Tencel: Terrific To Natural Dye & Spin

It's now officially Spring, but do take a peek out my front window to see the daunting, snow-melting-challenge the sun faces! To be fair, some of that snow was removed from our roof by Chris, landing in a heap on already incredibly steep, brick-hard snow mounds. We've been in our Whitingham, VT home for 4+ years and I must admit I've never seen THAT much snow piled outside our windows. I would have loved it as a kid. In Detroit, where I grew up, my friends and I would play King Of The Hill, gleefully standing atop snow piles in front of our city homes. We'd be outside for hours, oblivious of the time. These days, you'd think I was dying if even a stiff chill sneaks up my back and settles in my bones! Seriously, my teeth start to obnoxiously and loudly chatter as I hurry to the car and click on our Subaru's seat warmer...a far cry from the icy cold, naugahyde car seats of the 60's and 70's. Seat warmers are a technical, automotive improvement I'm most grateful for.

Another welcome (to me...to you, too?), technical improvement is the range of fibers presently available to spinners, knitters, etc. today. Even in the 80's, when I became a spinner, there wasn't nearly the variety of fibers we have now to choose from. It's not necessarily that these fibers weren't developed yet. In fact, chances are some of them were in products available that folks use regularly. For instance, Ingeo, which some of you may have spun, began it's life as corn. The making of Ingeo involves (as explained at Ingeo Fibers): corn > goes through a simple process to make plant sugars > sugars are fermented in a process similar to making yogurt > fermentation products are transformed into a high performance polymer called polylactide (NatureWorks branded this PLA) > Ingeo fiber is extruded from PLA. PLA has been used in the "windows" for envelopes, bags and cartons. If you've ever bought anything with "shrink wrapping," there's a good chance that you've encountered PLA. The fiberfill for your pillows, comforters and mattresses may be made from PLA. And the list goes on....

So, yes, while I adore the "natural" fibers of wool, mohair, silk and more; I'm open to and excited about the newer (to spinners!) fibers of Bamboo, Soy Silk, Ingeo, Silk Latte...and also some of the not-so-new fibers such as Tencel and nylon (I especially like glitzy icicle). No one could ever call the spider a natural fiber snob!

Today's post is devoted to Tencel, as that's what I've been spinning of late. What for? Well, the Bamboo I've spun (as seen in Sunny Bamboo Handspun & Tips For Spinning Fine Yarn) for the knitted blouse I'm planning will have to make room for some Tencel, too. The Tencel fiber featured in most of the pics above has been solar dyed and natural dyed with Lac extract from Earthues and an assist of citric acid, to help dissolve the Lac. I had first solar pre-mordanted in two separate baths, as per Michele Wipplinger's instructions in her "Natural Dye Instruction Booklet," also available from Earthues. To pre-mordant the Tencel, the first bath contained the Earthues' product, "scour," and soda ash. The second bath contained Alum Acetate (NOT Potassium Aluminum Sulfate, as I usually use for wool and other protein fibers). The pre-mordanting was done in Terry's Tub and the dyeing was done in a blanch pot, set in a solar panel.

To find out more about Lac as a dye, and the scale insect it comes from, do check out Wikipedia's Lac. The color that one can coax from Lac is simply glorious and well-worth it.

Now as for Tencel, in my research I discovered that Lyocell, which some of us spinners may remember when we bought it under this name, was first commercially produced in the U.S. in 1993. The reason we call it Tencel now is a corporate one: At one time, two companies produced Lyocell - Acordis Fibres and Lenzing. Acordis owned the brand name "Tencel Lyocell" and Lenzing produced the fiber under the name "Lyocell by Lenzing." Kinda confusing, eh? Eventually Lenzing bought the Tencel name and that was that.

Tencel is said to be environmentally friendly, as it's produced from the wood pulp of trees grown specifically for this purpose. It is specially processed, using a non-toxic solvent spinning technique in which the dissolving agent itself is recycled (known as a "closed-loop" spinning process). Tencel is considered a manufactured fiber, but it's not considered synthetic (at least according to Silk Road Textile Merchants). It is naturally biodegradable. Tencel can be made into microfibers, offering depth and body to fabrics combined with luxurious drape. It is breathable and absorbant. Tencel is the first people-made fiber for weaving to greatly exceed the strength of cotton when wet...in fact, it's the strongest cellulosic fiber known (hmmm...nice to add into the heels and toes of socks?!) In material physical properties, Tencel is said to be more like cotton than rayon. One of Tencel's properties is that it has the potential to fibrillate, forming small, split-off fibers. The result can be a characteristic "peach-fuzz" surface (I found this type of fibrillation occurs with Soy Silk, as well). Tencel has good resiliency and doesn't wrinkle as badly as rayon. If you're a synthetic dyer, try the fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX and Sabracron F, for excellent results. The most wonderful characteristics of Tencel, especially coveted by the spider, are its luster, fluid drape and luscious hand.

