SpinnySpinny

Yesterday I got the package of yarn back from my Learning Exchange group. It was just yarn, the evaluations will come later apparently. So now I have a sample from everyone in the group who finished. Some did not, so there are only ten samples out of the original thirteen members. The coordinator wrapped everything up nicely in tissue and a lace ribbon and included a handwritten note. The entire package was lovely, and it was great fun to go through it all and see what everyone had done.

I like to see other people’s yarn. I want to see not only what other people are up to, but how they approach yarn design. This group had a range of spinners, from two to twenty-five years of experience, and the yarns were of all sorts of kinds of Merino. Raw fleece (some from personal flocks,) small-lot mill carded and the ever-present Ashland Bay. There were blends with silk, angora and mohair and yarns both fluffy and smooth. Most were two or three ply, but there was a single and my 4-ply. Some spinners measured angle of twist but most didn’t, one participant included an extra sheet describing the different scouring methods she tried. Scouring is important for Merino, because it has way more grease than pretty much anything else.

I don’t know how long it will be to get the evaluations, but the group leader has all the materials so things should be coming along. I’ll post more later.

The diz experiment went well, although I need to do something about getting a better diz. The plastic jug is ok for thick stuff but that’s about it. It’s too soft, so the hole gets larger as you go. Not good. I tried using a button, which was better, but it’s hard to work with. Not only is it just difficult to hold, but since it’s so small I end up grabbing fibers on the other side when I’m not supposed to. Believe it or not, the hole is too large as well. Time to go shopping, or maybe something will turn up at a thrift store or random junk pile. You never know.

More fiber washing this morning, and let me tell you I’m liking this sunshine thing. Summer in San Francisco is not known for sunny days, but we live on the other side of the city from the fog-inducing ocean. Oh it gets over here often enough, but it’s not so much that we live in perpetual pea soup like some parts of the city. And we now have a nice big back courtyard that gets sun. After being in the basement for so long I’m just astounded that I can sit here with the windows open (We have windows! And they open to actual outside!) and it’s just nice. Not too hot, not too cold, and a pleasant breeze. The Merino I scoured this morning is already almost dry. (And my neighbors occasionally wander by wondering what that weird object with the dead rats inside is. Good thing nobody actually asked, as I can’t explain much farther than “Es la lana.”)

The past couple days have been sunny and warm, perfect fleece washing weather. Unfortunately, they have also been a bit windy, which makes drying fleece outside a problem. I recently found the solution at a local Cheap Stuff From China store, of which there are many all over San Francisco. There was the “Infant Sleeping Tent,” a pop-up mesh tent of sorts. The label has some of the worst Engrish I’ve seen in a while (“To protect baby form bitting by mosquitoes and files” is only a sample) but it’s actually a handy little thing. Don’t know that I’d trust it for use with actual babies, but that’s not my problem. I don’t even remember what I paid for it but I’m going to go back for more. It might have been a buck but certainly not much more. Here’s a picture:

The fleece in there is some of what I got from Forest Home Farms annual shearing party in San Ramon a couple weeks ago. East Bay Mystery Sheep at it’s finest. It’s short and full of kemp but not too dirty. It might be a lamb because it has that curly tip like first fleeces tend to have and it’s fairly soft. From the spongy feel there is obviously some down breed in there (Suffolk?) and a bit of California Red. I figured I’d use it to mess around with some drum carder experiments, although at this point I think it’s getting tossed in the I’ll Card It All Together Eventually pile. There’s a lot of kemp in there and the red hair is not high on my list either.

Something else that came up in class is combing fiber. I’ve been doing this a long time so I get the general idea, but only with hand-held combs. Now that I have somewhere to mount my combs, I got the pad that goes with them and started experimenting. I cut up a plastic jug to make a diz, too. I’m not happy with my combing attempt because one of the clamps gets in the way, but it was enough to get the idea. Pulling off top with the diz was more successful, so probably I’ll do that while I work out the issues with using the combs. I need to experiment with different size holes in the diz, I made some blanks and punched a hole in one with a small knitting needle. (If you make some, be sure to punch the hole from the inside of the curve to the outside. That’s the way the fiber is pulled, so it won’t snag on the rough edge.)

This brings up the never-ending discussion on which end to spin from. When I comb or flick fleece, I spin from the cut end. It just works better for me. Some people spin from the tip end. I did an experiment and tried spinning from both ends of the same hand-combed top. I also used short backward draft, my usual, and short forward draft. Either way, spinning from the cut end makes smooth yarn and spinning from the tip end doesn’t. I can’t smooth it out and the fiber just feels nasty in my hands. I thought that maybe the no-deathgrip-pinch short forward draft was the difference, but no.

Many people also say it matters which end of a commercial top you spin from, too. I can’t tell the difference with short backward draft and only a little with short forward draft. I do notice it more with cotton, but not only is that an entirely different kind of fiber structure and size, but a different spinning technique. You can’t do any sort of worsted short draft with cotton, there just isn’t enough length to be able to pull out half a staple length with your fingers.

