Continuing with my February theme surrounding learning how to spin Textured Yarns, I continued on with some more core spinning ::
I’m kind of smitten with this core spinning business. I can’t stop. It’s so fast and fun and fast and easy and fun and … It’s addictive.
As with all of Ilga’s batts, there is any mix of Merino, Corriedale, Finn, Firestar, Silk, Alpaca and whatever else is lying around her studio that may be thrown onto the drum carder.
My husband had given me an Edgewood Garden Studio batt for my birthday last year and I neglected to do anything with it. I loved the colours he chose but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it so it went into my stash. After playing around with the first batt, watching Jacey’s Craftsy class and learning a ton in a very short period of time, I decided to pull it out and break it into smaller nests.
For the core, I used some 2-ply fingering that has been lying around in my deep stash for ages. Unlike my first core spun yarn, this turned out much thicker. I think it’s because there was much more substance to the batt in comparison to my first one. As well, the first one had been compressed for quite sometime in stash. If you have the option, spin your batts sooner rather than later – fresh batts spin really nicely compared to ones that have been sitting or stored. The air that is initially what makes the batt so lovely gets pushed out and compresses the fibre so a fresh batt still possesses the lovely qualities it had off the carder!
Anyhow, the finished, washed yarn is about a worsted weight. The depth of colour and texture is awesome due to the fantastic variety that was in the original batt. I think if I had spun this sooner, it would have been lighter and drafted a bit easier. It was quite compressed as well.
This skein speaks of nothing but texture to me. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it – I actually thought about casting on something like a toque or fingerless mitts but … I’m going to wait. In April, I am speaking at the Vancouver Weavers and Spinners Guild and I think this will be a great skein to bring along to chat about new learning.
Spun on my jumbo flyer on the Lendrum, using the largest whorl ratio (6:1) I have access to, this skein ended up almost perfectly balanced after washing. There are very few areas that are overly twisted and the skein only twisted 2-3 times after I pulled it off the niddy-noddy prior to washing. I can see that it would be very easy to add way too much twist so sticking to a larger whorl and sloooow feet is key.
For finishing, I soaked it in warm-hot water for 3-5 minutes then lifted it out gently and hung it to dry. Due to the time of year and delayed drying times, I actually ended up placing it in front of the fire the next day to speed the process along. Damp, semi-dry wool isn’t the best smell after a few days so I thought it could use a hand.
And now to head out to my garage to make another batt … Wish me luck!
