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?

Scouring Fleece To Keep Lock Formation

Judging by how many folks find my blog by *Googling the words "scouring fleece" or something similar, I figured another post on the subject would be welcome. Past posts on fleece scouring and related scouring equipment include Drying Rack Lowdown and Scour That Fleece.

*An interesting aside: Countless scores of people have Googled the words "knitted tam or beret," which brings them to my past post, Tangled Up In Blue. And "knitted pillbox hats," points them to Pill-Box Hat. And "cat pee," leads them to Of Cat Pee, Urine Vats And Other Potentially Nasty Things. I'm pretty sure that not everyone who Googles cat pee is a spinner, knitter and/or natural dyer. Oh well, all are welcome to visit the blog, unless they Googled because they want to do weird things with cat pee...

In a recent e-mail to Ted, I described how I've been scouring some Coopworth wool locks, keeping lock formation intact. I mentioned that the locks were quite dirty and Ted responded by asking, "How'd you come into such a filthy fleece?" Well, here's the story: I needed longish (over 5"), white, wool locks for a planned sock project where the yarn will be made by spinning the locks from the fold. Having been ensconced in the fiber art world for many, many years, I happen to know lots of folks within that world: fiber growers, vendors selling all sorts of equipment and tools, spinning/knitting/dyeing instructors, etc. I called a friend, Diane Trussell, of French Hill Farm in Solon, Maine (207-643-2540) knowing she has superb Coopworth fleece growing on the backs of her beautiful sheep. Usually she does have a supply of fleece, but I called smack-dab in winter, prior to shearing. Diane steered me in the direction of her friend, Carol Wagner, of Hidden Valley Farm and Woolen Mill, in Valders, Wisconsin. As I chatted with Carol about my wool needs, she said she thought she had some Coopworth lamb, one-year's growth, that would fit the bill. When the box arrived, a note accompanied the fleece saying that when she went through her bags of fleece, what she thought she had wasn't there. However, Carol had previously purchased some lamb fleeces from "...a young man who bought animals from us. They weren't jacketed. Therefore, aren't up to our usual standards." Yes, the fleece was down and dirty. But it was also healthy, sound and free of any vegetable matter. I knew once scoured, it would be perfect. Carol also sent me some of their beautiful, shorter, Coopworth lamb, 7-month's growth. That I shall save for another special project.

The implied moral in the above paragraph is: Dirty doesn't bother me. Unhealthy, unsound, and fleece riddled with seeds, burrs, and other assorted chaff does. You must decide yourself what is acceptable and what is not.

Why Coopworth for the sock project? It's lustrous and strong, yet quite soft especially as lamb's fleece. It takes dyes wonderfully...natural or synthetic-based.

Above, in the 2nd to 7th photos from the top, you'll see how grease Coopworth was scoured keeping lock formation. The reason I definitely wanted to keep lock formation intact has to do with 1) A better cleaning job occurs if you prepare each lock to accept the water more readily; 2) The locks don't get into a jumbled mess and seem to keep their shape better even if subjected to the dyepot; 3) Keeping lock formation makes it easier to use any number of fiber prep techniques, such as combing/flicking locks for spinning from the fold, spinning from a lock's end, etc.

The 2nd photo from the top shows the fleece in all its greasy glory. As mentioned in the previous scouring posts, I used the perforated, plastic basket to contain the fleece in the water. The difference with the explanations in those previous posts has to do with using more sheets of tulle netting. After laying a sheet of netting in the bottom, I take a lock (3rd photo from the top), open it horizontally to let the dirt fall out (4th pic); until it's quite opened but still aligned vertically (5th pic); and set in the basket on top of the sheet of netting with all the tips facing in the same direction. Place a sheet of tulle on top of that layer. It is often helpful to set the tip ends in the opposite direction from the previous layer. Why? Because butt ends like to grab onto (and felt with) other butt ends of fleece. Therefore, to keep butt ends from mingling, each layer of fleece is placed opposite in direction from the last.

When the basket is full of fleece, separated by layers of tulle, place the last sheet of netting on the top. I use cotton string to keep the fleece/netting from moving around in the water. I find it useful to use two strings longways and two strings shortways, allowing the string to go under the plastic basket, through the side perforations and tied at the top (6th pic from the top.)

