Spinning Fuzzy Fibers; Ratio Considerations for Longdraws and From The Fold; Thanksgiving '08

DSL! The spider and her blog now have the good fortune to have a high speed internet connection. Oh ya baby!! I'm not gonna know how to act given how fast things are moving!!! Please understand that prior to a week or so ago, we didn't even have a choice between dial-up and DSL. DSL simply wasn't an option in our little, rural town of Whitingham, VT. That means that this entire blog for 2+ years has been put up on dial up...leading to this spider being fed up due to the snail's pace of uploading my multiple pics, not to mention lotsa time-consuming linking and writing. If you go back into my archives, you'll note that many posts have 30 or more pics...these posts took DAYS to bring to life...I must have been bloody crazy, eh?!!! And it's also important to know that despite Chris and I putting our names on multiple lists requesting that DSL come to our area, it was NOT Verizon/Fairpoint that called us and said DSL was available. Thanks to a gentleman knitter on Ravelry, Lee255, I was alerted to the DSL's arrival. Lee even went out of his way to personally call me on the phone despite never having met me. Lee and his wife, being Whitingham residents themselves, were the ones to give me the phone number to get the ball rolling towards high speed. THANK YOU LEE AND VANDA!!!!

Here's more news of a different sort. I have decided to take at least a year off from teaching any spinning/dyeing workshops. Did you notice I took down the teaching schedule that topped each new post for all of the blog's lifetime 'til now? Over the last few years I taught quite a lot of such workshops and have enjoyed meeting a whole flock of wonderful spinners. But now it's time to finish the BOOK and travel down other paths that are calling me. I'm planning to go back to school and no doubt a dayjob will be needed to pay for school expenses and more. As for the blog's future, I'm not sure yet...time will tell. I'm hoping that my tappings thus far have been at least somewhat of use to you. I know one thing for sure (well, as long as my hands hold out)...I'll not stop spinning, dyeing and knitting. And I'm guessing, at least in some capacity, I'll not completely cease designing nor writing in those three fiberish disciplines.

Chris asked, "So Jen, does this mean that now I'll be able to wear the pieces you wouldn't let me wear because you used them for teaching?" Well, no. Not until the BOOK is finished. Chris replied, "Oh great, so I can look forward to my new hat in the winter of 2010!"

Here's a dandy pic of my roommates, Maureen and Leslie (l to r) at a recent spinning conference, my last teaching stint of the year. Two better partners in fun and naughtiness could not have been found.

The Lunar Ladies were together again (unfortunately sans Maureen) this November. E was our hostess with the mostest. Jenna gave us our Yule/Christmas pressies early and informed us that we were to have a "craft session" that evening. Jenna, who was a florist for years, brought some intoxicatingly fresh evergreen wreaths and we each had the fun of decorating one for ourselves.

E and Leslie (l to r) are shown above wrapped up in ribbons.

The spider, also ribbon-wrapped, is hugging and kissing our resident fey, Jenna! Who could resist?!

Now the above pic might take some explaining. After all, flipping the bird is not generally thought to be in the holiday spirit. Here's how the story goes: Jenna was showing the Lunar Ladies how to make a bow. She didn't want to show us the usual method of twisting each loopy puff because it's hard on the hands. So Jenna demonstrated an alternative method of how to make a proper bow. Let's just say the spider wasn't getting it. It reminded me of that moment when everyone else seemed to be getting how to drop spindle 'cept me. Jenna kept repeating to stick our middle finger in the "button," which apparently is the middle of the bow. Somehow my right hand's middle finger had a life of its own and a theme for the night was born. So blame all this bad taste on me.

More birds a' flying.

Look closely and you'll find E's Paco amongst our wreaths. He's such a good little boy. No paw-flipping from him.


While we're still on the subject of wreaths, thought you might to see a fibery wreath of sorts. The wreath is composed of lustrous Coopworth wool locks, rainbow dyed with natural dyes (cochineal, logwood, Saxon blue indigo). For more info on rainbow dyeing, see the past post, Clear & Brilliant Rainbow Dyeing.

A close-up shot in all its prettiness...makes me think that perhaps I should have actually glued the fiber down in a circular wreath form and enjoyed it in all its glory without the twist. Some fibers really are better left untwisted me thinks!

This past Thursday was the first time Chris, David, Alexander and I were all joined together at a Thanksgiving meal in something like 10 years. One reason which brought us to NYC was the fact that Alex was flying out from JFK airport to Japan the day after Thanksgiving. Yep, he's going back to Japan only three months after he was last there. Why? Well, don't tell anybody but Alex is bringing a beautiful diamond ring and a seriously important proposal to bestow on his girlfriend, Emi. But sssshhhssss, I'm not sure she knows yet...

