Tips For Choosing And Sorting A Fleece; Plus Whorl And Ratio Chatter; And Descriptions of Bobbin and Flyer Wheel Styles

Geez! It seems like ages since I last wrote a post. This whole once-a-month format is kind of weird and funky for me. But in the end, it's positive all 'round: I've more time to plug away at projects for THE BOOK and you've got more time to digest my usually Tolstoy-length posts (thank you Drea), not to mention going back into the blog's archives to see what treasures can be unearthed. Plus, my ego being healthy and strong once again, enables me to write the following: You'll hopefully hanker for more spider-writing and look forward to THE BOOK at the end of '08. Yes? Oui? Si?

Before I embark on spinnerly topics, I need to have a heart-to-heart chat with you, my readers. Chris has warned that I shouldn't swear on the blog and I should always stay positive...no downers. Keep in mind that Chris has a sun in Cancer and oft shoots words of practical wisdom that this living-on-the-edge-Sagittarius-sun wrinkles her nose at. Probably Chris IS giving sound advice that I should keep in mind, but that's not real life for me, folks, and I'd be a hypocrite if I adhered to such counsel to the letter. I try not to swear too much to offend anyone. But sometimes I slip. And if I do ruffle your feathers with it, I'm sorry but I'll use my worn-out excuse that sends my friends 'a moanin'..."I'm from Detroit and once a Detroiter, always a Detroiter." Perhaps some Detroiters don't swear, but I'm guessing they didn't grow up in MY family nor the neighborhood I did. My Ma swore like a truck driver, but somehow she did so with class. Some would argue that you can't swear with class, but I'd have to disagree with them. So, no offense intended and I'll try to limit my swearing to when it's needed for emphasis. And no, I doubt I'll get to swear in THE BOOK. I'm not a fool, after all...can you imagine the reviews?! Eeesh. This won't be your average fiber book as it is!

As for downers, I've just come off a horrendous few weeks of feeling like I was being sucked down into relentless quicksand, unable to breathe or function. How's that for a gut-wrenching downer? I'll save you the myriad of details as they would take up all the room devoted to this post. Suffice to say that Al, my beloved and delightfully naughty (to me) black cat, had to find a new home. In the end, after untold amounts of dollars were spent on cures and cleaning solutions for his peeing-outside-the-box habit, I admit, I ran out of tricks in my magickal bag. NOTHING would ever completely cure Al's decision to protect our house from all things wild...bears, raccoons, chipmunks, the neighbor's cats, you-name-it. And never forget that it's impossible to reason with a cat, who took on a job we never asked of him. Al is now the owner of Lisa (Goddess-sent to me, no less), sharing his exciting, new outside life with her angora rabbits, ducks, chickens, 5 dogs, and a cat. Throughout all this I have realized that I can't fix all that ails and that I do not have all the answers. Throughout all this I am reassured and reminded that I have the best friends in all the world. Throughout all this I realize that Chris has qualities that surpass sainthood...he DID give me 4 years to fix the problem until he said my time was up. Throughout all this I have realized how Chloe, my older black cat, wished often to see the back-side of Al and now she sleeps wherever she damn well likes. I'll end this paragraph with a quote from artist Michael Macone, "A friend gathers your scattered pieces and gives them back to you in the right order." Thank you, my friends.

Speaking of Lisa, who is the author of the dandy fiber blog, "String Theories," she has several darling, baby angora rabbits ready to find new homes of their own. Now face it, you know you've always wanted one of these little bundles of superbly soft spinnable fur...right?!
For more info contact Lisa at whitebirchfiberarts@gmail.com.

In the above pic you can tell from Al's face what he thought of his walks with a harness and leash. From here on out you'll have to go to Lisa's blog for any pics of Al...at least until I'm sure I won't burst out crying when I visit him.

In case you've ever wondered, spiders suffer from broken hearts just like the rest of us.

This little brown-furred bat, hanging upside down under our gutter, is just one of the many creatures that hung around our home, driving Al to pee where he shouldn't have. The bat IS kinda cute, dont'cha think?

Some end-of-summer asters grown by moi from seed. That's my already-dug potato patch in the lower left background and some pumpkin vines taking over the lawn.

Lobelia, just one of my faves, also proudly grown from seed.

