The Pleasure of Plying Yarns!

  
 Why doesn't some company make a scale that doesn't lie! I have been diligent in eating fruit, veggies and monitoring my intake and the pounds will not budge.  Been up & down the stairs a bijillion times, without an ounce lost....sigh. Makes me want to dive into chocolate. I figure if I spin enough yarn, I will burn it off.  That should amount to about 500 skeins of yarn :o).

Now that you have mastered spinning on a drop spindle how about making plied yarns? Plying different colors together can make for some interesting yarns and it isn't hard at all. First you have to know the spinning lingo of directions. When you spin clockwise on a drop spindle or even on a wheel, it is called the "z" direction.  When you spin counter clockwise, it is called the "s" direction. These terms were chosen by the way the twist looks. When you spin clockwise & look at the twisted yarn, the fibers slant in the same direction as the downward stroke of the letter Z. The counter clockwise twist slants in the same direction as the downward stroke of the letter S. When plying, you need to know which directions your yarns were spun.
  
   You start by placing 2 balls of single spun yarns, each in its own bowl or basket to keep them from running away as you ply.  Attach the ends of the yarns to the leader on the spindle the same way as if it was fiber.  Keep equal tension on the yarns in your left hand and spin the spindle COUNTER CLOCKWISE, the opposite direction that the single yarns were spun and guide the twist upwards with your right hand.  Pull the yarns from left hand under slight tension with your right hand and guide the twist upwards. Keep doing this until the spindle "drops" to the floor. When spindle hits the floor, separate your arms, maintaining tension on the spun yarn and wrap this length around your left palm. When you reach the spindle undo yarn from hook and wind yarn on shaft into a cone shape just under the whorl. Bring about 15” of yarn back over the top of the whorl and under the hook and repeat plying.
If you want to ply a third yarn, repeat as above but spin back in the CLOCKWISE direction. In other words, for each yarn you ply on, you must alternate the direction in which you spin. When you are done plying you must wind the finished yarn on a kniddyknoddy or chair back & tie it off in 4 places in a figure 8 and set the twist again as mentioned in the last lesson. It is not as complicated as you think, you get a spinning rhythm going and it plies quite fast.

   You can ply yarns of different fibers , different colors and even different yarn sizes to achieve different effects. Experiment and have fun is the bottom line!

Stay tuned next time for dealing with yarn sizes & needle choices.

"Til next time,
Arlyne ~ http:www.thewooleywhale.com










  

A Spindle Full of Yarn, What to do Next?

   It's been a kind winter so far with warmer temps but a few below zero's!

   But, time to defrost and prepare that new spun yarn so you can use it to knit or crochet something warm.  1st you need to unwind the yarn from the spindle, If you have a kniddyknoddy (a wooden tool to wind yarn onto and measures it at the same time) or yarn swift, you are in great shape, if not there is always the back of a chair! If the top of the chair is wider than down by the seat, remember to wind it around loose enough to slip the yarn over the top of the chair. Before removing your yarn from a chair,  kniddyknoddy or swift, you want to tie it in 4 equi-distant places around the yarn to keep it from tangling. When making the ties it is best to split the thickness of the yarn at that spot and tie it in a figure 8, this keeps it even more untangled and is the traditional way to tie a skein of yarn, do this in the other 3 spots. You can use any scrap yarn or string to do this.

   Once you have slipped your skein off, you want to put it into a sink or basin of hot water (not boiling) for about 20 minutes. This sets the twist in the yarn so it does not unwind. Remove and let cool, then press the excess water out gently and blot in a towel (do not do this while yarn is still hot ( you will felt the yarn). A more efficient way to remove the cool water is to put the yarn in your washer and let it spin for about minute or less. DO NOT LET IT AGGITATE!!!! otherwise you will have a ball of felted wool that you can not use. Now hang it up maybe around a doorknob, to dry. If your yarn has been overspun & kinky, you can attach a weight to it while it dries. I recommend a coffee cup  tied through the handle and onto the hanging yarn. When dry, carefully cut the 4 ties on the yarn and wind your skin into a ball for use.

Next time I'll deal with plying yarns, yarn weights and needle sizes.

See you soon!
Arlyne ~ http://www.thewooleywhale.com/

Fiber & Beginning Spinning!

   Well, we survived 19" of snow over the New Year weekend, not to mention the 8-10" we already had from Christmas!  Of course there's always the 6 ft plow hills to give it that wintery Maine look.  I finally got rid of all the holiday sweets and have to seriously deal with that extra 6 lbs of love! It's just that chocolate goes so good with spinning...now you didn't hear that from me :o)

Let's talk fiber:
   There's plenty to choose from out in cyber space, fiber fests & local farms if you live near any. But as a beginner, tempting as they are for cloud softness, you want to keep away from exotic fibers like alpaca, angora, lama, silk, cotton, etc. or  merino sheep wool. These fibers are very fine and short & difficult to slide past each other when learning to "draft" your fibers during spinning. The  best length to learn on is about 2 1/2" - 3 1/2". Choose roving or fleece from corriedale, romney or blue faced leisester or wool blends with them in it. They may be a bit coarser but much easier to handle for learning. You can graduate to the higher end fibers later when you have good spinning control.