Above is my Chris pouring the delicious kosher grape juice for our meal.

Our favorite holiday meal is Greek spinach pie. Turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce has never graced the Bakriges' table. I asked the guys whether they felt cheated because of the whole no turkey thing. They looked at me like I was speaking the local language of Mars, and said, "Um, NO Ma!" For a past post featuring my spinach pie recipe, see Rose and Leaf Tam; Deborah Newton's Sleigh-Ride Gloves; Bulky Spinning Tips; Ravelry; The Spinning Loft; And Hand Exercises for Spinners. By the way, this same past post featuring the Rose and Leaf Tam, is a great example of some fuzzy fiber spinning...which just happens to be the spinning techie topic of this post you're reading presently.

No pie was baked nor purchased for this Thanksgiving celebration either. Instead, we brought a silly, tho' downright delicious, buttercream-iced, turkey cake. When the time came to cut the pieces for dessert, both Alexander and I wanted the heavily frosted turkey body itself. I, ceremoniously, cut the turkey in half...much to the gasps of the lookers-on. Mmmmm.

Above is a pic of our two sons, David (standing) and Alexander (sitting). I told Alexander he was wearing a "wife beater" shirt. He said, "Ma, do you have to call it THAT?!" So there is our David wearing a yarmulke and Alex wearing a wife beater. Hmmm. If they both were sitting on my shoulders, perhaps one would be holding a pitchfork and the other donning wings?

Oh, one more thing about Alexander. I was with him when he purchased the shhhhhsssshhh...ring...shhhhhsssshhh at the jewelers. Wouldn't ya know that the cute salesclerk batted her eyelashes and gushed as she said to Alex, "Has anyone ever told you that you have GREAT hair?" Alex, without skipping a beat, says, "Well, ya..." No shyness from that boy. Tell it like it is, Alexander! I, on the other hand, was earlier thinking his hair looked rather skanky that day. Go figure. Something tells me this is the same way my own Ma and Dad felt when they saw me in the 70's...long, scraggly hair parted down the middle, wearing my beloved, bedraggled blue jeans with elephant-sized bellbottoms.

On to some spinning stuff...

Fuzzy yarns. What's your pleasure? Angora rabbit, dog down, cat down, fox fur, mohair, qiviut, bison down, camel down, yak down, etc.... No doubt about it, fuzzy yarns carry with them an air of luxury and a dose of warmth.

If I were to tell you my two favorite pieces of advice regarding the spinning of fuzzy yarns I'd say, 1) Be sure you're spinning a stable yarn, as fuzzy fibers can be slippery and those fibers like to slip completely right out of the twist. 2) Don't worry about spinning fluffy. Spin that stable yarn from fuzzy fibers and the the halo WILL occur without even trying.

I've chatted about stable yarns before but it's worth repeating. A stable yarn is one that doesn't drift apart at any stage: the yarn doesn't drift apart when it goes on to the bobbin: nor when it is taken off the bobbin; nor when it is washed and dried; nor when the yarn is knitted/crocheted/woven/etc. into something...and finally, the yarn doesn't fall apart as it's used in a piece. A spinner can test if his/her yarn is stable by tugging on each end of a length of yarn, several staple lengths long. If slippage is felt, then more twist is needed to make the yarn stable.

Many of these fuzzy fibers are on the short side. Sometimes fuzzy fibers are a combination of short and somewhat longer fibers. Be sure to put in an adequate amount of twist for the chosen size of yarn. Very short fibers are more difficult to actually keep stuck in a thicker yarn because they're too short to be adequately caught in the twist...with shedding being the result...or worse yet, instability. If you're looking for a thicker yarn, consider making it from finer singles plied together.

Please keep this sage bit of advice that I learned long ago from one or more of my mentors in mind: When spinning thinner yarns, more twist is needed to make the yarn stable. When spinning thicker yarns, less twist is needed to make the yarn stable. And furthermore...the length of the fibers play an important role in that very short fibers need more twist in order to hold them in the yarn. On the other hand, longer fibers need less twist in order to hold them into the yarn. Therefore, how much twist you use is dependent on the size of yarn you spin, whether you will ply or not, the slickness of your fibers, and your end use.

There's an upside and a downside to fuzzy fibers being warm. The plus is that if it's cold, these fibers will be more than welcome. However, beware of making a bulky-ish sweater out of 100% dog down unless you want to wear your creation to an Arctic ball. Such fibers can feel like you're wrapped in plastic wrap and cooking in a sauna. Consider blending fuzzy fiber with breathable wool for comfort's sake. 'course that said, one of my favorite uses for fuzzy fibers and fuzzy fiber blends is as a lining to mitts, hats and more. If I'm careful to remove any prickly guard hairs from dog down and the like, the wearer of such garments is caressed in luxurious warmth and incredible softness. And in this case, the outer part of such a hat or garment doesn't have to be butter soft since there's a layer of delicious, non-scratchy, fuzz between it and one's skin.