And, ta-da, the 2007 potato picture, showing a not-so-impressive crop of Caribes, some sort of Maine tater and a few Green Mountains. Note to self: More manure and plant feeding for next year's batch. Also, it might help if I not forget to mound up around the plants as they grow larger. As I grow older, I can tell I'm going to have to sift through mounds of notes to myself. Any other potato-growing recommendations?

Did recently make some rather tasty potato soup from the majority of spuds. I'd rather not discuss how long it took to scrub the little buggers.

On to a fiber topic that I've promised a few folks I'd discuss, including Ted. So you want to purchase a sheep's fleece for spinning into yarn. Perhaps you have set your sites on doing so at Rhinebeck. Perhaps you have no idea what to look for or consider. If so, please read on.

You may or may not know how you plan to use the fleece, but a general idea on coarseness or fineness would be worth your while to ponder. Over time, try to become familiar with various sheep breeds and their recommended end-uses. If possible, take an experienced spinner along to that wool festival/fleece auction for help (ok, ok, Ted. You win.) In any case, don't be afraid to ask questions of anyone you deem may have the answers.

Consider the following:

• Handle (softness/coarseness of fleece) - This is related to crimp pattern. Usually the finer the fleece, the higher the # of crimps per inch.
• Length - Influences your choice of preparation, yarn strength and the amount of twist needed to make a stable yarn.
• Crimp - Gives wool its elasticity and loft. Ideally crimp should be even over the entire staple length. A change in crimp within a lock sometimes means a wool break with the lock, possibly caused by the animal having become ill (or some other reason), but not always is this so.
• Soundness - You want healthy wool fibers. To test for strength, hold a small portion of each end of a staple with your thumbs and pointer fingers. Flick the taut staple across the midsection with your pinky finger and listen. Healthy fibers will "ping." If you hear tearing or crackling, the fibers may not be sound.
• Color - Beware of unscourable stains (ie. neon-yellow canary stain, oil marks or some other dye markings.) If you have samples from a mail order source, it will be easy to wash the lock and check if a stain scours out. However, at a festival/auction, this could be tricky.
  

Use your eyes and trust your common sense when scouting out a fleece for purchase. Avoid excessive contamination such as seeds and burrs. Only you can decide how precious your time is regarding chaff and seed contaminated fleeces that otherwise look good to you. If you card such a fleece, you'll have that muck spread uniformly throughout it. If you comb such a fleece, you'll have a better chance at removing the undesirable stuff.

More tips: If you see bugs crawling in a fleece, pass it up even if they're giving the fleece away for free. Avoid excessive "white stuff" particularly in the butt ends of locks, especially noticeable in colored fleeces...that's skin flakes, possibly caused by a lice infestation. Look on the shorn side for "second cuts," as this is where the shearer took a second pass because he/she didn't cut close enough to the skin the first time around. A few second cuts are permissable, but an abundance should be avoided as they must be removed. And lastly, please be kind to the seller of the fleece. Ask questions and inquire if you can test and examine a lock more closely, but try not to over-handle the fleece, making it ragged and hard to sell.

Sometimes fleece sellers will have tables, used by them for skirting (removing icky and/or poopy portions of a fleece), that they are willing to lay out a fleece on for your closer inspection. Now I wouldn't expect such a seller to do this with every fleece they've brought...that would be unreasonable of us to expect. But if you're really serious about a particular fleece, do ask if you can look at the whole of it.

Please don't go snitching locks from this fleece and that at a festival/auction/etc. I was once told by someone in charge of a fleece show/sale that all the fleeces were weighed as they were set out. Unfortunately, when they were sold and weighed again, sometimes much more than a few ounces were gone from any given fleece. This is not nice for anyone concerned, so please be considerate and ask if you can test a lock...don't just take it!

Here are some lovely fleeces in my own stash. The white is a Romney-Cormo X from a ewe named "Thea." The grey is a Romney from "Monica." Both fleeces are clean, superbly sound wool from Alice Field of Lee, MA. The dark brown is a Border Leicester lamb, discussed previously on the past post, An Eat All the Icing Off the Cake Kind of Day!.

Something to think long and hard about before you go on a willy-nilly-fleece-buying-spree: It's easy to get swept up in the spinner's mouth watering excitement of farm-fresh fleeces. We who spin KNOW how tempting it is to bring just one more fleece home, offering the lame excuse that the fleece insisted it jump into the trunk of your car. Never forget what it takes to process an entire fleece. Never forget how much time it takes to turn the fleece into yarn, let alone a project(s). Consider just how much time YOU have to spend, realistically, on such endeavors. I have seen, with my own eyes, spinners who have gone out-of-their-mind-bonkers buying more fleeces than a 20+ person spinning guild could process and use in a year. It can happen to YOU, if you're not careful...

