One More Row

Way back in October I took a spinning class.  What?  A spinning class?  Didn’t you already take one of those?  Yes, I did.  Along with about 50 other women (yes, they were ALL women).  It was not a very well organized class, and I think the interest overwhelmed the instructors.  So when I saw a spinning class was being offered through community schools I jumped on it.

It was fantastic.  Very organized.  It was still taught by the local spinning/weaving guild, but this time I had a mentor who worked with me one on one and taught me how to really spin.  Now before I was kind of struggling and muddling my way through with a shortish draw.  My mentor showed me how to do a long draw *heavens open, angels sing*.  She demonstrated how the wheel can draft the fibers for me using the twist.  She showed me how it is not all bad if the twist enters the drafting zone as long as you keep it from the fiber supply.  In short, she taught me how to spin.  She also taught me how to ply.  Oh.my.gosh.  My plying SUCKED.  Part of it was my singles were not great, but mostly I was just plain doing it wrong.

Look.  See?  Balanced yarn!  Before when I was done plying, I would hold up the yarn and it would twist back on itself HORRIBLY.  Really.  I don’t think you could have called it yarn it was so twisty.  Not any more.  Just the mere sentence of, “You take out half the twist you put in your singles when you ply” changed it all.  Suddenly I felt as though it was okay to put quite a bit of twist in my singles since, you know, I was going to be taking it out.  Whatever it was, I don’t care for now I am spinning balanced yarn.

One of my favorite things about the class was we got to try lots of little bits of different fiber to get a feel for how the staple lengths of the fiber changes the spinning.  From furtherest away from witch to closest to witch: merino, yak, and some undisclosed-wool-but-it-was-medium-length.  I liked the end result of the merino but enjoyed spinning the yak best.

Since I finished up the class, I have not spun much.  I am seriously lacking spinning fiber.  I spun up about 4oz of merino my parents gave me as a gift a couple years ago.  See above.  It was great fun.  A large number of evenings just spinning.  Honestly, I love spinning more than knitting.  You really get your money’s worth.  It takes quite a bit of time to spin through not too expensive amount of fiber THEN you get to knit it.  Spinning is very relaxing too…meditative.  I just need more fiber.  Which I ordered.  It is on its way.  Don’t tell Terry, okay?

Fiber: Merino Wool Top of some sort
Yardage: about 100?
wpi: I have no idea
tpi: Again, not a clue

Let me tell you what I do know – I have A LOT to learn about spinning. Sometimes it is actually overwhelming. I started buying IK about 3 years ago, and I remember the feeling of “I will never be able to knit anything in this magazine.” Now I feel like with enough time and tears I can knit anything in IK. The spinning will come too. Of course, this will require me to actually sit down and not only spin but also knit up what I have spun so I can see what I need to improve on.

My current spinning goal is to spin up some merino for socks. I have seen some beginning spinners out there spin up some sock yarn and knit the socks, so it gives me hope. My singles are pretty consistent. My plying sucks. I can’t get it even, and I am not sure I am giving it enough twist. So this last batch I gave lots of twist, and it is by far the worst yarn I have spun. Anyway, I think I am going to fiddle some more with plying before I actually spin up some sock yarn.

I am also officially out of roving EXCEPT some stuff that has tencel in it, which I am afraid is way too slippery for me to spin yet. There seem to be lots of places to buy roving on-line, but I just can’t seem to decide on something. I hate buying fiber over the internet. Don’t you like to see and touch the fiber before you purchase?

It can be said I have a very rudimentary understanding of spinning. More fiber, less twist. Less fiber, more twist. Fiber length in relationship to drafting, blah, blah, blah. Consistency seriously needs work but overall my spinning is getting better the more I do it.

Anyway, on Monday I was feeling sort of sorry for myself. Winter is never going to end. It is pretty cold outside, and my skin is going to shrivel up and fall off my body it is so stinking dry. Decided to get out a wool top (again with the rudimentary understanding – not sure if that is the correct term) I bought a while back that is full of color and makes me happy. There it is on the left; about a half ounce of four different colors – medium violet, dark violet, lavender, and a blended bit (last two knotted together). So there I am stroking the wool top & calling it my precious, when it occurs to me I have absolutely no clue how to spin with colors. When do I change colors? How should the colors be done in the singles? Should I spin the colors as singles and then ply? I don’t want a 4 ply yarn plus I don’t have enough to make anything substantial or do I? All these questions and no answers. I ordered a book. Actually two. I will share them later when they get here.

In the mean time, what is an inexperienced spinner to do? I decided to spin the medium and dark violet evenly into one single (medium, dark, medium, dark, medium, what comes next?). I will do the same on another bobbin with the lavender and the blended and then ply the two singles. We’ll see how it goes.

Learning to spin is so much like learning to knit for me. I love the process. Love. it. However, the end product is not quite right. Wonky. It is only in the last couple of years I feel like I knit anything worth really wearing by anyone other than my kids. Wonder how long it will take for me to learn to spin something anyone other than me would want to knit with.

Since I finished Ariann, I decided to treat myself to some more spinning. This is about 2 oz of some blue, green, purple roving I bought at Yarn Expo III. One bobbin of singles first night, one bobbin of singles second night, and then plying onto last bobbin the third night. It made about 100 yards (?) of heavy worsted yarn. I don’t know how many wpi because I don’t have that handy little tool yet nor a reliable ruler to help me measure. Isn’t that odd? I only have flexible measuring tapes, no rulers.

My spinning is getting better despite the giant slubs you see in the middle. Much better. Don’t get me wrong – I am not entering any contests any time soon. I still feel awkward about keeping a consistent amount of fiber in the drafting zone. However, I AM consistent about the thick and thin of my yarn. Knitting Bubba’s hat proved that to me. I must being doing something wonky. Time & practice will make things better I am sure.

What to do with all this random handspun yarn? Colors are pretty complimentary because I buy roving of similar colors. I think I might knit a scarf horizontally. Get a really long cable for some of my Knit Picks needles, cast on like 200 stitches, and knit it with handspun until I am done. What do you think? I hate to spin up much more than a couple ounces of one single amount of roving until I get a little more consistent, so I think I will try this.