I keep trying all these things to see what people see in them. Once in a while I find something that really works for me, but mostly I just wonder what all the fuss is about. I’m all for understanding traditional methods, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just assume that is the best and only way without checking things out myself.

Something we went over in class last weekend was the short forward draft and how to adjust the wheel and spin one’s “default” size yarn. I usually spin worsted with the short backward draft and I could never quite tell just what various teachers were talking about in short forward draft. Obviously, you move your hands differently, but there’s more to it than that.

In with all the various discussions of worsted I’ve heard or read, there is usually this idea that one is pushing all the air out of the yarn with your forward hand. That is, your fingers are most definitely pinching. This is how it has to work with a spindle, otherwise everything will fall apart. Only fully-formed yarn can support the weight of the spindle. So you slide your fingers up after pulling out the next bit of fiber, with untwisted fiber above and yarn below. So far, so good.

With a spinning wheel, you don’t have to be as concerned that the wheel is going to yank the yarn away from you before you are done with it. It could, of course, but you can adjust the tension so it doesn’t. The death-grip pinch isn’t necessary. Still, everybody talks about short forward draft as pinching and pulling out bits of fiber. I’ve tried this, and I can’t get close to an even yarn. It’s just not possible to pull the same amount each time. The short backward draft I use is something like pulling out a larger bit of fiber to thin it out and then slide my fingers back. It appears to happen all at once, but really it’s two parts, and I can even out the amount of fiber by pulling in either direction since I’m working with an amount near the staple length. This is why I look at the fiber while I spin. It works well for crimpy wool that tends to stay together, but not so well for smooth stuff.

While I was researching different spinning techniques I read something interesting in The Ashford Book of Spinning. Most people start off with short forward draft because it feels like you have more control. This book talks about it, but says that it is something of a dead-end technique because conceptually it doesn’t lead to using the long draw. The author seems to prefer the short backward draft because it does. But if you want to spin smooth yarn from combed fiber, you don’t care about long draw. So why the distinction? I suppose the author likes woolen spinning. Ok, fine.

I never really worried much about spinning the “right” way, but I try to experiment with different ideas to find one that works best for me. And the short backward draft is serious trouble for my wrists on an upright wheel, one with the orifice directly in front of me. My left hand, the one that holds the fiber, bends to the side while I’m drafting. It’s because I’m trying to compensate for the location of the orifice and keep the fiber flowing in as much of a straight line as possible. I can’t control the twist as easily with my forward hand if I’m both pinching and changing direction at the same time. I’ve tried some other wheels and found that the orifice on the right, a “lefty” wheel, is what I need. I’ll get one of those next, but it will be a while before I’m wheel shopping again. I’ve had some success with wearing wrist braces to remind me to not do bad things with my hands. The short forward draft doesn’t give me this problem, but there is the trouble with not being able to pull out the fiber uniformly.

I couldn’t figure out whatever is the trick to pulling out the fiber evenly, so I assumed I was just a failure at short forward draft. Since everything I’d read about spinning worsted said no twist ever in the drafting zone and indeed describes it as drafting without twist, I figured the pinch and slide was considered integral to the technique. So, here I am in this workshop, where the teacher is trying to get across the concept of the “default yarn,” what you spin automatically for a particular set of wheel adjustments. It’s like you aren’t pulling the fiber out, the wheel is doing it for you and you are just overseeing the process. But it doesn’t use the death grip pinch. And it’s worsted. “How can this be?” I think.

I watch closely and I see fingers sliding back but hardly pinching at all. No worrying about the dreaded twist-in-drafting-zone business. The drafted fiber twists, down to the edge of the fiber supply, but at that point it’s done being drafted so it’s not the drafting zone anymore. A little pinch to pull the twisted yarn forward about a half a staple length and the process starts again. The other hand, the one holding the fiber, doesn’t move at all. Aha! The wheel is adjusted so the twist doesn’t fight to get past your fingers and pulls it on the bobbin at the same rate you are drafting. You aren’t pulling out the fibers, the twisted yarn is pulling out the fibers and their neighbors are coming along for the ride.

I understood this process from spinning really long fibers like flax, where there isn’t this angst about whether or not it’s “true worsted.” The twist goes right up to the edge of the fiber supply, and then you pull the finished yarn forward. Fibers that are half in your yarn and half in the fiber supply pull others out with them. You slide your fingers down at the same rate the twist is moving into the yarn, so no death-grip pinch is required.

Judith insists you shouldn’t look at the fiber but just do it by feel. If you are fighting the twist or the yarn is getting yanked away from you, adjust your wheel or let it go and spin a different size yarn. I could use some more practice, but it does work. And it doesn’t kill my hands. The one thing that bugs me is it is a lot slower.