This particular skein was spun in April and May of 2008.  It’s around 225 yards of 40+ wraps per inch (without halo) two-ply pearly soft copper satin angora that was carefully plucked from Gus and spun from the lock.  It was spun on my trusty old Ashford Traditional scotch tension on the 14:1 ratio (that lovely wheel has since moved on to a new home).   All of this information was written on a small string tag.  I am so glad I got in the habit of labeling and recording notes on tags on my spinning a couple of years ago, otherwise I’d be just guessing.

It is one of my favorite skeins I have ever spun of any fiber.  His fiber is the softest thing I’ve ever felt on this planet, cashmere included.  The satin genes really add some amazing textural qualities to the already wonderfully soft angora – it has a pearly sheen to it and the fiber feels like it’s been blended half and half with fine silk.

The drape of the fiber is amazing, obeying gravity flawlessly despite the fibers weighing practically nothing.  The 225 yard skein pictured weighs 20 grams, and I am certainly not the finest angora yarn spinner – not by a long shot.   Although that really hasn’t been my focus – I spin my angora yarn to incorporate as much fiber with lots of twists to hold the fiber tightly together (which means room for air) which probably contributes to the nice drape.   I believe it’s also the reason why the items I’ve made from my angora have worn so well and don’t shed.   They are a little slow to develop a halo, but when they do, as this skein has from being fondled on a regular basis, it sure is pretty.  I have no idea what I will do with this skein.  I have paged through a couple of pages of patterns on Ravelry, and strongly considered knitting Alison’s Rabbit Tracks. but have yet to get past just petting it.

Have you ever started a spinning project full of enthusiasm which easily carries you through the transformation of the fiber into singles, just to run out of interest when it comes time to ply?

I have a somewhat fickle brain when it comes to longer-term projects requiring a sustained effort, especially if there is little challenge or visual/tactile interest.  I think that’s why I am always trying new techniques and pushing the limits of my skill set.  It’s also why I don’t spin large quantities of solid colors. I can tell you with a large degree of certainty that if I ever make a sweater out of handspun yarn, it will be multicolor!

I came to these conclusions today after finally finishing plying my latest spinning project, 600 yards of laceweight bluefaced leicester spun from top I hand painted in a sunrise/sunset colorway several years ago. It was so easy for me to sit down at my wheel and spin the singles – the beautiful colors slowly transitioning and layering onto the bobbin in amazing gradations was so visually rewarding.  After the singles were spun, I found myself starting to lose interest in the project. The completed bobbins sat neglected for nearly a month.

I decided to begin plying about two weeks ago. It was fun, at first. I was really pleased by how the colors lined up and with the way the twist made the sheen of the fiber pop. But then it all started to look the same and I let it hibernate again, until last night when I decided I was just going to power through and get it over with!

I treadled like a maniac (note to self, use super-highspeed whorl when plying laceweight next time) and got it done. And I am so happy that I did! The yarn is beautiful, and I feel a lot better knowing that I wasn’t off in my perception of the yardage.

Pictures of the yarn will have to wait until daylight, but I will make sure to post them.

I’m finding my thoughts drifting more and more to fibery pursuits lately.  I think a good part of it is my brain protesting the amount of information being shoved its way and dreaming of the meditative quietness of spinning as a reprieve.  In any case, I’m considering adding another wheel to the family – something quiet, (so I can spin while watching TV with the boyfriend), preferably double treadle (all my wheels now are single treadle) and I’m thinking an upright or castle-style wheel would balance out my collection nicely.  We’ll see about a new wheel after I get my plans for summer employment ironed out. 

This school stuff is worthwhile, I must remember.  And summer break isn’t too far away!

Back to work with me…

I wanted to weave some samples with the yarn I had spun up, but I found out halfway through the warping of my 4″ Weave-it loom that I wasn’t going to have enough to make a complete square. Fortunately, I had just read this fun post on eLoomanator (the blog of Jana, of eLoomanation fame) on weaving rectangles on regular Weave-it looms.

I wove each sample into a small rectangle, then proceeded to wash them gently in warm soapy water and lay them onto a hand towel that I rolled up and squeezed gently to remove extra water. The next morning, when they were dry, I scanned them into my computer.

