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Tips And Tricks Thursday – How Do You Spin? Part 4

Dec 6th, 2012
by SandAndSkyCreations.
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This week’s Tips And Tricks Thursday is all about spinning semi-worsted yarns. This style of spinning is one that I am quite comfortable with as my favorite yarn/fiber store carries a ton of delightful fibers and keeps me inspired.  As with semi-woolen, this type of spinning covers a range of different spinning techniques but some of the key features are:

  • Traditional woolen prepped fibers or carded fibers are used
  • Twist does not enter the fiber between the hands
  • A short draw is used (sometimes called the “inch worm”)

So the fibers you would tend to look for with this type of spinning tend to be the ones that are prepared in a less orderly manner.  Carded fibers, rolags, and fiber batts all work very well with this style of spinning.   Fibers on the shorter end of the spectrum can be used but you can also get away with spinning more of the medium staple length wools to long staple length wools in this manner as you are using a short draw for your spinning.

Semi-worsted yarns appeal to me because the have many of the characteristics of worsted yarn that I love blended with the woolen.  It is like a “best of both worlds” scenario for me.  The yarn spun this way tend to be:

  • smoother but less elastic than their woolen or semi-woolen counterparts
  • they are quite durable and show off the luster and shine of longer wools and silk.
  • they are a bit softer and fuzzier than the woolen yarns
  • they tend to be a bit warmer than worsted yarns

The short draw technique for semi-worsted is very much the same (or the same) as worsted spinning.  You can draft either forward or back but the hand movements are small and precise, hence the reason some call this draw “the inchworm”.  The twist stays between the forward hand and the orifice and I  like to smooth the yarn as it slips through my fingers.  Here is a great example of semi-worsted spinning:

If you’ve never tried this style of spinning, I highly encourage you to give it a whirl.  Happy crafting all!

 

Tips And Tricks Thursday – How Do You Spin? Part 3

Nov 29th, 2012
by SandAndSkyCreations.
6 comments

Today’s Tips and Tricks Thursday post is all about spinning semi-woolen yarn.  This is another style of spinning that I am still working hard to learn.  It is defined as semi-woolen because it uses the traditional worsted prep of combed top but uses woolen style spinning techniques.  A wide variety of spinning is covered by the “semi-woolen” umbrella but some of the key points are:

  • Uses combed top for fiber prep
  • Twist enters the web or the fiber between your hands
  • Uses a forward draft

The fibers in the combed top are usually (but not always) shorter fibers such as angora rabbit, yak, camel, or a blend.  This list is not inclusive … there are tons more short fibers that are used for woolen and semi-woolen spinning.  The key determinant in defining semi-woolen spinning is that the spinner uses combed top in conjunction with a long draw to draft the fibers to produce a lovely soft and fuzzy yarn.

The drafting technique for semi-woolen is very much like that of the woolen long draw with the main exception being that the forward hand pulls the fiber gently towards the orifice, leaving the back hand in place, as opposed to the back hand doing most of the work in true woolen style.  With my experiments with semi-woolen spinning I have found it very useful to try and keep a distance of approximately 6 inches between my hands and to frequently fully release the fiber from my forward hand.   This helps to keep me from reverting to my almost instinctual short draw for worsted spinning.

Another key element of successful semi-woolen spinning is that  it tends still to be under spun and over plied.  This aids in giving the lofty and fluffy appearance and more bounce to the finished yarn than is seen in traditional worsted or semi-worsted spinning.

Recommended finishing techniques for semi-woolen yarns are to wash in hot soapy water, plunge into cold water to rinse and give the skein a good whack on the back of a chair to “fluff” the yarn, then hang to dry.

For those of you who are visual learners like me, I’ve included a short video by InspirationFibers that demonstrates the difference in technique from true worsted spinning to semi-woolen spinning and it only requires a change in the motion of the hands:

 

 

I hope that this encourages you to try something fun and new with your spinning and I’ll see you all tomorrow for FO Friday!

Tips And Tricks Thursday – How Do You Spin?

Oct 25th, 2012
by SandAndSkyCreations.
4 comments

In the previous Tips And Tricks Thursday posts, I shared some great videos by others and info on how to get you started spinning.  Starting with today’s post, I thought we would get a little bit more nitty gritty.  Did you know that there are four different types/styles of spinning?  I’m sure that there are actually more because each spinner has their own style, but MOST fall into four categories:

  • Worsted
  • Woolen
  • Semi-worsted
  • Semi-woolen

Over the next four Tips and Tricks Thursday post, we’ll be diving into these, starting today with worsted.