Covered fleeces, where the sheep wore a coat as its fleece grew during the year, can be expensive. I, personally, feel the cost is well worth it because I end up with an impeccable fleece that I can process however I choose. I must admit I'm not much of a spin-in-the-grease kind of person, but if I was, a fresh covered fleece would be the way I'd go.

The above pic shows two locks. The grey is from the Romney I showed you previously and the white is the Romney/Cormo X. The greasy/dirty portion, shown by a slight darkening or yellowing in this case, scours out nicely and would not be considered an unscourable stain.

In this pic above, I'm tugging at the tip of a lock to see how easily it pulls off. If it was brittle, tho' this one isn't, I would pull or cut off the tip because I wouldn't want it breaking and littering up the fleece (and my yarn once I spun it.) It's up to you to decide if you would be inclined to purchase a fleece with brittle, bleached or discolored tips, especially if the fleece is otherwise beautiful. Usually brittle tips aren't much of a deterrent to me because I have no problem wielding a scissors to them.

Here I am "pinging" a small bit of a lock. Hold it close to your ear to hear the music of a lovely staple.

A second cut...the little stinker! This was found in my grey Romney, but the few that were present didn't pose a problem. I simply got rid of them.

When you get that fleece home, what happens next? Consider the following:

• If you acquire a whole fleece, it will be often be rolled with the cut ends of the locks facing out. Lay out an old sheet on the floor and unroll the fleece, cut-side down. Look for the usually dirtier tail and back leg section to get your bearings on what is what. The very dirtiest areas might have already been skirted (removed) by the shearer. These very dirty areas originally edged the entire fleece.
• There's lots of ways to sort a fleece. If colored, you could sort by colors. If the locks are of different lengths or crimp patterns (which is typical in any given fleece,) you can sort by these. You can determine what you consider to be the best, average, poor (but useable), and downright garbage. Try to separate along natural dividing lines.
  
• Remember that dust, grease and dirt will generally scour out, but prickly burrs or an overabundance of seeds and vegetation is another story.
• I usually store unwashed fleece in paper bags inside a sealed, cardboard box. I try to wash sooner than later for best results. I do not store grease fleece in an attic, which can get unbelievably hot in summer...you don't want to give such fleece a chance to consider self-combusting. I also would stay out of a damp basement, avoiding mold and mildew problems. Usually I just store unwashed fleeces in my dye studio, which is gently heated in winter and cool-ish in summer.
• Garments or finished items of any kind made from yarn where no fleece sorting has taken place and where the locks were very inconsistent regarding lock length, crimp, color, et. may end up looking patchy. Uneven dye take-up, varying natural color and different shrinkage rates within the yarn could cause problems. Spinning from single locks or spinning small amounts that were flick or hand carded under these conditions could add to the problem. Picking moderately varying locks together helps to blend them for overall consistency.
• For fleece scouring ideas, see the past posts, Scour That Fleece, and Scouring Fleece To Keep Lock Formation.
  

Next...whorls and ratio chatter; various styles of bobbin and flyer spinning wheels.

Whorls, those various-sized, grooved discs of wood on spinning wheels, are put there so your wheel will not only operate as it was intended by the maker, but also for your comfort as a spinner. Comfort? Yes, comfort. More on that in a bit.

These days, modern wheel makers offer all sorts of bells and whistles that either come included with your basic spinning wheel package or can be purchased as you reckon necessary. What follows are some pics of different whorls as used with different bobbin and flyer style wheels.

In the above pic on the left is a Louet old-style flyer with a bobbin that has a different whorl size on each end. Most of the Louet wheels, such as my own Louet S10, are of the Single Drive, Bobbin Lead style, with Irish/German tension. To explain how this style works, I will quote somewhat from an old Woodland Woolworks catalog (which are always filled with excellent info, by the way, and well worth getting on their mailing list for.)

"Single drive, bobbin lead" wheels: There is a single drive band. On Louet wheels and some others it is a stretchy synthetic band. When the drive wheel is turned, the bobbin moves around and the flyer is either following it at the same speed or the flyer is standing still (controlled by bearing friction and a brake band on the flyer.) When you release pull on the yarn, the brake stalls the flyer to allow for wind-on. The end of the bobbin on this wheel acts like a flyer whorl. The ratio between the groove of the bobbin whorl that the drive band goes around and the drive wheel itself determines how many twists go into a unit length of yarn (of your choosing) per treadle.