The final result?

From left to right, we have tog, combined tog and thel, and thel.  There is a lot more detail in the scan, click here to visit the original full-size scan on Flickr.

My conclusions?  I absolutely adore the way that the thel spun up.  It’s lacy with a substantial drape and it would be a perfect addition for my freeform shawl that I’m working on making out of naturally colored fibers.  The tog is also gorgeous, but in a more rustic way.  I’m thinking that it would lend a nice strength and body to a sock batt.

And I must admit I really liked the way that the woven samples turned out.  Maybe a project with Weave-it squares is in my future.

In conclusion, please feel free to visit my Links page to see a variety of resources that I found useful in this exploration.

I’m very excited to announce that I will soon have a computer all my own, with a separate desk and organizational area as well. This should really help me out with organizing my thoughts and posts, as well as increase the frequency of my postings!

Up until now, I’ve been sharing with Jesse, but as he has been working on building his blog and tweaking his photography in Photoshop my time on the computer has been harder to get. One of my co-workers has offered me a free computer that he and his partner are no longer using. I got a used desk from a thrift store and replaced the drawer handles, and it’s looking great. I’m still waiting on the computer, but should be all set up within a week.

I also have been working on organizing my fiber area inside our small (18′x28′) but adorable little house in the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin. Since everything is open and there aren’t really any walls to divide the space into rooms, we have had to become a lot more creative about making areas into functional spaces. The lack of square footage has really forced me to become much more efficient about using space, too.

So here’s the latest version of Molly’s Fiber Area.

This is where I store frequently used prepared fibers, yarns, my carders, combs, and spindles, and knitting and crochet supplies. I have my wheels downstairs, conveniently located near the TV, and my drum carder and most of my wool stash out in the studio. And of course, the rabbits are outside too.

I’m particularly proud of the spindle storage I devised.

It allows me to see all of the projects I have in progress, and to admire the beautiful spindles as well. I store the fiber for the projects in progress directly beneath, in the top latching storage container.

The rest of the clear storage containers are for specific fibers. One is just for silk, one is for cotton, one for exotics, and so on.

In the adjacent corner, I have my old dresser and some rubbermaid containers.

This is the storage for all of my yarns and completed projects.

That’s all I have time to share for now.  As always, I would love to hear your comments on my thoughts!

Molly

Now, when we last checked in, I had spun up the thel (the soft undercoat), plied it and had wound it into a tiny skein. I had yet to spin up the two other groups of fleece, the tog (long outercoat) and the combined tog and thel.

I began with the tog. Because the ends had already been combed through when I removed the thel, I simply flicked the tips open lightly before spinning using an old wig brush that I got at a yard sale. Because the tog was a bit longer, I decided to try spinning it from the fold. It’s one of my favorite ways of drafting longer fibers, especially when spinning on a spindle. Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well with this fiber! I ended up drafting from a loose cloud instead.

I had some issues determining the right amount of twist for this yarn. I knew that if I put in too much twist it would become wiry and harsh, but I also wanted to make a stable singles that would ply into a balanced two-ply. This fiber, like the thel I spun in post 1, drafted very easily.

The weight of the 1.4 ounce Kundert spindle pulled the fiber apart as it was being twisted, so I ended up using the spindle in a supported spindle style. I set it spinning, and then as it spun on my lap in a little hollow of blanket, I drafted the fiber. It slowed the speed of rotation a bit but it also eliminated most of the weight of the spindle.

As I reached the end of the little cloud of fiber, it began to cling to itself a bit more. I’m thinking that even though I was holding it loosely, I may have started to felt it. Icelandic wool is a favorite of feltmakers! I’ll have to remember this when I start a project and make sure that I only hold a small amount of fiber in my hand while drafting.

The singles I ended up with measured 44 wraps per inch.

I handy plyed them to the point where they acted balanced. The resulting two-ply measures 24 wraps per inch.

I wound the tog yarn on my small niddy-noddy, and moved on to the last sample, the combined tog and thel.