Here's some handspun 2-ply (sport weight) I've been knitting of late into a lining. The spinning, according to my documentation, was done in 2000. I can't remember where I got the fiber but I seem to remember it WAS commercially prepared, but NOT wonderfully prepared. Out came my hand cards in order to open up the clumps in the blend of blue fox and wool fibers. The spinning went far easier after the hand carding treatment.

Above you'll find a pic of a headband of wool singles (see recent past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for more on the singles yarn) that I'm lining with the blue fox/wool blend yarn.

Fuzzy, but fuzz on the low end of the spectrum.

Another view of the lining in progress.

On to another fuzzy project...

The above pic shows a swatch (Cat's Paw stitch) and skein of 30% Sheltie dog down and 70% Shetland wool. The yarn is a 2-ply and was created thanks to a dog named Kloo and a sheep named Lily. Kloo shared her life with none other than Nancy Bush and Lily lived with a flock at
West Hill Woolies farm in Wallingford, Vermont. Nancy and I collaborated on an article in Spin Off magazine featuring my handspun and her knitting of a "Dog's Paw Shawl," Fall 2001, pgs. 54-60. Please note that the Sheltie/Shetland blend is fuzzy, but not so fuzzy that you can't distinctly see the lace stitch. If you don't want to obscure a stitch pattern, consider using a lower % of the fuzzy fiber in relation to wool or another fiber in a blend.

Above is a hat made back in the 80's for my Alexander. Never mind that he hated the hat because he felt it had too big of a pompom. The pattern is from Cottage Creations, "Snakka du norsk ~ A Norwegian Winter Sports Cap." The outer layer is 2-ply handspun Perendale wool, dyed with Gaywool synthetic dyes. I remember being at a knitting guild meeting back then in Middletown, CT when one woman asked where I bought that yarn. I told her I had spun it myself. She said, "No really, where can I buy some of that yarn?" Geesh, it wasn't that great or anything...

Here's what I lined the hat with. The handspun is an angora rabbit and tussah silk blend (50/50), also dyed with Gaywool.

Judging from the way the stitches are skewing over to the left, I overplied the yarn and no doubt, not on purpose. The overtwist in the plying, in this case, thankfully didn't mess up the hand of the fabric, but at least now that I'm an older and wiser spinner, I can judge that the yarn wasn't balanced. In other words, there was more S (counter-cl0ckwise; to the left) twist than I needed for the amount of Z twist (clockwise; to the right) put into the singles. Or you could say that I would have needed more singles twist to balance the twist in the plying...but if I had done that, the hand, no doubt, would have been too boardy.

Alexander might not have liked the hat, but even he couldn't disagree that it was one warm head covering!

Above is a pic of a wool tam with a 100% Samoyed dog down I-cord trim. I used to make oodles of these tams for sale. In this case, the dog down is completely free of guard hairs, making for a delightfully soft halo.

But in the above 100% Samoyed yarn, guard hairs were NOT taken out. I know the yarn was spun ages ago, but I can't, for the life of me, remember why I did not remove the prickly guard hairs. I do know I used some of it to line a few pairs of mittens. Heaven help one's forehead if I had also used the yarn to line a hat!

I remove guard hairs by holding a tuft in front of me, backed by a strong light. One by one those hairs are plucked out. Some spinners have other methods to remove the guard hairs, but I've not found any methods that work better than simply plucking them out. Readers, any thoughts or suggestions on guard hair removal...especially methods that have really worked for you?

A close-up showing those offensive hairs.

And an even closer close-up. Itch, itch, scratch, scratch.

When you're knitting/crocheting/weaving with fuzzy yarns, remember that the halo fuzz is part of the gauge/sett just as much as the yarn core itself. If you want to make your fuzzy yarn "be all that it's meant to be," consider not packing in the stitches too tightly next to each other. That way the fuzz will happily fill in the space in between the actual stitches. Let's not forget, if you're looking for warmth, it's the airspace around and within the yarn that allows for it.

One more thing...I've not chatted about which drafting technique works best with fuzzy fiber, have I? If you've been reading the spider long enough, you'll know that I'm about to tell you to learn all the drafting techniques you can, and then pull out of the hat which one works best in your particular fuzzy situation. If you need more info on drafting options, please head to the past posts: Drafting Techniques For Handspinners Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners, and Opinions On Drafting Techniques For Handspinners.