In the pic above on the right side, you'll see a Schacht Matchless bobbin and flyer wheel, set up in the Scotch tension mode. Note that a grooved whorl (with 2 choices of different-sized grooves) is a separate piece from the flyer that is stuck on the flyer shaft after the bobbin is first put on the shaft. The bobbin has a groove, too, but in this case the groove on the bobbin near the whorl is what the brake band goes over. The wheel is being used in a Single Drive, Flyer Lead style. It can also be set up in a double drive mode, as you'll see later.

"Single drive, flyer lead" wheels: There is a single drive band. When the wheel is turned, the flyer moves and the bobbin either follows it at the same speed or stands still (impeded by an adjustable brake band...which in my case is a fine, hard-twisted cotton thread.) The brake band makes the bobbin stop and allows for wind-on when you let up your grip on the yarn. There are two adjustments: 1) The drive band adjusts when you raise or lower the bobbin and flyer (ie. with the Schacht Matchless or other Castle styles) or when you bring the bobbin and flyer closer or farther from the drive wheel (ie. other Saxony styles.) This adjustment is not generally necessary (at least not often) when a stretchy drive band is used. 2) The brake band over the bobbin adjusts with a knob. To begin to test for correct tension, adjust the brake band so that the yarn goes in through the orifice, but can be held on without too much of a white-knuckled grasp. From there, adjust tension, using small incremental turnings of the tension knob, ending with more or less tension, depending on type of yarn you want to spin (less tension for fine yarn, more tension for thick yarn, etc.) The ratio of the flyer whorl groove that the drive band travels around to the drive wheel itself determines how much twist goes into a unit length of yarn (of your choosing) per treadle.

Here's Chloe (who fyi is not fat, but has a floppy, cow-like udder) with the Schacht bobbin and flyer set up in the Double Drive mode. The same 2-grooved whorl is stuck on the flyer shaft after the bobbin is put on BUT the bobbin is now turned around from what was shown previously when the wheel was using Scotch tension. The groove on the bobbin nearest to the stuck-on whorl is much smaller than what was used for Scotch tension. This is as it should be, for the double-drive mode requires that the bobbin groove be smaller than any of the whorl grooves in order to work properly.

"Double Drive" wheels: It looks as if there are two drive bands, but in reality it is one band that has been twisted in a figure 8 and then folded on itself. The band travels around the flyer whorl and around one end of the bobbin. The bobbin groove is always smaller than the flyer whorl. When tension is on the yarn (prior to you allowing the yarn to wind onto the bobbin), the drive band on the bobbin slips and both the bobbin and flyer turn at the same speed. When tension on the yarn is relaxed, the bobbin turns faster and winds on the yarn. The ratio of the flyer whorl to the bobbin groove to the drive wheel determines how many twists are put into a unit length of yarn (of your choosing) per treadle. Actually, I understand the workings of a double drive wheel are rather complicated to explain in layman's terms, but you'll be in pretty good shape to understand what's going on if you consider the above. Check out the "Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning", Interweave Press, 2001, for a more in-depth study of double drive's (not to mention single drive's) and lots of other interesting spinning info.

Above you'll find a pic of different sized whorls used with my Schacht wheel, with 2 different sized grooves on each whorl. So what did I mean about whorl choices being comfort choices? To explain, ponder the following scenario: I want to make a fine, laceweight yarn that's a 2-ply. In such a case, the singles for the yarn will be very fine, indeed. If I keep in mind the rule of thumb that the finer the yarn, the more twist needed to make it stable, I may need quite a lot of twist along any given length of the singles of this fineness. Let's say I'm comfortable with treadling at a slow-ish speed...no speedy treadler here! If I use one of the larger whorl grooves, I may need to treadle uncomfortably fast to get enough twist into such a fine yarn to make it hold together. If I choose a smaller groove size, which puts a higher rate of twist in per treadle, I can stay with my usual treadling speed, but put the higher amount of twist in the yarn that it needs.

Conversely, if I wanted to make a thicker yarn, requiring less twist to make it stable, I would choose a larger whorl size, so that I wouldn't be forced to treadly unbelievably slow (which is just as uncomfortable as treadling unbelievably fast).

