Lisa - An Incredible New Spinner & Some Fiberish Questions Tackled

Geesh! Yesterday I was working on my portion of a collaborative article for Spin-Off, featured in the early posts, Crocheted Spider Scarf Collaboration and Up Close And Personal. When I searched through my dyeing notes for details, I realized that on one of the blog posts I had said I used Osage Orange extract for one of the dyes for the scarf. My notes said otherwise...that I used Fustic extract. I figured I had best change the error on the old post and no sooner than I did, did wonderful comments and e-mails start occurring. It seems when I change anything...even in past posts...those who have my blog listed in their Bloglines get contacted. This was kinda wild as I hadn't meant for it to happen, but it is a nice plug for the Summer '07 Spin-Off issue that the article will appear in. Cool beans (Thanks Lisa, for this way-neat expression that has now become a part of my regular, working vocabulary), since many of my newer readers haven't perused the ol' archives of the blog; for them, the spider scarf was new, new, new! Well, since I've only been blogging for about 6 months, old posts aren't particularly ancient anyways!! New readers: please consider checking the archives for lots of spinning, natural dyeing and knitting tidbits that you may have missed. Interesting dialogs happen in the comment sections, too.

Lisa is a wonderful, witty, talented and very new spinner who has happily come into my life. She's only been spinning since November 2006! Lisa's only "formal" spinning instruction was a few hours (if that!) with Patty, a spinning instructor in the Putney, VT area. Patty is the spinner at Green Mountain Spinnery. Patty's been teaching handspinners a long time...notably for 10 years at Putney School, and is an Ashford dealer to boot.

But let's back up a tad and let Lisa tell her story:
"I've been a knitter for many, many years. Actually, for the first ten years or so, I was more a knitting dabbler, being content to make a couple of scarves or plain pairs of socks per year. It was a combination of Elizabeth Zimmermann's books, excessive time on my hands, and lack of a good therapist about five years ago that turned me into a hardcore, capital-k Knitter."

"Dyeing entered the repertoire a few years ago, mostly in the form of mad-scientist experiments on innocent worsted-weight yarn. My very early dye efforts all got turned into socks, 'cause it doesn't matter how ugly it is - as long as it's warm, I will wear absolutely anything on my feet. I've gotten a bit better at dyeing since then (Note from spider: Yah! Jenna calls Lisa, "Lisa Socks," due to her incredible handknitted, hand-dyed, socks!) Spinning was on my list of "things to do someday" for quite a few years, but I never got around to it. Then one dark and stormy night in early November 2006 (OK, it was really a very nice bright sunny day, but dark and stormy makes a better story, and if you all could imagine a little ominous music playing in the background, that would help). I went to WEBS."

"Those of you who don't know WEBS in Northampton, MA, might not be able to fully appreciate the sensory overload that wallops you about two steps inside the store. The place is HUGE, it has EVERYTHING, and I swear they have some kind of inhibition-lowering spray or subliminal music or something, because RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

"I had been there many times, but in my yarn-junkie trance, I had never before noticed this innocent-looking little package over in the corner of the fiber section. It was a "Learn to Spin" kit, complete with a DVD, drop spindle, and a couple of ounces of fiber, all for something like $25. It was cute, it looked cheerful, and it jumped into my basket all by itself. I swear it. But, well, what the heck, I didn't try very hard to wrestle it back onto the shelf. Resistance Is Futile. And anyway, we've all spent that amount of money on much sillier stuff, right? So, it followed me home. I taught myself to drop spindle that night, burned through my tiny stash of fiber in a couple of days, and in the process managed to make something that looked kinda like yarn."

"Then the worst happened. I ran out of fiber, and like any good junkie, I needed a fix. Still thinking I was in control of my addiction, I went to the Southern Vermont Fiber Event (see past post Fantastic Fibery Fun At The Third Annual Southern Vermont Fiber Event, More Of The So. VT Fiber Event and One More About The So. VT Fiber Event), with the intention of finding a few little things to play around with. Silly me. I had to make two trips out to the car to haul off all my fibery loot. Would have been three or four trips if I hadn't run out of cash. Let's not even talk about my urge to bonk several vendors over the head and make off with their entire inventories. At the event, I met Elizabeth, goddess and enabler extraordinaire, who sold me some of her exceptional llama fiber, turned me on to the River Spinners Guild, and told me to contact Patty, another goddess and enabler, for lessons on spinning at the wheel. I called Patty, set up an appointment two days before Thanksgiving, and the rest is history. Those of you who know Patty know she has major superpowers. I know this to be true because she had me spinning at the wheel in about ten minutes. I did not actually SEE her sacrifice a live chicken (Note from spider: Eek!), but I'm pretty sure she must have, to get a knucklehead like me going so quickly."