OK, yet another thought...regarding fiber prep for fuzzy fibers...more than once I was told that it's not necessary to do any fiber prep of the carding or combing type when it comes to fuzzy fibers. I was told to just grab a handful and start spinning. Well, that's one way to go about things. If you're looking for a more textured yarn, that's a good path to take. Perhaps you'll begin by hand-teasing the fibers with your fingers...or not. Thinking back, one of my favorite fuzzy fiber experiences was when I used mini-combs to prepare some angora rabbit. I seem to remember really enjoying spinning that prep into a very, very, fine, laceweight 2-ply. But combs are just one way to go and generally work best with fibers 2" or more in length. Hand cards (or a drum carder, for that matter) might end up being your best friend regarding fuzzy fibers. Hand cards break up clumps and blend the short and longer fibers together. Plus, hand cards work wonders when blending fuzzy fibers with other fibers such as wool or silk. If the fuzzy fibers are very short, you may opt to make punis out of them. See the past posts, Making Punis, and More on Punis, for puni making techniques. If your fuzzy fibers are so short and slippery that you can't even make punis out of them, then you may want to blend the fuzzy fibers with something that has a little tooth, like wool or even tussah silk. Do try not to kill the baby bird when spinning this prep (see past post: Please Don't Kill The Baby Bird), however, because you'll end up with a handful of short, fuzzy fibers whilst the longer, toothier, fibers spin into yarn. Also, if you don't want the short, fuzzy fibers to shed, make sure you properly catch them in the twist of your yarn. Chances are good that you'll want to spin such a yarn on the finer side, since the finer the yarn, the more twist needed to make it stable, and the better chance that the short fibers will be caught in the twist. Geesh, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record even to myself. I had better stop now...

I'll end with a question that came in via Ravelry from Diane in Bear Lake, Michigan (dlalomia on Ravelry): I want to try doing the long draw with some Romeldale combed top from Dakota, one of my sheep. Zeilinger’s did a nice combed top for me and I have 4 oz. left to play with (all the rest got sold). I thought I’d try spinning from the fold and see what I can come up with. Do you have a suggested ratio that would be best for spinning the long draw from the fold? I have a Minstrel wheel with 6.5, 8.5, 12 and 16:1 ratios.

The spider answers: Thanks so much, Diane, for posing this question. I'm afraid I don't have a pat answer for you, but I do have some points to consider. I like to think of ratios and their corresponding whorl sizes in terms of comfort. Generally, I might start out with my default whorl...let's say it's a 6.5:1. This means the bobbin and flyer turn 6.5 times for every one turn of the drive wheel (one treadle's worth). If I wanted to spin a fine yarn, which requires more twist to make it stable (especially if the fibers are on the short side), I might find that in order to treadle comfortably, I would need to go to a higher ratio, such as the 8.5:1. BUT, if I was naturally a fast treadler, then the 6.5:1 might work just fine for me. Let's say that I want to make a bulky yarn with fibers of a medium staple range. Again, I often start with my default whorl of 6.5:1. Depending on how bulky I was spinning, I may require a lower whorl size to spin comfortably, given that the bulky yarn requires less twist to make it stable. However, given your range of ratios available to you with the Kromski Minstrel wheel, you don't presently have the option of going to a lower whorl size (tho' a larger whorl option IS available for purchase when you're ready). But until then, you may opt to treadle as slowly as possible and/or speed up your hands in order to make your bulky yarn.

Now, let's throw in the situation that you want to spin with a longdraw from the fold. Spinning from the fold halves the fibers. I just looked up what the average staple length of a Romeldale fleece is on the internet and one source states it's 3-6". Let's assume that your top is impeccably prepared and that the fibers are slipping past each other ever so nicely whilst drafting . If you spin half of an average 3" staple length, that brings you to a 1.5" staple length...be sure to get enough twist into yarn to make it stable! Just keep an eye on putting in adequate twist for the size of yarn you're spinning. One suggestion I may have for you is that I often like to "up" the draw-in (be it Scotch tension, Irish tension, or tighten the drive band on a double drive) when I'm spinning with a long draw. This is no hard and fast rule by any account, but just something to consider if you feel you need it. I think I like a tad more draw-in with the longdraws over the short draws because more oomph seems to be needed to get and store the longer length of yarn onto the bobbin. Otherwise, I can't really recommend one ratio over another for spinning from the fold with any of the longdraws due to the variables inherent in spinner's technique(s) and preferences, equipment options, fiber type, fiber length, yarn size, and end-use. But I can recommend that you sample. Check out postage stamp swatching in my past post, Spinning Singles Successfully For Knitting; Postage Stamp Swatching; Witches' Ball; Southern Vermont Fiber Event; and Lisa's Sweater, for a fast and painless swatching method developed by my friend, Leslie.

Best wishes to you all. Look for a post at the end of December.