The 7th pic from the top shows the scoured locks drying in a garden tray set in my wooden drying rack. See those past scouring posts linked above for more on particulars such as the scouring agent I chose (often Palmolive dish detergent or Orvus Paste), use of vinegar in the first rinse and more. Because my aim IS to keep lock formation, I set the drained, damp locks in the garden tray with the tips all going in one direction. At this point, it doesn't matter if butt ends mingle, as they're not prone to felting together during the drying stage. I do like to flip the mass of locks as a whole occasionally, to speed up the drying process.

The two, bottom photos show the same, scoured, Coopworth locks being rainbow dyed in my studio (see My Dye Studio for a peek inside my studio) using natural dyes.

What I've described is NOT the only way to scour. It is NOT the only way to scour keeping lock formation. But it is the way I do it and has always worked well through the years. Ted described to me in an e-mail how he uses Margaret Stove's method: "I have some Merino that is filthy. I wash each lock by hand...You scrub each lock on a bar of soap. I've been using Ivory hand soap, but I'm worried it's too harsh. The locks seem kinda dry when I'm finished." Ted went on to say he wasn't exactly sure what properly washed locks should feel like, so maybe the locks he washed weren't dry at all. It's my spiderly opinion that the wool should feel very much full of life and health, especially after scouring. Over-dryness (or brittleness, if that be the case, as well) doesn't fit in with that picture. Sometimes the combo of one's water (with its possible chlorine and additives) and chosen washing agent takes all the life out of fleece. Kind of like what happens when you over-wash or over-process the hair on your head. A bit of experimenting with various washing agents will tell you which one will leave the fleece in the best possible state using your water at hand. Readers - what's your fave washing agent for scouring fleece? Does it differ from what you wash your finished, handspun yarn in?

Another always excellent question from Ted concerned whether I spin from the butt ends of wool locks or the tip ends? In my early years, I always adhered to spinning from the butt ends because I was told that due to the way the individual scales on the individual wool fibers are arranged, this would smooth down those scales (as opposed to ruffling them up...like you would if you pet a cat against the grain...) and make for a smoother yarn in general. Well, that was well and fine until I started to hear other well-known and respected fiber instructors/authors saying exactly the opposite: spin from the tip end for the smoothest yarn. Having worked in a woolen mill, I can tell you that after the wool goes through the picker, you would not be able to tell the butt from the tip at all in the locks...and so the wool goes through the carding machine every which way. As for what happens in a worsted mill where the wool gets combed...I don't know. Anybody know? So what's a spinner to do? Spin from the butt or spin from the tip? Try them both and see which you like. Then try not caring about this at all, mixing and matching what end you spin from, and see how this works. Remember, in the end, no one can really tell you what end of the lock you spun from by looking at a finished skein...no more than they can tell you what drafting technique you used in the spinning. What matters is if the final yarn pleases you and works in your given situation.

On another note, the top photo was taken this past weekend at Brookfield Craft Center, where I taught a "Handspindling" workshop. The participants were delightful to be with and the day went quickly. The venue has oodles of natural lighting, a lovely wooden floor and plenty of space. What you see are some tables of my tools, fiber and hand-outs, with the Center's looms and wheels in the back of the space, waiting to be used in future workshops. A nice place to teach. A nice place to take a workshop.

When I arrived home and unpacked my personal luggage (I stayed over in comfortable, faculty housing), I found that my twice-baggied box of baking soda had exploded on all contents in my suitcase. Bloody hell. I take the baking soda with me in case I get an upset tummy, which is a miserable malady to have when away from home, especially when trying to be cheery when explaining what drafting is. Tums and other antacids don't seem to help, so my trusty box goes with me. Anyone know of something that really works in tab form? When Alexander, youngest of the spider, looked at my packed clothing covered in white powder, he said, "Looks like you've got cocaine all over your stuff." 'course a red flag went up, as it would for any parent. I said, "And how would you know how cocaine would look like if dumped in a suitcase?" He said, "Geez Ma, I'm 19. I've never seen cocaine but I'm not an idiot...I know it's a white powder." Well, my Alexander may be silly sometimes, but I know he's not stupid. And I know he's not had his head buried in the sand all these years either, from a drug awareness/education standpoint. Can I just add that baking soda is a devil of a substance to get out of one's packed stuff?

Want to end by thanking Margene, Zeneedle and Zefiber herself, for once again plugging this blog on her own blog. Tons of folks are directed to these pages whenever she does this. I am very grateful. Do take a trip to her blog for some always interesting and thoughtful posts.