I flicked the tips of the locks open, and thought about what I was trying to do. I had read here that if you drafted from the tip end, the tog would naturally pull the thel into the draft, but it just didn’t make sense to me to leave it to chance, especially for a sample. So I decided to predraft the locks out individually, and then combine them in an organized way that distributed the tog and thel evenly.

I took each lock and fanned out the butt end to eliminate the slight ‘clumping’ of the thel that had occurred during the washing process. I then pulled it in a diagonal motion, trying to stretch out the thel as far as possible.

Hopefully the process might be a little clearer after seeing this photo. The bottom lock is the ‘before’ and the top is the ‘after.’

I did the same thing with each of the remaining locks, and arraged them so that one would be butt end to the left, the next one would be the opposite. The idea was to distribute the tog and thel evenly throughout.

I took all of the pre-drafted locks and combined them into a single roving, which I again pre-drafted into a long strand which I wound into a small bird’s nest.

I again turned to my trusty spindle, and began spinning. I tried to capture the thel within the tog – it was a more woolen style of spinning, and I found it harder to spin a fine yarn. I tried to put only the minimal amount of twist in to hold the yarn together.

The singles measured 32 wraps per inch, and the handy-plied two-ply measures 16 wraps per inch.

All three groups of fiber, the thel, the tog, and the combined tog and thel have been spun! In my next post, I’ll show pictures of the finished yarns and give my thoughts on which is most suited to my project.

I still allow myself some creative time completely free of any requirements, but I have learned to appreciate how much I can gain from documenting my work and how much I can enjoy the process of consciously taking notes while working.

I hope to share that process with you as I document my sampling of an absolutely gorgeous naturally colored lamb fleece from Sheepsong Farm.

I received this stunning Icelandic lamb fleece in the mail yesterday, and carefully washed it and set it out to dry out in the studio. I couldn’t resist bringing in a handful of locks to dry by the stove in our little house.

This morning, they were nice and dry, and I decided to have some fun making some samples.

I decided to divide the handful of locks into two piles; one that I would separate into the softer undercoat (thel) and the longer outer fibers (tog), and one that I would spin the two fibers combined.

I began by separating the thel from the tog.

I took each individual lock, holding it just above the point where the soft downy thel ended – in a naturally colored fleece like this, it’s easy to see that point – and drew it gently through the teeth of a handcard.

The soft thel ended up in the tines of the card, and the tog came free in my hand.

I removed the thel from the handcard, and then repeated the process on the remaining locks in that pile. I sorted the tog and thel into separate piles, and then paused to take this picture:

I couldn’t resist spinning the super soft and silky thel first. I got out my trusty Clemes & Clemes fine wool handcards and carded up a nice lofty rolag. I use generally the same method that Spinning Spider Jenny explains on her blog, here, but I rolled up my fiber into a rolag instead of a cigar. I used one of my favorite spindles, a 1.4 ounce Kundert, to spin up the sample rolag.

The fiber drafted effortlessly, to the point of drifting apart. The few longer coarser dark fibers in the mix seemed to make it easier to spin, and I suspect they probably add some stability to the yarn. I drafted in a mixed method, using both hands and drafting against the twist.

After drafting out a good long length, I did one more flick of the spindle to add additional twist. In a spinning class with Patsy Zawistowski at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival we were taught that downy soft fibers require a little bit more twist. Since the soft thel resembles cashmere, I figured I might as well treat it like cashmere. The singles measured 44 wraps per inch.

I used the handy plying method (which I also learned as the ‘Miss America’ method from Patsy Z) to basically fold the single back on itself to create a nice two-ply yarn. I spun it in the opposite direction of original twist to just past the point where it was acting balanced. The final wraps per inch were 21.

One reason I love sampling is the fun tools; this cherry wood sample-size niddy-noddy is just perfect for skeining up samples. I used it to turn the small spindle cop into a skein.

Ding!
Round 1 completed.

So far, all I am going to say is that I can highly recommend fleeces from Sue. They’re beautifully skirted, soft and healthy, nearly free of any VM, and she even crosses over the border from Canada to ship them so that I don’t have to pay extra shipping.

She may even have some fleeces left, if you’re interested, let me know and I’ll pass on her contact information.

Thanks for sharing in the process with me in this post. Check back soon to see how the second and third rounds went, and to see the final results.