Dear Spinning Circle,
Live Stream: Saturday, February 27th @ 8:30am PST
Direct YouTube link here.
Thank you for being here today, especially those who were able to make it to the Live Stream. I appreciate your time spent here in this place with me. You are most welcome. I hope you feel most welcome because you are welcome here.
Enjoy the show!
Live Chat Assistance here.
There is a lot going on in our community! It’s a lot to cover and remind you of each week. Have a look here for more info!!
If you are curious about what happens in our community, please click the links below, reach out to me: rachel @ welfordpurls (dot) com, or reach out on Instagram/Ravelry/Slack (if you are a Patreon member, @welfordpurls_admin).
On & Off the Bobbins
Longway Homestead Finn – Kromski Minstrel; long draw
On & Off the Needles
In Progress – Knitting
Shifty by Andrea Mowry
slightly larger gauge on 3.5mm // US 4 needles; Westcoast Colour Falkland & Polwarth + Silk spins here, here & here
Community Participation
For February, tell us about your GARMENT FITTING ISSUES — share in the episode thread here or comment below here on YouTube!
Breed & Colour Studies – Shetland
Shauna (@shaunastitches) shares via Slack: I’ve finished 3 out of 9 braids of Shetland I got for our breed and color study. I’m spinning the last of the braids I dyed now. It’s dark brown and I don’t think the color is going to show at all, but I’m giving it a shot. I can see just a hint in the braid. The other five I have are all natural colors (white, grey, moorit, dark brown, and one mix of white and moorit). This is the first time I’ve ever spun multiple braids to attempt for consistency. I made a sample card, or control card and it seems to be helping as I can check often to make sure I’m in the right zone for consistency. Each one is more thick and thin than I would like, but I’m spinning much thicker than I normally do. These are coming out as a 2-ply sport to dk but I’m hoping to knit them up into a sport gauge for the Stripes! pullover by Andrea Mowry.
Liz (@kingdom fleece and fiberworks) shares via Slack: I got my breed and color study today! I went straight to the pin drafter 1 and 2 went through once. The 3rd went through twice!
Martha (@marthamew) shares via Slack: End to the spinning segment of part 1 of my Shetland study. I found that I’m really pretty terrible and pulling off equal amounts of fibre as you can see, the skeins are very different in yardage. I also surprised myself and find I like the white skein the most, it feels bright and cheerful, and although the rich tones in the moorit and grey are awesome, I find the colours I chose work best (for me) with the white. The mixed 3ply has grown on me a lot too! They’re all somewhere between 13-15 wpi, which I think is fingering/sport? They weigh 46g (white), 56g (mix), 61g (grey) and 69g
51 Yarns – Group B – Long Wool, Tailspinning, Fibre Processed, Double-Coated
Alison (@abigbee) shares on Ravelry: I have completed #3 (Long Wool), #12 (Tailspinning) and #14 (Fiber You Processed) with about 8 ounces of Raw Teeswater Locks I received from Fiber Curio. I am participating in the SE2SE project sponsored by the Livestock Conservancy and Teeswater is listed as critical on the endangered sheep list. I received white (white tipped with silver color toward the butt end), grey and dark grey to black locks. These were very dirty and I soaked them O/N in cold water then did 2 washes/2 rinses. The rinse water ran clean after the second rinse so I was pretty happy although the white locks were stained yellow (I asked the Wool and Spinning FB page and now understand that is common due to exposure/nature smile ) I did 2 things with these locks: (1) I made my first art yarn by lockspinning/tailspinning! I watched YouTube videos and this was a lot of fun to do (although i have a small orifice on my wheel and would want to do this with a bigger one next time)! (2) I took the dark locks and combed them, drafted short forward with a low twist (I didn’t want to turn out with a ropey yarn) and ended up with about 50-60 yards of DK weight (WPI = 11) yarn! The yarn has such a sheen to it, which I understand is a characteristic of Teeswater. I have completed #5-7 of 51 yarns…the Double Coated fiber! I started out with 4oz of raw White Navajo Churro locks and 4ozs of raw Marbled Navajo Churro locks from Cedar Mesa Ranch in CO. I am participating in the #se2se project sponsored by the Livestock Conservancy and processed/spun these for that program also. Navajo Churro is listed as “threatened” on the endangered sheep list. I went into this project with a vision: To use the tog for warp and the thel for weft (along with other yarns) and weave mug rugs :) I spent about a month separating the fiber. The TOG details (the tog is on the right of the picture below containing 3 yarns): I handcombed the tog and spun at a ratio of 5.5-1 with a relatively strong uptake (I didn’t want to turn out with wire instead of yarn so I wanted low twist)! I spun the white tog and marbled tog separately using short forward draw and then plied them together. I ended up with a 2 ply yarn that I believe is perfect for a warp yarn! The THEL details (the 2 taels are on the left of the picture below containing 3 yarns): I bought hand carders and hand carded the thel into rolags (my first time doing that) then spun supported long draw with low twist at a 5.5-1 ratio. I spun and plied the white and marbled thel separately. For the TOG/THEL spin, I bought 4oz of roving from TempeYarn (they sell Navajo Churro Roving containing both the tog and thel together from Woolhalla –aztunis.com) called “Fleece with a Face”. On the band of the roving, it states: “this roving from Navajo Churro ewes named Sister Mary Augusta (black) or Gypsy Rose Lee (brown) at Cunnington Farms, Moab, Utah”. This roving was such a breeze to spin supported long draw! You could see the outer hairs (white) mixed in amongst the brown undercoat…it was grippy so it was nice to draw out evenly! This yarn is not next to the skin soft (scratchy feeling) but would be great in a blanket/weaving/home crafts such as pillows, etc. I loved working with this fiber and can see doing so a lot in my future! Navajo Churro is used a lot in weavings in my area of the US…I live in Santa Fe, NM and the weavings around here are just beautiful!!