"That was my one and only spinning lesson. Bad, enabling woman that Patty is, she loaned me a wheel to practice with. I wound up buying that wheel, an Ashford Traveller, which has become my noble friend. It has held steady through my experiments with wool, llama, silk, mohair, camel, angora, blends, you name it. The wheel didn't get overly upset when I fed it beads and feathers and weird mixers, and it seems content to produce anything from super chunky novelty down to fingering weight. I haven't asked it to do laceweight yet, but I'm sure it won't object. A good steed, indeed."

"Jenny might tell you that I'm a decent spinner, given I've only been doing it for three months, but she's just being kind...sorry, Jenny!" (Note from spider: Bullshit I am!)

Lisa and I have exchanged several e-mails over the past few weeks. Let me share a favorite quote of her's by Albert Einstein. "Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." And a fave Bob Dylan (why, of course!) quote of mine...."He not busy being born is busy dying." No, not dyeing you fiber freaks! Anyways, try pondering on both quotes the next time you feel yourself in a spinning rut.

Lisa stopped by one day and we discussed some teaching/learning methods. What follows will be of help to all newbie spinners, more experienced spinners and teachers of spinning. Here's some of Lisa's thoughts on the subject:
"I have to thank my son John, the autistic one, for any success I have ever had teaching anyone anything.
When he was little, he couldn't process information the way most of us can. He needed directions broken down into the smallest possible components. For instance, I couldn't tell him, "Put on your pants." It's amazing, once you think about it, how many small actions are required to put on your pants! I had to break it waaaaay down for him. Something like this: 1) Pick up the pants; 2) Make sure the zipper is facing out; 3) Sit on the bed; 4) Put your foot through one leg of the pants; 5) Pull the leg of the pants on until you can see your foot again; 6) Pick up your other foot; 7) Put your other foot in the empty pants leg...and so on."

"When I try to teach someone something, very often I forget that a person with no familiarity with the subject (ie. spinning) might not be able to instinctively understand all the small steps that go into one action. So my default position when I'm having trouble is, break down the steps until you find the point at which the individual student can understand one small part of the whole. I guess that's where the whole 'park-and-draw-at-the-wheel' came from. Whe the woman I was working with was having trouble with treadling and drafting at the same time, I "did a John" and separated the actions. If she had trouble dealing with using two hands at once to draft, I would have taught her one hand motion at a time. And so on."

Lisa finishes saying, "With my own spinning experiments, I use the exact same procedure - learn small steps, then combine the pieces into a bigger whole. For instance, I have it in my head - thanks to that luscious gold Bamboo! - to spin some laceweight Bamboo. I have never spun laceweight, and I have never spun Bamboo. So what I'll do is break it down by introducing only one new variable at a time. First I'll try spinning some laceweight in wool, a fiber I'm decently familiar with. Then I'll spin a chunk of Bamboo in fingering weight - because I've already spun fingering weight and I'm reasonably confident with that. Once I have those two smaller components under control, I'll try to combine the actions into a greater whole. Of course I'll make the requisite offerings to the fiber gods, but then, with luck....tah-dah! Laceweight Bamboo!

