Before I get started on my Crown Mountain Farm fiber, I decided that I would test out my WooLee Winder a little more thoroughly. I had a nice, mostly solid blue Cormo/silk/alpaca roving that I purchased from Winterhaven Fiber Farm while at MS&W that seemed like it would be a good starting point since I've spun Cormo/silk blends before and have a good feel for this sort of blend. Since I'm in a three-ply sort of mood these days, I figured I'd work out all three bobbins and then ply it on my Lendrum plying head.
I'm quite taken with how evenly the WooLee Winder bobbins get wound. They are even enough that, if you are lazy like me, and forget to weigh out your fiber into equal amounts, you can actually just measure the radius of the bobbin relative to the single to get a sense for how much more you need to spin.
I bought this roving because I love Cormo and because I was looking for fiber that wouldn't give me stripes after it was spun (let me tell you, when you spin variagated rovings, it's a lot harder to prevent stripes than you might think). The singles have nice subtle color changes which should add depth to the plied yarn without creating any crazy striping. I don't know quite what I see this yarn becoming yet, probably some lacy accessory but having it be a mostly solid yarn gives me lots more options.
Not a stunningly wonderful picture -- I know -- but it does demonstrate how the blues go together. It's also all I had the energy to take a picture of after doing the spinning. The first 3/4 of the plying went fine but the last 1/4 was an exercise in frustration until I gave up my Lendrum lazy kate and resorted to three metal needles spearing a shoebox. When the bobbins were in a vertical orientation, the single seemed to get caught at the "top" once there wasn't much left on the bobbin (I am still not sure I understand why... I don't know if it was the angle I was drawing the single from or something else). This meant that one of the plies would break if I pulled to hard, or I had to stop and manually rotate the bobbin so that it would get past that point, which got to be very unsatisfying. When I switched to my inelegant but functional shoe box, where the bobbins were in a horizontal orientation, everything moved much more smoothly. I've never experienced anything like that with my Lendrum bobbins. I will have to talk to my Dad about helping me to create some kind of box that has a tensioning system so that the bobbins don't roll backwards when the single stops moving.
Other than that, my WooLee Winder performed wonderfully. It made this 6 ounces of fiber just sort of fly by, in spite of the fact that this fiber was a little bit too noil-y for my taste (not as bad as the madder/cochineal Corriedale, but not as smooth as some other fibers I have spun). Now that I've put it through it's paces, I think that I'm ready to give my "Hang On Sloopy" superwash a try.
I have an assortment of kates to fit my mess of bobbins. The best is the one that came with my Alden Amos electric spinner. It's a block of oak with vertical rods of a diameter just a bit less than the hole in the bobs. I oil well, which really makes a difference at high plying speeds. To get just the right amount of drag/friction I have a variety of quarter-size disks with holes in the center, thin felt, rubber, and thin and thick leather. Slipped on the shaft, below and/or above the bobs, these tori provide a wide range of drag.
On my shoe box/hanger/cardboard bob kate I just wind a rubber band around the hanger on either end of the bob and press it close to cause drag. You can loop a wide rubber band through itself for a quick-adjust, easil removed brake.
The grist of your spinning looks beautifully consistent -- do you think you have enough twist in the singles?
Great colour. Want some too, as yarn!
Lovely! I love it when solids have slight variation in them. I think it produces a much deeper and interesting yarn and resulting garment.
I'm incredibly jealous. They don't make a Woolee Winder for my wheel, a Baynes (yet.. I hope they do eventually) But I definitely need one. I get "in that place" when I'm spinning and forget to move my singles to the next hook.
What you have going looks beautiful. And I agree about the stripes. I love spinning hand dyed rovings, as I love to watch the shades change as they soften from their roving form once you spin it. But getting longggggg stretches of one color is annoying. I'm now practicing spinning from the fold to help combat that.
I haven't tried a lot of different lazy kates but I absolutely love the Kromski Arched Kate (much better than the on wheel kate or my Majacraft Kate. It works with my Kromski and Majacraft bobbins and the Woolery website says it works with Louet, Ashford, and others too.
That backwards spin is annoying. I minimize it by elevating the front long edge of my Lendrum upright lazy kate with a book (Simple Socks is a good width) and try to feed the singles in smoothly when the bobbins are almost empty. But, there are lots of different solutions.
Lovely spinning! I like painted rovings best, love to see the color flow through my hands. Then it is a challenge to find the right knitting for it, but that's half the fun. I got to see a Woolee Winder in action a couple of weeks ago, thinking I might want one someday, but the draw in was so strong! The spinner using it could not get it to wait for her to let it draw onto the bobbin and that would make me crazy, so I don't need to lust after the WW after all. Glad you're having fun, though!
My experience with Superwash is spinning from the fold is most satisfying. Just my 2 cents!
i have the same exact problem with my vertical kate, it can be very frustrating...now i use a kate from kromski, it is an arch, and i have never had a problem plying or getting caught when there is little left on the bobbin. unfortunately it only holds 3 bobbins, so you can't ply more than that with it (i haven't needed to yet)
the blue cormo is absolutely lovely
I have the same problem with my Lendrum lazy kate. The one for my Reeves wheel is horizontal and now I just use that one instead, with much better results.
I want one...whine, whine....Maybe I can ask for Christmas.
Hooray for Mr. Recovery! It is so wonderful to hear that all ois going so well, especially the fact that John made the conscious decision ahead of time to recover responsibly and not make you fight him to do it!
I have serious spinning envy! I am a grad student, so I haven't scraped together the coin to get a wheel. I do enjoy my drop spindle, but I have been having so much trouble with the blue-faced leichester that I am working on that I have let it languish. Have you any experience with this fiber? I know that my technique is likely not refined enough. But your thoroughness in technique is inspiring to me!
My lendrum Lazy Kate makes me crazy. I thought it was just me because I am very new to spinning. I am sorry yours gave you trouble but I was reassured when I read about your difficulties. It's not just me... there's something "not right" about that thing.
Hope John's continuing to improve. Your spinning is making me ache for time to spin on a mohair blend that one of our locals had carded from her own goats. Looking forward to seeing how your "Hang on Sloopy" comes out, too. Best to all. -M.
After much debating and seeing your success with the Woolee Winder, I decided to get one too for my Lendrum. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and the one thing about the Lendrum I didn't care for was that darn clip, I like the idea of the yarn being smooth and even on the bobbin. We should start a Lendrum spinning group in Chicago, I go to the new Wickerpark Snb at Alliance Bakery.