P.S. Next time will attempt to answer some more questions asked by readers...like what on earth IS pin-drafting, and more....Do keep those comments and questions a comin', please.

Sunny Bamboo Handspun & Tips For Spinning Fine Yarn

Knitterguy asked me to post a photo of my "dripping golden yarn," that I described in an e-mail sent to him. This yarn is spun from none other than the solar, naturally dyed, Bamboo I've been working on over the past weeks. For a view of the dyed Bamboo unspun fiber and handspun singles, see the past post, Fiber Of Gold & Leslie's Sock Solution. I'm still in the process of spinning yet more Bamboo for a knitted blouse project, but thought I'd show a skein of a finished, 3-ply dripping from a hanging "Clove Drops" Dianthus that's wintering inside our living room.

In the recent past post, Winterlude, I featured a fiberish waxing moon. What better to portray a fiberish sun than this shiny Bamboo? Have I previously mentioned that Bamboo is my favorite of the newer fibers to hit the spinning market? It spins like a charm, drapes wonderfully, washes nicely, has a gorgeous luster and naturally dyes well. Knits and crochets up beautifully, too!

Melinda, who asked the great questions discussed in last week's post, also mentioned that she looks forward to the time when she can readily spin a fine enough singles, so that when plied, will be either fingering, or DK, or sport or worsted weight yarn. I thought that fine spinning would make for a good topic this time 'round.

Folks who take my workshop, "Thick, Medium and Thin - Spinning For A Specific Yarn," receive a handout that gives tips to help them keep in mind what's needed for various sizes of yarn. Here's some *suggestions for spinning thin/fine yarn:
*Please remember, these are ONLY suggestions, not rules. What matters in the end is what works well for YOU.

• Very fine yarn: 25 or more wraps per inch; 13 or more twists per inch in the finished yarn.
• Medium fine yarn: 20-24 wraps per inch; with 10-12 twists per inch in the finished yarn.
• 25-45 degree twist angle.
• Consider using a drive ratio of 9:1 or higher. However, if you have different whorls available to you, choose the one that allows you to spin your yarn in a comfortable manner. I don't know about you, but if I'm not comfortable, I'm not going to spend too long spinning.
  
• General rule of thumb: The thinner the yarn, the more twist is needed to make the yarn stable.
• No killing the baby bird. See the past post, Please Don't Kill The Baby Bird. The fibers need to be allowed to slip past each other.
• Lighter draw-in tension is needed to pull in thinner yarn.
• Slower hand movements may be required in order to allow twist to gather sufficiently. However, if you're using a small whorl with a high speed, this may not be needed at all. Couple a high speed whorl with alot of crazy fast treadling, and slower hand movements definitely won't be needed.
  
• Treadling may need to be on the faster side. Treadling speed is dependent on whorl size used (ie. If you only have a 6:1 ratio available and want to make a fine yarn, you may need to treadle fast-ish for the needed twist that makes the yarn stable. If you have a 12:1 or higher ratio available, your treadling speed can be more relaxed in order to make the same, fine yarn.)
• Consider adjusting the size of the unspun fiber mass to the fineness of the yarn. Consider stripping, especially with commercially prepared fiber, in order to have less work to draft towards achieving a fine yarn. Fiber choice and personal preference does play a part in this, however. For instance, with incredibly short cotton fibers that are commercially prepared, I often don't strip.
  
• Well-prepared fiber is essential, especially if you want a smooth, consistent yarn.
• Consider pre-drafting, especially for commercially prepared fibers, in order to insure the fibers will slip past each other nicely.
• Never underestimate the benefits of excellent light and a contrasting (to the yarn's color) cloth on your lap...they'll go a long way to help you achieve a consistently spun yarn.
  

I've purposely not talked about specific draws to use for spinning thin yarns. I believe your best bet is to begin to learn a variety drafting techniques (see the past posts Drafting Techniques For Handspinners, and Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners) and try some until you find the one that suits the size and type of yarn you wish to make. Choosing to draft in a particular way is a personal choice. I don't believe there's one magic draw for everyone that will help a spinner achieve a particular size of yarn.

Use the tools (twist angle gauge, wraps per inch stick, McMorran Balance, etc.) that fit into your working style. Never forget to trust your own eyes, hands and intuition - these are the most useful and powerful tools of all.

Save ply-backs. They're packed with information. For instance, they tell you how your singles, IF you remain consistent spinning the singles, wants to be plied in order to be balanced. See photo above that shows an index card with pertinent (to me...you write what's pertinent to YOU!) information and attached 2 and 3 ply-backs.

