently in the different sections. And planking, re-combing and all that is way too much work for an eh fiber. There is also still the question of who would I be giving these brown socks to, provided I were able to actually finish both of them.

Then were various weaving yarns. As a single, with enough twist for warp, it was a little harsh. It might be interesting garment fabric. 2-ply was just boring. I tried carding, both to see if it would open up the lumps and if it would make a more interesting yarn, and it accomplished neither.

Once again I set it aside for another day. I’ve gone through probably 50g trying to find something I like, so it’s good I’ve got a bag full of it.

With the sample spinning finished I went looking for some more fiber in the closet to work on. I pulled out something that has been sitting around a while to try to at least get all the fiber spun. I originally bought two packages of the Ashland Bay multicolor merino with the intent to make a scarf, woven of singles. I spun the first about three years ago and then it got put aside.

I kept the little reference sample I was using, but in getting back to it I had a hard time keeping the same size. So the new skein turned out a little finer. This isn’t a disaster, I can measure the two ends together so they are mixed in the warp and evenly distributed. But still not exactly what I was after. I’ve had other yarns where one skein ended up very different from the others and sometimes there just isn’t much you can do about it but decide you were going to make a different project. My usual practice of spinning way too much yarn generally saves me but isn’t exactly the most efficient. Better is to work more on matching the existing yarn, or just finish all the spinning at once in the first place.

With that dubious success over with, I picked up another long-abandoned project and started spinning more of the merino from the county fair yarn. I have one full bobbin, two partial and tons of fiber. I figure I can at least get through the stuff already combed that has been sitting in a box for over a year. I’m doing better on matching the existing yarn, as I still can compare how it looks on the bobbin along with my reference sample. Plus this was intended to be a 3-ply, which hides a multitude of sins.

I’ve got half the warp measured and sleyed. Honestly, I don’t know which half. It doesn’t really matter as long as I keep the yarn from each ball together.

I did it in two sections, sleying one group on top of the other. I tied a string above the first group to keep the second from getting tangled and make it easier to see what I was doing.

I’m working on a proposal for Maker Faire, the local geek extravaganza at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds the first weekend in May. With CNCH that same weekend, the usual suspects will be in Sacramento. The deadline to submit is 12 March, so I need to pull this together quickly. I have some equipment and some fiber and a few interested parties but I need people who can commit to spin and/or weave for one or both days so it’s not just me. That could very well be you.

Either way, I will be there. Because I always am, for one, but also The Boyfriend will be showing off the singing, dancing robots. But it sure would be nice to have a kick-ass textile demo.

So in measuring the warp, we learn a few things. First, it’s more sticky than I’d like. Yeah, I knew it was an issue but it was getting a bit annoying there. The amount of twist isn’t helping, either. Second, the yellow from the canary stain is a problem. When I got part way through winding the warp, I could see color differences that will turn into yellow stripes in the finished piece. Not good.

So I’m going to change the sett to 18 rather than 20, and interleave two sets of warp ends so every other comes from a different part of the ball. That will spread out the color changes and make it less noticeable. I’ll have to do it in the weft too, I think. Well, I can try it and see how it goes (as this involves two shuttles, in the sections where I’m using both yarns, four. Yikes.) It is just a sample after all, so I can do it several different ways.

Measuring the warp isn’t a big deal, make two smaller chains instead of one big one. In this case 76 ends each. (It is far easier to work with even numbers.) Sleying the reed is another matter.

For 18 ends per inch in my 12 dent reed, I need to sley 1-2. That is, one dent (slot) with one thread, one dent with two threads, repeat. But to get 18 epi from two chains interleaved, that means 9 epi each or 0-1-1-1 according to this handy-dandy reed substitution chart. So sley one chain at 9 epi and then sley the second on top of it so the final result is 1-2 for 18 epi. I’m going to have to chart that out so I get it correct. This is, btw, one way to put two colors in a warp. But it’s much easier to keep track of when you actually have two different yarns.

I briefly thought about winding the one ball of yarn into two smaller ones and measuring two ends together. That would solve the interleaving problem neatly. But measuring this yarn two strands together would be a different disaster as they tried to twist around each other and stick. It’s going to try to do that anyway, so why help it. Better to measure singly. I also sprayed the yarn with water and let it dry while still on the warping board, basically blocking it a second time to better control the twist.

I’ve got the second of the set drying on the warping board, I’ll sley them both before I start the other yarn so I can’t get them confused.