Getting Started:
If you are using a bottom whorl spindle:   

 

TO BEGIN:   Tie a 15-20” length of any yarn (leader) to the bottom of the shaft above the whorl and rotate spindle clockwise wrapping leader around shaft with the last turn or two under the hook.  Leader should extend a few inches above the shaft for joining it to the spinning fibers.  Make an opening in the leader about 1” from the end and insert about a 1/4” wide piece of the new wool (see below). Pinch join with left hand and give spindle a clockwise twist from the top of the shaft with your right hand.

 (leader loop)

Bring the right hand up to the join and allow the twist to enter by slowly releasing pressure with your left hand. The left hand continues to hold unspun wool and moves along, drawing the fibers apart with right hand (hands should be about 3-4” apart) to desired thickness (drafting). The spindle will slow down so with your right hand give it another spin. Then reach up and pull down more fibers from your left hand. The fibers being

pulled down form a triangle (draft zone). Pull on the spun yarn below this triangle to draw down (see fig. below).  Continue

                                                            Draft zone

 

doing this so you have made a few draws downward.  If you need to join more fiber, tease out the ends and overlap and hold them together between left thumb and forefinger, spin spindle and let twist join them and continue spinning yarn.

 

 

    When spindle hits the floor, separate your arms, maintaining tension on the spun yarn and wrap this length around your left palm. When you reach the spindle undo yarn from hook and wind yarn on shaft into a cone shape just under the whorl. Bring about 15” of yarn back over the top of the whorl and under the hook and repeat spinning.

   If you are using a top whorl spindle tie the leader to the shaft just under the whorl and bring leader over the top of the whorl and loop around hook. Leader should extend a few inches above the shaft for joining it to the spinning fibers. Make an opening in the leader about 1” from the end and insert about a 1/4” wide piece of the new wool. Continue as the bottom whorl spindle. With a top whorl, while holding the fiber & leader in your left hand, you can also take the shaft in you right hand and roll it along the top of your thigh a few times and place the shaft between your knees. Then pull fibers from the draft zone while sliding your right hand up as the yarn twists. This is not traditional but helps those who are having a difficult time spinning the spindle.

Wind yarn around the shaft until it is full or difficult to spin due to the yarn weight. Whew, you've done a lot of work!

Your first yarns will probably be thick & thin (designer Yarn!) until you learn to pull even amounts of the fibers into the twist. Drop spindle spinning has been done for thousands of years, even before the invention of the spinning wheel. If you wanted to wear clothes, you had to spin the yarn on a drop spindle & knit! I'm sure you'll do fine. I encourage people to learn so this wonderful craft can be passed on.

Next time I'll discuss removing the yarn and preparing it to hold the twist.

Ciao for now!

Arlyne ~http://www.thewooleywhale.com/

A New Year To Learn Start Spinning Yarn!

A very Happy New Year to everyone! Let me introduce myself. My DH & I are owners of The Wooley Whale Yarn and Fiber. Our studio is located in the woods of Maine but not too far from the beautiful coast. We reside with our Maine Coon cat, Ginger, our old kitty, Tiger and our 15 lb. German Giant angora rabbit!  We see an occasional Moose or even a Couger in the area too!

My holidays were exceptional this year. Of course I ate too many goodies to the tune of 6 lbs. Do you realize how much I'm going to have to spin to burn that off :o) ? The chocolate fudge was worth it though.

Well now, those of you who either have a spindle, spindle kit or are contemplating learning to spin you own yarn, let the fun begin! I will do a series of spinning how to's from choosing a spindle to finishing your yarn.

The Drop Spindle:
   Before the invention of the spinning wheel, people used a weight at the end of a stick to put  the twist into fibers to make yarn or thread, the drop spindle! Sometimes a rock would be tied to a stick or even a stick would be pushed into a hard root vegetable like a potato or turnip for weight to make a crude spindle. But, they did the job!
   A bottom whorl has the whorl weight at the bottom of the shaft and spins slower which is good for heavier yarns which need less twist in them. A top whorl has the weight at the top of the shaft and spins faster which is good for thinner yarns and fine fibers such as angora, alpaca, etc. But, you can spin thin yarn & fine fibers on a bottom whorl but you have to spin it harder as well as you can spin heavier yarn on a top whorl but need to spin it slower. Sometimes, new spinners like the faster top whorl because it spins longer and gives more time to pull the fibers into the twist and you can also just roll the shaft across your thigh to put twist into the yarn, then hold the shaft between your knees while you guide the twist up the fibers to form yarn. I like to follow tradition though and spin the drop spindle. I personally prefer a bottom whorl because I find it doesn't wobble as much since the weight is on the bottom. Basically,they both spin yarn the same way and it is a matter of preference.

Next time, I'll talk about fiber and how to begin spinning.
Best Wishes,

Arlyne ~ http://www.thewooleywhale.com/