Linnea (@lbmbirds) shares on Ravelry: I had 200g commercially made top of Charollais that i spun to 5 bobbins on my Flatiron. The plan was to make a 5-ply, a 3-ply and a 2-ply from the same breed, fiber and way of spinning. I spun a fine yarn with 24 WPI. #20 – 5-ply I plied on my Ribe rok ( Danish wheel) because i only have 5 bobbins to my Flatiron. The challenge came with the plying, first i did not have a lazy kate to hold all the 5 bobbins, so i made one for the 3 homeless bobbins. The next challenge was making a breakband for the bobbins to have a bit of tension on the singles, when trying to ply them. This was better but not good enough, if i was to make more 5-ply yarns, i would find another way to do it. Next problem was the intake on the wheel, i think i must have had it too low, cause when i tried to get ready for the next length, i ended up pulling more out from the bobbin – creating more twist on the yarn and when trying to adjust this, the singles tangled behind me. A very frustrating experience. I soaked the yarn in hot water for 5 min, then snapping it and hanging it to dry. I found the yarn ropey and very overtwisted and have tried to run it through the wheel again to remove some twist, not with any particular amount of luck. this is the first time trying this as well, so this particular yarn has taught me so much. It is now 65grams of not so nice bulky weight yarn with a twist angle of 40. I see this as an experiment more than a yarn i can make a project out of, since i do not like the yarn, there is a fairly small amount of yarn, but it might become a knitted sample. Or just leave it like it is to remind me of what not to do next time. I would like to try it again to try to master it. Note to self: get a bobbin more so i am able to spin and ply on the same wheel. And put less twist In the singles. 3-ply: It was an ok easy spin but it made a ropey yarn, with a little too much twist in the singles. The yarn was soaked in hot water for 5 min, before snapping it and hanging it to dry. I found the plying slightly overtwisted and have tried to run it through the wheel again to remove some twist. It is now a ok yarn with a comparatively low twist angle of 20. 2-ply: It was a fairly easy spin and it made a lovely yarn, though a bit uneven. I plied from bobbin nr 1 and 5 because they were not spun the same day. i ended up with a WPI of 11-12 and a twisangle of about 40. Thoughts are: a 2-ply can take a harder spun singles better, than a 3- and 5- ply can.
Luxury Fibres ALONG
Sherri (@prairiefirebird) shares on Ravelry: The wild silks have been fun to explore. I tried Muga, Eri, Tussah/Tasar, and peduncle. Really enjoyed spinning all the silks.
Handspun Sweater Makes
Maria (@palmikkopuu) shares on Ravelry: This sweater was handspun or plyed from Plötylopi preyarn to 2 ply lopistyle yarn. This pattern is Metsänpeitto sweater . I went sking yesterday weariing this. My beanie is also made with handspun.
Handspun Yarn!
Claudia (@clotricots) shares on Ravelry: Here is my first real spin, from a pindrafted Corriedale braid by Small Bird Workshop. The singles were done on my drop spindle and 2 plied on my Ashford Traveller. It’s about a sport weight and I already have a pattern picked out for it. I’m stoked with the results. AND, Second full skein and first singles on my wheel. Beautiful sport weight Falkland, I really love it. I didn’t know how to manage the colors. I decided to strip the braid in 4 sections lengthwise not super precisely, spun 2 sections per bobbin in the same color progression each time and plied it in the same direction as well so some sections (mostly in the beginning) lined up and the rest barber poled. I think it’s a successful spin!
Natural Shades ALONG& Zero to Hero
@shrub shares via Ravelry: Making the yarn for another natural colors sweater. Using llama fiber again. I have several shades to work with – Here’s a sample of two shades. Have not decided on a pattern. Thoughts are leaning to Ghost horses or Treysta.
Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Spinning!