Save your chosen singles, shown as wrapped around the said index card. Visually I can compare the singles I'm spinning to the singles I've saved on the card.

Now here's some thoughts that may prove to be rather controversial among groups of spinners. I'm in the special "potato" camp of spinners. Let's explain it this way: Potatoes can be prepared in many ways...right? Mashed, fried, scalloped, baked, boiled, and more. I love potatoes any which way you slice or cook them - but give me knishes or french fries any hour of any day. But I digress.......I'm in a spinning camp that feels all fibers can be prepared and spun in many ways...just as many ways or more as potatoes can be prepared. In other words, I don't feel that I must or even should spin a yarn to a certain size or with a certain amount of twist just because there's a certain amount of crimps in a lock of fleece. I'm also not held hostage to a fiber's softness or coarseness as a strict dictate on how the yarn must be spun. I feel that all fibers can be spun in any number of ways. That said, of course, I want to spin a yarn that works in the project I'm envisioning. And if I'm just spinning for spinning's sake (which is a perfectly fine thing to do if I so choose, despite what THEY say...) then I will spin to make the yarn look good to me. Thank you, Rita, for your potato analogy...a very fine analogy, indeed.

In addition to the potato camp of spinners, there are many more ways to approach the making of yarn that can be pondered, tried and discussed. Some of these focus on mathematics and others on intuition. Some use a combination of both. Your goal as a spinner is to find which methods work for and please you. No opinions are wrong; no methods are wrong. What's correct are what techniques give YOU what YOU are looking for. What's right are the methods you find most enjoyable to use.

We'd love to hear your tips, tricks, thoughts, etc. on spinning fine yarn. Comment, won't you?

Now, since reality is often stranger than fiction, I'll end with what I did midstream as I was writing this post.
I live in southern, rural Vermont. Livestock abounds. I only have two, sometimes naughty, black cats but others have horses, cows, chickens, goats, you-name-it. I love to feed the wild birds daily. A neighbor's more or less free-range chickens also love that I feed the wild birds daily. We're presently experiencing a bit of a blizzard, with the piles of snow that the skiers (and the local businesses that depend on these skiers) would have wished were dumped beginning last November. But I digress...4 of the chickens didn't go home as per usual last night. Three were perched on tree branches near to the feeders. It wasn't until I went out to feed the birds today that I saw a fourth chicken was nearly up to it's neck in snow on the ground. Once the 4th chicken was freed from it's snowy prison, it, too, flew up into a tree. This would not do! The blizzard was forcasted to continue through the night and I didn't even want to contemplate what would be left of the chickens should they sleep in the trees again. Alexander, youngest of the spider, and I went down the hill to the house where we thought the chickens lived (with Alexander noting that we ate chicken yesterday so what the hell were we doing out in the middle of a blizzard? But I digress...) The young woman said she didn't realize the 4 chickens weren't in roosting with the others. The long and short of it (and how I wished I had my digital camera with me!) is that we got the half-frozen, and very thankful chickens home by putting them on a sled. This is not an everyday experience for a spider originally from Detroit. And by the way, these are not chickens that will be eaten. They are hens past their days of laying eggs and because they are darlings, are kept for pets. Hear that, Alexander?!!

A Beginning Spinner's Questions

I received an e-mail from Melinda, a reader of the spider's blog, from Cleveland, Ohio. This was one of those pieces of correspondence that puts a big smile on my face...spinning questions!! The teacher in me (BA in Art Education and fiber arts instructor for lots of years) loves spinning/natural dyeing/knitting questions...If I don't know the answer, then chances are I know someone who will! I asked Melinda if I could answer her questions in a post, as it would benefit other spinners pondering the same things. She kindly wrote back:

Thanks so much for replying. Yes, please feel free to use my question. I enjoy and appreciate your blog; it's the only one on spinning techniques I've found. Knitting ones abound but spinners don't seem to have taken to blogs like the knitters. (Question from spider: Any readers out there know of other spinning technique blogs they would recommend? The more the merrier....)

