We Spin

Yesterday at Spinners' group almost everyone brought their spinning wheel.

Even the Lendrum showed up.

 

 

Spinning in Public

Packing up the Lendrum for the Sheep Shearing Shindig at City Farm SLO tomorrow. It is their 4th Annual Event, and my second time to participate.

 

 

I have added a folding stool as part of my Spinning gear after the Couch episode at Asilomar.

I hope it is comfortable because it is light-weight and compact. I even managed to zip it into the Spinning bag alongside the Lendrum.

 

 

I am taking several spindles for folks to play with. To make it easier to explain I put arrows to show the direction the spindle needs to turn. (Clockwise for a Z-spun single.)

 

 

I had The Man give it a try and  - tada -  his first Handspun yarn.

 

 

A Gathering of Guilds: I Spin

I spin with a group of energized and energetic Spinners. The workshop instructor, Meagan Condon, is knowledgeable, patient, and very kind. I am glad I chose her class, "A Spinner's Exploration of Color and Texture".

 

Meagan Condon (pic)

 

I spin on a surprisingly comfortable and ergonomic couch. The chairs in the room did not fit me well so I lucked out with the couch.

 

 

I spin this beautiful braid of Targhee wool called Wooden Duck. Coincidence? I think not.

 

  

I spin a fiber color wheel and learned about optical blending.

 

 

 

I spin the Wooden Duck braid a few different ways. I am particularly excited about the third sample (#5 on the tag). It is a combo spin - a single of my fiber plus a single of Autumn's fiber plied together. Wow, so much more interest and depth.

 

I spin textured yarns.

Crepe yarn

 

 

A not-quite-Cable yarn (not enough ply twist)

 

 

A Cable yarn

 

 

A not-quite-Boucle yarn

 

 

Boucle yarn

 

 

 I spin and unspin thereby learning how to deconstruct a yarn and decipher it's structure.

 

Crepe yarn

 

I spin and learn and spin and learn and now I want to spin even more.

 

 

 Thank you Meagan Condon of Luthvarian Fiber Arts for a wonderful workshop. 

 

In Working Order

Getting ready to go to my first Conference of Northern California Handweavers (CNCH), I am taking a Spinning Workshop.

The Man helped me prep the Lendrum by putting on a new Drive Band and Footman Connectors (requires a Robertson #1 Screwdriver and his handiness).

 

 

 

 

 

A Spinner’s Exploration of Color and Texture
Meagan Condon

 

 

 

March and February

 Into the Whirled March 2025 Club colorway, "Reckless Disco", Exmoor Horn.

 

 

 

I just started spinning, "Woe's Hollow",  February's fiber.

 

Take it Outside

Earlier this week we had two days of 85°. Unusually warm for this time of year it seemed like a special treat.

 

 

 

 

Overtwist

The four singles have been spun and are now ready to be plied into two extra-twisty 2-ply yarns.

 

 

Plying Bracelet when one bobbin empties before the other (aka Andean plying method).

 

The structure of a Cable yarn requires a lot of ply twist in order for the yarn to "pop" and turn into a cable. Instead of trying to treadle double-speed the 2-ply yarn can be run through the wheel a second time to add more twist.

Once on the wheel, 2-ply.

 

Second time on the wheel, twice the twist, 2-ply.

 

 

Side by side:

 

 

Next step, plying the two over-twisty bobbins to make a 4-ply Cable yarn.

 

Cable Redo

Starting the first bobbin, let's try a Cable yarn again.

 

 

 

ITW Fiber Club March 2024, "Brandish and Bluster".

 

Hot Mess

I wanted to spin a Cabled 4-ply yarn. (It's supposed to be great for knitting socks.)

All I needed to do was take two 2-ply yarns and ply them together. Simple.

 

 

 

 

 

The yarn I created was over-plied - which is good - and the yarn was very energized. I figured wet-finishing would calm it down and - yes - some of the energy was released but the yarn still did not look right. 

I checked my Spinning reference books. Oops.

I was supposed to change the spinning direction of the second ply. That is, the last ply was supposed to be spun (Z) clock-wise, to the right, the same direction as the spun singles.

Instead, I had spun Z + S + S.

Cabled yarns are correctly spun:  Z + S + Z  or S + Z + S.

Instead of a Cabled yarn, I had made a Hot Mess.

 

 

More Bobbins

The 5 & 6-inch weaving bobbins I use for "storage" bobbins are full of spun singles.

I need to find more so that I can wind off the spindles.

 

 

 

I try not to use the 4-inch bobbins they don't hold enough and I need to save them for weaving.

 

 

Only one thing to do: Ply some yarn.

 

 

Hands and Feet

This past week I used the Lendrum Quill Head Flyer to wind off spindle-spun singles onto storage bobbins.

 

I wound off the first batch of spindles in my usual way: Supported spindles lying horizontally in a basket and suspended spindles dangling vertically.

This method works well until the spindle gets too light and sometimes - often - the spindle flies out of it's supports. I have tried rubber bands and clips but I haven't found a way to keep the spindle in place.

 

 

Today I tried something different. I wound off holding the spindles in my hand.

Since I am treadling the Lendrum with my feet to rotate the Quill (aka bobbin winder) both of my hands are free to control the hand spindle and manipulate the spun singles.

 

 

It worked great. Two thumbs up.