The top photo shows the naturally dyed Tencel after it has been rinsed and dried...looks rather a crinkly mess. The next photos, from top to bottom, depict how pre-drafting really brings out all the fantastic qualities that Tencel is known for. I first begin with separating a reasonable length of top from the rest, rather than having the whole kit-and-kaboodle in my lap. Next, gently open the fiber horizontally along the separated length. Some of the parallel fibers will have stuck to each other, so freeing them is a must...otherwise you won't get very far when pre-drafting. With dyed Tencel, I hold my hands quite a bit beyond the average staple length when I begin the predrafting (not unlike you would if you were pre-drafting a hankie of silk).
This doesn't result in thin areas, like it would if you were pre-drafting wool top well beyond the average staple length. Once pre-drafted, the Tencel is wound into nests or balls.

Yes, that's me, holding a bunch of pre-drafted Tencel balls in my hands. I actually put this picture up to show Lucy, much-appreciated regular commenter, and my brother, Bob, how my hair looks after a recent cut and color job!! I hate to say it, given my personal love of birds...but hey, might as well kill two birds with one stone....(eek!) Anyone know of a decidedly nicer and bird-friendly saying to replace this nasty one?

How am I spinning the Tencel? I'm using my Lendrum with the drive band on the largest whorl of the regular flyer. I'm using my tried-and-true short, forward draw. Tencel's fibers are really very fine and slippery...the short forward draw gives me loads of control. Plans are to three-ply the Tencel, just like I did the Bamboo. I've a total of four colors of Tencel and will post the other three colors in next week's post.

So what's up with the Lendrum with red ribbons? I often bring the Lendrum, which folds and behaves so nicely, when I teach. I've often gotten quizzed as to why I tie the wheel with ribbons? Folks have found my reason interesting: It's because when Al and Chloe, black cats both, go traipsing on my treadles, if the drive wheel is not securely tied in place, their little, furry heads will get chopped off between the spokes as the wheel turns. A scenario like that is nightmare-material.

Note the spiderific top-whorl pictured above! Eagle-eyed spinners will immediately discern that the spindle is a Golding. Can you imagine my delight when that little baby showed up in the mail one snowy day last week? Apparently, a customer of the Golding's commissioned them to make a spider spindle. Diane got to thinking and said to herself something like, "Spider...Spinning....Spinning Spider Jenny!" Thank you, Diane and Tom!! My spider spindle is beautiful and will be well-used and treasured.

Just this morning, Laurie of Etherknitter, e-mailed the spider with this question:
Have you ever Navajo plied silk? Eventual use would probably be a scarf.
The color runs are long enough to keep together. Do the "knots" aggravate/irritate? I am SO in love with silk.

Spider answers: Yes, I've Navajo plied silk many times. A favorite, woven scarf of mine was made with multicolored Navajo plied silk and purple angora/wool. No, I've never known the "knots" to aggravate or irritate. If I had spun singles and Navajo plied over-firmly, then maybe hard knots would be a problem. From my experience, the knots just melt into the fabric...be it knitted, woven, etc. Readers - what's your thoughts/ideas on Navajo plying? Also, would you like a future post to be devoted to Navajo plying? And Laurie, I'm right with you regarding a LOVE of silk. How about you readers? Any silk haters out there?

Here's yet another story of a Detroiter living in rural Vermont. Last week Chris and I did get a bit of snowshoeing in. We simply need to walk to our mailbox, cross the dirt road, and head deep into the forest to experience the sublime quiet and beauty of winter, made possible by NOT using off-road vehicles that require revving of engines. Well, that particular day, Chris said we'd go a different route than usual...heading towards a pond on Faulkner Road. I balked because it was a shortish route and I wanted to spend more time outside. Turns out Chris knew what he was doing. Tony the horse, as seen earlier in the past post Write What You Know, decided to escape from his field. As we rounded the corner at the pond, heading for home, Tony was running towards us like a bat out of hell...a real wild stallion, he was. I immediately yelled his name, hoping it would slow him down. Chris looked at me, worried I was going to be bull-dozered over, and said to keep quiet. No sir. Not me. I was frantic that Tony would break a leg if he fell on the ice-packed road. Now my snowshoes, at this time, were a detriment rather than a help. But I can't get out of the bloody snowshoes by myself...maybe if I had bought one's that were over $100 rather than under, this wouldn't be the case. I yelled for Chris to free me from my snowshoes. By this time Tony had gone past me, turned around, and ran just as fast towards his home. As I ran to Pete's house, (Pete is the guy owned by Tony), Tony was nonchalantly munching grass or something by the front porch of the house, which is next to Tony's field, giving us a look as if saying, "What's the problem?" Thankfully Pete was coming down the road with a bowl of hay to coax him over to the field. Pete looked at me. I looked at him. We smiled. I called Tony a pisser.