Then, I e-mailed Melinda back and asked my typical gazillion questions in order to clarify things so that I could write the post. I wryly mentioned that perhaps she didn't know this onslaught of questioning by me was forthcoming. Melinda wrote:

Nope, I had no idea I was spawning "the beginner spinner in the wild" post. :)

Melinda's original e-mail was:

I'm a beginner wheel spinner (since last summer) and have a drafting question for you as I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. :) I'm making usable yarn but I spend most of my time drafting my roving before I even spin. I take my roving and keep splitting it in half over and over again until I have a fine amount, then pull lengthwise a bit and then spin. I add some spin but am not doing much drafting at the wheel besides getting out any lumps. If I don't do this I don't seem to have enough time to draft while spinning (it's merino.) Is this the norm? It's still largely thick and thin but is no longer overtwisted. I don't have any IRL spinners to watch. Thank you for any advice!

The commercially prepared merino fiber in purples and golds that Melinda is referring to is in the 4th photo from the top of the page. She bought it from handpaintedyarn.com. Melinda's resulting yarn that she spun is featured in the 5th photo from the top of the page. When I went to that site from which Melinda purchased the fiber, I took a peek at what they were selling and my eagle-spinning-eyes told me it looked like "top." Top, for you beginning spinners, is a commercial fiber preparation where in the last stage of prep is combing, thus removing all short and broken fibers and leaving only the long fibers which are parallel to each other. The site said the merino preparation they were selling was simply "roving." Was this incorrect labelling? Well, no...not exactly...but "roving" doesn't give the full picture for the fiber that Melinda spun. Also, it depends on what source you read for defining just what roving is. No wonder beginning spinners (and spinners beyond the beginning stages!) are confused...different sources which sell fibers and different authors/instructors which talk about fibers may all have different definitions of commonly used spinning terms and labels. Eek!

When I looked in a favorite resource of mine, the 2007 Woodland Woolworks mail-order catalog, I searched for how that company is defining "roving." They presently don't label any of the individual preps they sell with the word "roving" these days. Smart folks; the term "roving" is ripe with confusion. Instead, they give this coding for the fibers they sell: Carded fibers = Carded; Combed fibers=Top. Always wanting to inform their customers, in a separate box of written info, they did elaborate about carded fibers and just what they are. The info states that "Sliver (sly-ver) is an even, continuous strip of carded fibers without twist." There's an illustration of two hands stripping lengthwise some commercially prepared fibers, with the caption reading, "Thick rovings both carded and combed can be split lengthwise into two or more sections for better drafting control." BTW, this is the only mention of the word "roving" I could find in the whole of the catalog. There's also a separate box of info discussing the term, "top," basically saying they are fibers which are scoured and combed. In any case, beware that the labels that various companies/instructors/authors give to the preparation of fibers may NOT all jive...ask questions of the vendor that you're buying from, use your own accumulated knowledge, and send it or take it back if it's not what you thought it was.

Now, back to Melinda's situation where she was having a hard time spinning the labelled "roving," that I believe more accurately should be called combed "top." Let's face it spinners...top is harder for beginners to spin. Do check out my past post, Finishing Handspun Yarn - Part One, to see my embarrassing introduction to spinning top. Top presents more spinning difficulties if spun directly out of the package because of the smooth, parallel arrangement of the fibers and the fact that all the fibers are of the same length. Compounding the problem that occurs when these fibers are compactly packed in a bag for who-knows-how-long with who-knows-what kind of spinning oils on them, is the lack of airspace that surrounds these parallel fibers in the form of top. Carded fibers, on the other hand, have fibers of various lengths, NOT all sitting parallel to each other, but instead randomly arranged at angles to each other...air space abounds. Carded fibers are generally easier to spin for beginners, because the air space and the angled, shorter fibers allows for all of the fibers to more easily slip past each other. Not so with the combed top; the fibers tend to cling to each other, having nothing to push against (ie. no angled, shorter fibers and lack of air) as you try to draft them. To further explain my point see what Melinda wrote in other e-mails:

I have a Louet s15. I am spinning on the largest whorl. I am consciously trying to treadle slowly, but I don't really know anyone to compare my speed against. I feel like the fiber is just super sticky -- like I can't pull it apart enough at the wheel without the predrafting. I spun up a batt from Grafton Fibers (See 2nd photo from the bottom for a Grafton Fiber's batt on a chair and the resulting handspun Melinda spun and made into a headband, shown on Melinda in the bottom photo. The pattern for the headband is from Drops Design.) and had much better luck as it was already light and fluffy. However I have many pounds of Tunis (See bag of white, commercially carded fiber in the third photo from the top of the page. The grey, commercially carded fiber is also wool, but not Tunis) in roving form so the Grafton fiber will not be my normal medium. I'll be looking forward to reading your blog post for any further drafting advice (various types of drafting techniques are discussed on the past posts Drafting Techniques For Handspinners and Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners) I bought my Tunis fleece unprocessed at a fiber show last June. I paid $4 for 4.5 lbs. I sent it off to a processor (don't remember who but I wasn't impressed with their customer service anyway) and received it back a .5 lb lighter as roving. I've spun up a bunch and haven't even made a dent in it. (Note from spider: Most mills in the U.S. are carding mills, not combing mills, which is why, since Melinda sent her Tunis fleece away to be prepared into roving, I gathered that it's carded. Do any of the spider's readers know of U.S. or Canadian mills that also comb fibers that are sent to them, if the customer so chooses to have their fleece made into top?)

Grafton Fiber's batts, are of course, carded. I do believe that some or most of their batts are re-carded commercially prepared top, blending a variety of colors, thus the batts still have only the long fibers from the original top in that case. BUT, the extra carding process itself adds the factor of air, places the once parallel fibers at angles to each other, and that's why Melinda would find these batts easier to spin.

So now back to Melinda's question of how she's thus far combatted beginner's overtwist by lots of stripping (splitting lengthwise) and pre-drafting (getting the fibers to begin to slip past each other). She wondered if this was ok? I personally think anything's game if it helps you achieve the yarn your looking for. The fiber Melinda was referring to was the purple/gold top. By stripping and pre-drafting, you're physically adding air around the fibers, making them easier to slip past each other and therefore, easier to spin.

I also discussed with Melinda that she consider if her overtwist problems are not being caused by treadling so quickly her hands can't keep up with her feet and/or that the whorl she's on isn't so small that too much twist is getting inserted per each push on the treadle for the size of yarn she's making. General points to remember are: The larger the yarn, the less twist needed to make it stable. The smaller the yarn, the more twist needed to make it stable.

Also it's good to consider the average staple length of the fiber you're spinning. If you want to make a thick yarn or one with large slubs, the average staple length of the fiber has to be able to be held in the twist or it'll drift apart. Conversely, too much twist will turn a thick yarn into rope pronto. It's the spinner's task to find just the right amount of twist to make the yarn stable and yet not too much to make it overtwisted rope.

If you're looking for less of a thick 'n thin yarn, and want one that's more consistently smooth, then keep your eye on the drafting zone once you've established the size of yarn you want.
If you keep the fiber amounts in the drafting zone consistent (the unspun fiber that'll accept the twist next), then you'll have a more consistent yarn overall.

The photo at the top are some baby hats Melinda knitted from some 100% merino, commercially spun, yarn she bought on e-bay. The pattern is the "Umbilical Cord Hat," from Debbie Stoller's, "Stitch n' Bitch." Melinda says, "They are easy -- I can crank one out in 3 hours."

The second from the top photo shows a pretty fleece of dyed Jacob wool. Melinda wondered how she might prepare the fleece to spin. If Melinda carded it all together randomly, she'd most probably lose the various colors as they mixed with the brown. This would make for a livelier brown, but brown it would be. If Melinda removed the colors from the brown and carded them together randomly, she'd blend the various colors into one that was more homogenous. This may or may not be what was wanted. 'course she could also try to pick out individual colors and card each separately, but it looks like the fleece was rainbow dyed and the individual locks have more than one color on them. It's good to remember that when you card, you blend...thus she'd blend the colors together in this instance. I suggested that if she wanted to retain the colors, more or less, in the fleece, that she take some locks and ever so lightly tease them open. Once spun, this preparation will result in a more textured yarn than if the fibers were carded, but it would allow for the colors to remain quite clear and vivid. If the lock formation was still intact, she could also very light dog comb or use a dog rake to gently open the locks. After combing, the locks could be then spun from the fold or from the end. From the photo of the fleece, however, it looks as if much of the lock formation is lost and perhaps the light teasing would give her the clearer coloring in her yarn that she's looking for. Any other suggestions?

Finally, Melinda mentioned that she'd like to learn more about spinning a finer yarn than what she's been doing. In other words, she'd like to make singles so that when plied together she'll have useable worsted weight, or sport weight or whatever weight of yarn she'd choose to use in her knitting. I'll save this for next time... Thank you, Melinda, for asking excellent questions, thus bringing up some very important points for all of us spinners to contemplate, beginners and beyond.