Also, your hand speed is a factor in all the above. If you hold onto your thick yarn, admiring it as twist enters, not letting it feed on to the bobbin quickly...and let's add that you're a naturally fast treadler...you'll have rope in no time flat, with much more twist than you ever intended for your thick yarn...especially if you use a small-ish whorl size which adds more twist per treadle than you need.

So what is ratio? Let's say your wheel comes with a basic whorl choice that gives you a 7:1 ratio. What that means is this: For every one revolution of the drive wheel (ie. one treadle), the bobbin and flyer revolve 7 times. You can insert these 7 twists per treadle into whatever unit length you want...be it 1/2" or 3" or whatever...but 7 twists into 3" of really fine yarn may not be enough to make it stable. And 7 twists into 1/2" of thick yarn may be way too much twist. So how much length those 7 twists go into needs to be factored in.

It's interesting how spinners, especially experienced ones, adapt to their equipment, even if they can't afford or simply don't have all the different whorl choices a wheel manufacturer offers. These spinners often automatically adjust their treadling and/or hand speed and/or unit length of fiber the twist goes into to suit the needs of the size of yarn they're making. But if you DO have whorl choices, why not choose them to suit your comfort and spinning style?! Better than having the whorls sitting around, neglected in the bottom of a drawer or on a shelf, eh?

The above pic shows two flyers, a fine yarn flyer and a bulky yarn flyer (in a plying-head mother-of-all) from Lendrum. Note the differences in whorl sizes on each of the flyers. Now you understand why, right? Keep in mind that the Lendrum is a single drive, flyer lead wheel.

If any of you have anything you'd like to add to all the above concerning whorls, ratios and types of bobbin and flyer wheels, please do so! Just post your thoughts right in the comment section for all to read. Thank you!!

I'll end this post with answering a few questions from readers. Three readers wrote these comments on the Blogiversary '07 post:

Loribird said...

Happy blogiversary! I've enjoyed your posts immensely, and have found much in them that is helpful in my own spinning-study. (Finally got a chance to try spinning from the fold, and it's so amazing!)

The only question I have at the moment is: How do you (or how would you suggest) joining singles to the in-progress plying on the wheel already? I hate knots in yarn, particularly handspun, and the methods I've been using are a bit fumbly...

Spider answers: I'm afraid I'm an unabashed knotter, Loribird! Knots never bothered me because when I come to them in my knitting, I remove the knot and tie a more adequate new knot, darning the ends of the knot into the back of the fabric. I know some folks are splicers of one type or another. Maybe other readers can help you with what works for them. Readers?

Marnie said...

Oooh, happy blog day to you!
My question would be about managing those broken singles when you are plying, especially when working a Navajo ply. I always end up making a bigger mess or losing all the twist in the ends and having all these ugly little singles hanging off my plied yarn. It's probably just lack of coordination, but there you have it.

Spider answers: If my singles break when I'm doing any type of plying...you guessed it...I knot, as written above to Loribird. But I generally don't find I have breakage if I make sure my singles have the appropriate amount of twist to make the plied yarn of my choice. See the past posts on Navajo plying and plain vanilla plying on the blog for more about how to judge appropriate twist of singles for plying.

Christy said...

I'll say a 'me too' to Marnie's post -- whenever I Navajo ply I get breaks in my singles or I over-ply or under-ply severely (to the point where the yarn is either hard or super-soft and falling apart).

Here's an original question: Do you measure your twist angle, and is there some ratio to the angle of the single versus the plied yarn?

I love reading your technical articles, because I'm a 'seat of the pants' spinner. I just "do it until I like it", which works, but it's interesting to understand why it works, and to be able to consciously and intentionally change what I'm doing.

Spider answers: Yes, I do measure twist angle sometimes, but I have to admit it's not my method of choice usually. It's definitely NOT my method of choice when the yarn is fine and the twist angle is hard to see. I'd much rather see how my singles want to be balanced and plied by doing a ply-back on fresh singles (or performing Rita's water trick.) If the ply-back looks good, then I know I have the amount of twist in the singles for the plied yarn I want. Check the plain vanilla plying post for more on this EASY method. As for ratios between singles vs plied yarn, check out any of Mabel Ross's books for enough math to satisfy the most discriminating, math-craving spinner.

That's all for now folks. Until next month... Happy Autumn Equinox! Happy Mabon!