I just came in from the back yard with the dogs and it's raining. Raining!! Needless to say, the weather has done a complete turn around this week. It's actually gorgeous outside now but the rain is freezing once it hits the ground so the roads will be a mess.
I received some questions lately in the blog comments so I'll answer them here.
Mickey asked,
How do you like the Russian lace spindles?
I'm not very good at spinning with the Russian spindles. My hands are just starting to figure out how to park-and-draft with them. I'm getting better but no where near proficient with them yet. It's tempting to ditch them and just used the top whorl spindles but I feel the need to persevere with them for the sake of honoring the culture's history. And pure stubborn-ness because it's a challenge for me.
Your sock yarn looks wonderful. Do you use 2 or 3 plies?
It depends. I like to aim for 3 plies most of the time but will do 2 plies with stronger fibers like BFL that I haven't spun as finely. The Shunklies Humbug BFL fiber was 2 plied. I didn't have enough fiber to do a 3 ply that would yield enough yardage for a pair of socks.
The art yarn was interesting. I found myself trying to fit my hand into that shape and I am afraid I don't have the concept, you spin a core and wrap in one pass? Are you adding the locks to a prespun core?
No prespun core. The core is spun and wrapped in one pass. I remember reading about Judith's wolf yarn in her book The Intentional Spinner but it didn't make any sense to me until I watched her video A Spinner's Toolbox. It's one of those things that is easier to understand by seeing it. I just did a google search to see if I could find anything and lo and behold, someone made a little video showing the technique. I discovered that it's easier to do quickly than slowly. And here's a skein of it finished:
Monika said,
I just read yesterday, that Canadian Winter is getting milder. I've been here almost 15 years now, and I've been saying that the last three years or so. when we first came here, boy there was so much snow, and long, cold winter month, but not so much the last few years.
That doesn't seem to be the case on the Prairies. We've had a couple of cold, snowy winters. We went through a spell of mild winters for a while but the last couple are like what I remember from my childhood.
Jody said,
I need a little workhorse like the Louet for plying. That looks like quite a large bobbin....how much does it hold?
The Louet bobbins are big. Not as big as the jumbo bobbin on the Lendrum but close. I think they must hold about 8 oz. of fine yarn but I haven't tested it yet.
I'm not very good at spinning with the Russian spindles. My hands are just starting to figure out how to park-and-draft with them. I'm getting better but no where near proficient with them yet. It's tempting to ditch them and just used the top whorl spindles but I feel the need to persevere with them for the sake of honoring the culture's history. And pure stubborn-ness because it's a challenge for me.
Your sock yarn looks wonderful. Do you use 2 or 3 plies?
It depends. I like to aim for 3 plies most of the time but will do 2 plies with stronger fibers like BFL that I haven't spun as finely. The Shunklies Humbug BFL fiber was 2 plied. I didn't have enough fiber to do a 3 ply that would yield enough yardage for a pair of socks.
The art yarn was interesting. I found myself trying to fit my hand into that shape and I am afraid I don't have the concept, you spin a core and wrap in one pass? Are you adding the locks to a prespun core?
No prespun core. The core is spun and wrapped in one pass. I remember reading about Judith's wolf yarn in her book The Intentional Spinner but it didn't make any sense to me until I watched her video A Spinner's Toolbox. It's one of those things that is easier to understand by seeing it. I just did a google search to see if I could find anything and lo and behold, someone made a little video showing the technique. I discovered that it's easier to do quickly than slowly. And here's a skein of it finished:
Monika said,
I just read yesterday, that Canadian Winter is getting milder. I've been here almost 15 years now, and I've been saying that the last three years or so. when we first came here, boy there was so much snow, and long, cold winter month, but not so much the last few years.
That doesn't seem to be the case on the Prairies. We've had a couple of cold, snowy winters. We went through a spell of mild winters for a while but the last couple are like what I remember from my childhood.
Jody said,
I need a little workhorse like the Louet for plying. That looks like quite a large bobbin....how much does it hold?
The Louet bobbins are big. Not as big as the jumbo bobbin on the Lendrum but close. I think they must hold about 8 oz. of fine yarn but I haven't tested it yet.
1 comment:
Thanks for the information and the link to the video. I have the book but do not remember the technique. Watching seems to store memory differenty than when reading about how to do something.
Sock yarn info was helpful too. If I pull apart a small piece of commercial sock yarn and look at those tiny plies.........i can't imagine spending the time spinning that fine for socks, may-be an heirloom shawl, but not socks.
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