Advanced Spinning (part 3)

Last night's class was all about the short draw or inch-worming technique. The object is to press out all the air and not let any of the twist into the fiber supply. It's rather easy for me because it's what I've been using for quite some time with some modifications. Now, the key is to master this technique by next Tuesday because it is the key to spinning down type fibers. Our instructor, Rob, is going to give us some yak to spin. That is going to be neat. It is a very very soft fiber. We are also going to copy a commercial yarn.
I managed to master the technique pretty well. The only problem I ran into was clenching my jaw, tensing my muscles and some joint discomfort in my fingers after a while. To modify it I changed how the fibers were drafting. Instead of drafting forward with my active hand I pulled my passive hand then moved the supposedly active hand down the fibers pinching air out. Where I still pinch the fibers to begin the draft and keep spin out of the fiber supply, the drafting is done with the "passive" hand. Also, instead of moving back so much like a long draw I work to my waist. It works. Hopefully it'll work for the ladies in my class, too.

When I arrived at class Penny and Rob were bringing in a new wheel. It was the Kromski Fantasia. I've looked at this wheel over and over again online and in magazines. There just isn't a lot of oomph in it. Seeing it in person has a whole different feel to it. The flyer assembly is by far the coolest innovation they have come up with. It's a single drive that doesn't require a whole flyer change. It's made to pull the flyer off (held in magnetically) and slip on and off the bobbin without having to move the drive band. It is a slower wheel, though. I'm not really up on the modern look of it, but if it was a little more traditional looking with that flyer assembly it'd be mine in a heart beat, money providing of course. Then again, I'm hoping for a good saxony wheel within the next year or maybe a drop spindle.

Again, everyone spinning that night was on a Kromski Sonata. Penny took photos of us all spinning on our wheels to send on out to Tim. :) That was very cool.

Stay tuned for next week. Down fibers and duplicating a commercial yarn.

Advanced Spinning (part 2)

This Tuesday night we had a wonderful class. Ellen, Claire, Bev and I all have Sonatas. Sarah joined us late and guess what she has. It's another Sonata! We all have the same finish, too. Pat is the only one of us with a Symphony. Originally Bev had a Polonaise, but then bought a Sonata. :D lol One of her friends said every spinner has two and a half wheels. She didn't want to feel left out and here enters the Sonata. Our instructor brought down his Kunder. Now Kunder has not made a wheel in several years. He went exclusively to drop spindles. They are gorgeous pieces. Peter has one of his spindles. The Kunder wheel is very beautiful and Rob keeps it in such great shape. Penny is going to take pictures of us all with our Sonatas next week and forward them off to Tim from New Voyager Trading.

Our class was on using the Carol Huebscher Rhoades method of the long draw. There are several types of long draws people use, but this one is what Rob taught. What's nice about this method, it's in a magazine and can be looked up for quick reference if needed. Spin-off has it up on their site as a PDF.
At first it was something that didn't work for me. The diameter of my yarn kept shrinking until there was no more or lost in the orifice. Not good. Rob had me change over to holding the wool on the fold. Next thing you know, click click boom, I got it! The technique clicked in my head and I was well on my way. Since that was working out the next logical thing to do would be test it as taught before. Sure as lime green gravy I got it without having to hold the wool on the fold. There were some kinks, but I made some really awesome lofty yarn! It's amazing.

Now, let me talk a little bit about lofty yarn. Even though I took my first spinning class and read a few spinning books none of it made much sense until now. Density is a big deal! So if you've been spinning for a while and want to create something not so heavy or dense try to spin with a woolen long draw. It will trap air making your work warm and have a light weight or loftiness to it. Amazing. Sheesh, and I've been spinning for 8 months. This long draw is going to be a life saver when trying to make another cowl and shawl. Using the long draw with holding wool on the fold is going to be fantastic as well. The fold works for me! Yay! It is a little tedious, but it goes a bit faster now.

This week I remembered to take my handout with me and make some notes. Last week I didn't write something down, which is majorly important. What makes scotch tension work is having the flyer move around the bobbin. To make the tension work for me on different whorls the bobbin needs to flip around. If you have not heard of this, then keep this bookmarked.
On your normal flyer you have three whorls. The first is the smaller of the three. For the right break band tension you want to use the small whorl on your bobbin. For the second and third, the larger whorl on your bobbin. The second whorl on your flyer should be just about as big as the larger whorl on your bobbin. Going up or down in your next flyer plan accordingly. The fast flyer will always use the smallest whorl on your bobbin. The jumbo flyer is a bit different because you have the large whorl of the normal bobbin and an even larger one. The first whorl on the flyer will go with your smaller of the two whorls on your bobbin. The second and third will go with the larger of the two whorls on your bobbin. Today I am going to fix this while plying this Moonstone batt.

Monday I received hand carders in the mail. Yay! That warranted a whole day of spinning. The practice was good and the technique is not completely mastered, but the motions are down. Unlike every other draw, I have to use my right hand to hold the carder and the left hand to pinch and draft fibers from the card. This week is going to be filled with a lot of practice. :D

Next week we are going to learn the short draw. The week after that we are going to learn how to spin down fibers. Yak is going to be our fiber of choice. It looks to be a rather hard technique. Also, we are going to have to duplicate a commercially spun yarn. Holy cow! Not sure if I'm ready for that yet, but it'll come whether I am or not.

Shop Update

It's been a busy weekend. I'm so glad things are starting to slow down. On the bright side it gave the roving plenty of time to dry. :)
This evening I was able to update the shop with roving. Tomorrow will be the scrap inclusions. ^_^



Just look at it! ::sigh:: Abandonment is my favorite colorway! It looks so rich!

This time I tried a different way of braiding the roving. It's a chain all the way down the bit of roving. It works really well and is easier to pull apart than regular braiding. :)
Today the shop has been brought to facebook. You can become a fan by visiting http://tinyurl.com/y4aw4o4 and clicking the become a fan button.

Right now, I've got some SW Cheviot on my wheel. It's flowing swimmingly. My hand carders came in the mail. So it's been practice time with several fibers. The hand carding technique is coming along well. By the fold, not so much. However, the inchworm technique with my right hand is better than the left with the fold. There is still a lot of play that has to be worked out. Rob will help me out with that.

Tomorrow we're doing laundry. It's also the second of four advanced spinning classes. Hopefully there will be more time to mess with the techniques. For now it is bedtime.

New Items

Here is something new for the shop:



They are Reiki distance healing dolls. I go the idea while going through the training for Reiki. This pattern is adapted from Sherri Chrochets. One of these has sage leaves stuffed into it and the other is unscented. What other scents should I provide? There is a local herb shop on the way to my day job so there won't be special trips involved. Also, there is a huge stash of herbs under my bed. I'll be conducting a poll this month for them.

Another category I've created is scrap inclusion sets. I got this idea from ArtemisArtemis, a New Zealand shop, and a COLORbomb Creations video.


Here is my favorite listing so far:


here comes the bride

I sure hope you enjoy the shop updates. This really is not work for me and I love it very much!