The definition of worsted spinning, according to Lee Juvan in her Knitty.com article “Worsted Yarns and Worsted Spinning”, is “a yarn spun from parallel fibers that have been combed (not carded) to remove shorter bits and spun with a short draw to keep the fibers in their parallel alignment.”  Another key feature of this style of spinning as noted by Judith MacKenzie in “A Spinner’s Toolbox” is that the twist doesn’t enter the web.  So as you are spinning, the twist never travels past your forward hand into the fiber.  To be really technical, the twist never enters the drafting triangle or the fiber between your hands.

I found a really lovely video demonstration of worsted spinning by ruthmacgregor on youtube, which show these principles in action:

This is my favorite way of spinning or drafting technique because it is the first way that I learned so it is the method that I am most comfortable with.  The key points to keep in mind are:

  • use combed top for your fiber preparation
  • use a short forward or backward drafting motions
  • no twist should enter the fiber between your hands

Worsted spun (not to be confused with worsted weight) yarns tend to be very smooth and dense and show off the luster of the fiber.  They are not especially stretchy or springy but they do tend to be harder wearing.  This type of spinning is ideal if your are planning to knit socks from your handspun.

For anyone who enjoys reading, especially about history and textiles, I’ve found a very interesting book available for online reading titled “Principles of Worsted Spinning” by Howard Priestman.  Written in 1906, this book explains the history of worsted spinning and the ins and outs of homespun and commercial spinning. It covers just about everything your might want to know about this type of spinning in its 354 pages.

So if this spinning method is new to you I encourage you to try it out!

 

Tips And Tricks Thursday – Wash That Yarn!

Oct 4th, 2012
by SandAndSkyCreations.
3 comments


Photo credit: Bubble bokeh – Explored #17 Aug 15 2011 by janefk – slowly catching up :) on Flickr.

 Keeping along with my tips and tricks theme for spinning, the next step in the process is to wash that finished yarn and hang it up to dry.  Why would one bother to wash their yarn, you might ask?  Well, there are lots of different reasons why you might want to give your yarn a wash so I’ve outlined a few of the most common below:

  • to remove any excess dye left over from the dying process
  • to ensure that the fiber is nice and clean
  • you may want to full (felt) your yarn (I plan to cover this in a future blog post)
  • to “set the twist” or to try to distribute twist more evenly

Now before you dive your yarn right in to hot soapy water, there are a few things that you might want to think about first.  I’ve created a short video on an easy way to prepare your new handspun for its first wash and how to avoid tangling the skein:

After you’ve prepared your skein, you’ll need to think about what soap or wool wash to use.  I use some really fantastic locally made soap to clean my wool/yarns (because I love the simple, fresh, and earth friendly ingredients used) called  Sents & Sudsability.  Don’t you love how it is a play on Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility?  Unfortunately, they don’t have a website so their amazing soap is not available outside our province but there are other soaps and wool wash options out there for you.  Soak, Eucalan, and Kookaburra are all very common wool washes, although I’ve not tried them.  You can also use a tiny bit of either your shampoo or dish detergent in you wool wash water.  Just be extra careful, if using either of the latter, not to agitate your handspun in the wash water as soap does aid in the fulling or felting process.

Now on to the washing!  There are, I’m sure, as many different ways to wash your handspun yarns as there are spinners, so I’m going to outline my process for you.

  1. Fill a large mixing bowl with tepid to moderately warm water and create some suds with my soap.  If you are using a liquid soap, you can add a dime sized amount to your bowl first before starting to fill it with water.
  2.  Place your skein(s) of yarn in the soapy water and fully immerse.  I like to use the bottom of my dish soap bottle to gently push the yarn under the water.
  3. Allow your yarn to soak for approximately 20 minutes.
  4. Remove yarn and very gently squish out the soapy water.
  5. Rinse very gently under tepid tap water.
  6. Refill the mixing bowl with just water this time (the same temp as you used initially) and soak yarn for another 20 minutes.
  7. If the wash water is clean and clear, remove yarn and prepare for drying.  If water is still tinted with any dye or looks a little grungy, repeat the rinse and soak until the water comes out clean.

To dry my yarn, I lay it on a nice, thick towel and roll it up.  Don’t twist the towel as it may damage the yarn inside but do feel free to add some extra weight (step on it!) to squeeze out excess moisture.  Unroll the towel and hang your yarn up to dry.  I have a big wooden drying rack in my kitchen for drying clothing and yarn.  If you don’t have a drying rack, you can always hang your yarn over a clothes hanger and hang it over your shower head to dry.

Some people like to tension set, or weight, their yarn when it is drying.  Personally, I choose not to as the next time the yarn gets wet or washed, it will almost always bounce right back to its natural state, tension setting or no tension setting.  Plus, I love to see the character in each skein of yarn!

I hope that this post finds you well on your way to creating tons and tons of lovely handspun yarn.  If you’ve missed any of my Tips And Tricks Thursday posts, you can find them all here.  Also, if you have any questions or requests for future Tips And Tricks Thursday post, please feel free to contact me :-)

Happy crafting everyone!