Thank you, Lisa, for some incredible insight into your working process and for sharing how that crazy fiber thing all began for you. Know that you can find Lisa's hand-dyed products, such as commercial fiber and blended batts, at Margie's Muse. All of yarn above has been spun by Lisa. There she is herself, too! The beautiful white yarn is 100% angora. The gorgeous beaded yarn is a camel down/Tussah silk blend. The lively multicolored yarn is wool, I believe...note that it is in the shape of a lemniscate (infinity symbol). And the big, honking cone of cotton yarn is what I showed Lisa...who had a very hard-twist drive band on her own wheel. The pictured coned cotton is what I like for a drive-band. It's a multi-ply, softish, cotton yarn that allows for minute adjustments (particularly good for double-drive wheels, but also good for scotch-tensioned wheels). 'course some folks and wheels like poly drive bands best. But for those wheels where only a non-poly band is your choice, consider not using one that's too hard. If it's too hard a twist (ie. a linen drive band, etc.), it may cut right into your whorl or even your drive wheel groove. Where did I get this string? From our local, Brown and Roberts Ace" hardware store in Brattleboro, VT. Leslie's (see past post, Leslie - Knitter, Spinner, Solar Dyer & Friend) husband, John, used to work there and kindly tracked it down for us spinners. Let's put it this way...it's really similar to what Schacht sells for their wheels...but you get a life's supply for a pittance. Thank you John and Leslie!

Now, as promised a few questions addressed:
Julia, in a past comment, asked "What is pin drafting and how is it different than carding and combing?"

I researched pin drafting and didn't come up with too much online. I e-mailed the owner of a mill where pin drafting takes place, but she never responded. Finally, I called Taos Valley Wool Mill. A kind and generous man, especially generous with his time and patience, Robert Donnelly, answered so that we can finally be in-the-know.

Pin drafting is the heart of the worsted spinning system. It's function is 3-fold: 1) Align fibers along the axis of the yarn/sliver; 2) Continue the blending that started in the initial carding. Sometimes blending is done right at the pin drafter...such as with silk. The Taos Valley Wool Mill doesn't card silk in the initial carding stage. Instead, silk is combined with wool at the pin drafter. A streaky sliver occurs from this blending.
If this blend goes through, say 4 more times or so, it becomes less streaky; 3) Pin drafting takes the uneven product that comes off from the initial carding process and makes it more even. Even sliver makes for even spinning. So, by the virtue of multiple passes, the pin drafter allows for levelling...thus making a more even and more uniform product.

Pin drafting is NOT combing. Combing is an entirely different process. In pin drafting, there are "faller bars" that look like combs (hence, the confusion). These bars have pins in them.

Have any of you readers ever used pin drafted fiber? If not, do contact the Taos Valley Wool Mill (505-387-5928), as it's more than a treat to spin. Taos Valley Wool Mill is now under the ownership of Tapetes de Lana, a not-for-profit that has weaving workshops available to help poor women develop marketable skills, who otherwise would have to resort to welfare. The address is: Taos Valley Wool Mill,
P.O. Box 1135, Mora, NM 87732. Do go to their website and click on "What You Should Know." From there, click on "Worsted vs Woolen Spinning." What you'll find is some really excellent and reliable info.

Thank you, Robert, for all your wonderful information. Thank you, Julia, for commenting and asking your great question.

Finally, Ted asked what he calls the 10k spinning question:
"Let's say, for instance, that you've been spinning up some fiber onto 2 bobbins, and you've been making it
into a 2 ply, by plying off the 2 bobbins. It's a special kind of fiber and you'll need every inch of it for a project. You realize that due to some kind of serious lapse in your judgement, one bobbin has a lot more on it than the other. The bobbin with less singles on it will run out before the other, leaving you with an empty bobbin and not an empty bobbin to ply from. But, you know that you have to ply off every available inch of the yarn. You somehow have to get the rest of the singles off that bobbin and evenly divided up. What do you do?"

Well, this is what I'd do...but I'll bet readers will have alternate solutions. Readers? I would use a center-pull ball winder to wind off a center-pull ball of the remaining singles. I would take my felted cat ball (see the past post Storing Takli-Spun Singles For Plying, for how to make a cat ball, among other things) and take both ends of the center-pull ball, winding them evenly together onto the cat ball. I would pop this cat ball with 2-ends-of-the-singles-wound-together-as-one under an upside-down clay, flower pot that has a hole for drainage. Through the hole I would bring the 2-ends-of-the-singles-wound-together-as-one. From this re-package, I would ply. I would never (OK, never say never. I would ply from a center-pull ball sitting on a nostepinde...) ply from a center-pull ball that hasn't been treated in this way. Thank you, Rita, for this bit of spinning wisdom on how to ply from a center-pull ball and still keep your sanity. Thank you, Ted, for your thought provoking, always welcome, questions.

Geesh, this is one long post, eh?