Fiber: March 2007 Archives
Apparently, when it comes to my spinning, I lack a certain amount of resolution. Especially when faced with the prospect of experimenting with some special fiber. What you see above is clearly not a skein of the CVM that I am supposed to be working on.
You see, on Sunday night, I decided that no harm would be done if I pulled out my Franquemont Fibers "Heartbreaker" and just weighed it. You know, so that I would know how much I had to deal with. But then it went a bit farther. I decided that, since I wanted to create striping intervals of my own design, that it would be good to know just how much of each color I had. So I opened up the little batt-buns and separated out the colors and weighed them. Then I got a bit carried away. I decided that I would "sample" a little bit, just to see what the superwash/silk/nylon blend spun up like, since firestar nylon is a new fiber to me. And then I realized that if I was going to spin just a bit, I might as well think about the color progression. How to make stripes that would knit up well in a pair of socks? And then suddenly I was separating the colors from one of those little batts into multiple small bits in a particular order and telling myself that one ounce of fiber really wouldn't take all that long to spin.
Which did, of course, turn out to be true. I can spin an ounce of fiber in about 3 hours. Especially when it is as well prepared as this fiber. No pre-drafting necessary on this stuff. It just slipped effortlessly through my fingers and into a single.
My goal with this fiber was to try to create two singles with similar color intervals, that, when plied, wouldn't barberpole very much. I've spun enough sock yarn now that I am pretty consistent within a particular range. So I wasn't too worried about my ability to get similar lengths of single out of equal weights of fiber. What I was concerned about was getting the equal weights of fiber. My scale, while okay for amounts above 5-10 g or so, doesn't do very well in the 1 gram range that I needed. So in the end, I decided that I would just have to wing it and use my eyeballs to "measure".
My results were mixed. On one hand, in most cases I did get the color bands that were supposed to over lap to over lap. And I did get pretty equal amounts of single on each of the two bobbins. On the other hand, I am pretty sure I ended up with a good deal more barberpoling than solid region once I got past the halfway point. I did contemplate breaking the singles and adjusting, but the nylon added some tensile strength that made this stuff harder to break and join easily. So after trying that once, I gave up and just spun my way on through.
Although the final result is not as close to what I initially envisions as I would like, it's hard to be disappointed in these colors, or in the resulting yarn after plying. I will tell you that this yarn is somewhat overplied (i.e. not balanced) and I will probably have to run it back through my wheel and remove some of the twist (or maybe not... it is for socks after all, and I don't think it's unbalanced enough to have a sever bias in a garment knitteed in the round).
From the 31 g that I spun, I ended up with 110 yards of 2 ply yarn -- pretty respectable, I think. Since this was about a quarter of what I ordered, I should have plenty of yarn for a pair of socks when the project is finished. When I soaked the yarn after plying it gave off no dye whatsoever, and it has a nice soft hand now that it is dry and skeined.
The nylon didn't turn out to be a problem to spin, but I did notice that the fiber was a little rougher on my fingers than straight wool or wool silk blends have been in the past. I can only assume that this is due to the nylon being a bit more durable than my skin. But this is sort of a minor quibble when I think about the added durability that will be present in the final yarn and knitted product. And it in no way detracts from how nice this fiber was to spin or how nice it will feel when worn in a sock.
I am not sure how I am going to handle the next three batts. A part of me would like to find a more precise weighing device, but given that I have just made another rather large purchase (more about that on Friday) I am not really prepared to invest in an expensive gram-sensitive balance at the moment. So, more than likely, I will end up using the eyeball method again. Any suggestions out there from anyone else who has tried this sort of thing?
Aside from the toe of my second Regia Silk sock, I find myself with not so much to talk about this morning. Soon I will have hoardes of 9-patch quilt blocks to show and tell about, but for right now, they are mostly just pieced together strips of fabric and really not all that interesting. So, instead, I'm showing of something that is much more interesting and beautiful.
Lately, I've been itching to spin. You'd think I'd just sit down in front of my wheel and do it, but instead I've been substituting the purchase of fiber. But I've been trying to be moderate in this area -- just enough for small projects. Sock yarn is my favorite small project spinning right now, so when I saw Abby talking about her Luxury Sock Yarn Batts with silk and BFL, well, it was just time to start cruising her Ebay shop again. And I ended up with 3 batts of a colorway she calls Tamale Pie.
I've been curious about BFL in sock yarn for a while. First of all, because of some lovely sock yarn that Emma sent me as part of one of our trades that was made of BFL. Secondly, because BFL is supposedly one of those wools that doesn't felt quite as readily. And finally, just because I have enjoyed spinning BFL and I thought it would be fun to have it in a sock blend.
Last time I didn't give you a good close-up of the batt I received. This time, since I had beautiful light and even better weather, I thought it would be nice to get a close-up so that it was possible to see how truly well prepared this fiber is. I think it's fair to say that my hair isn't this well combed on most days. And as far as the touch sensation goes, well, its lovely stuff and it will be a treat to spin.
I also got some silk samples from Abby. I'm still not an expert at silk identification, but I think the skein on the left is tussah and the skein on the right is bombyx. Since I've really only spun tussah up to this point, I'm looking forward to seeing how they compare.
Now... I have to get back to my rotary cutter and some strip pieces... lots and lots of 9 patches ahead!
So... I mentioned a post or so back that I had been doing some shopping. Well, indeed I have. I'm not hitting the highest heights of fiber consumerism, but I have made a recent purchase that I just have to talk about.
One of the things that I am always trying to find more of is good spinning blogs -- blogs by people who have been spinning for a long time and really have a deep body of knowledge that they bring to bear when they talk about a spinning subject. I wish now I could remember how I came across Abby's Yarns so I could give credit where credit is due. Abby Franquemont has a great blog and an incredibly rich knowledge of fiber and spinning. She talks about everything from yarn construction to yarn pricing, she's talked about what to look for in spinning wheels and answers questions from people who are looking for help with their technique.
After reading her blog for a while, I took the plunge and ordered some of her Franquemont Fibers Luxury Sock Batts. The blend that I ordered is a blend of superwash merino, silk and nylon in a colorway called "Heartbreaker". Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will not be surprised that I picked a blue, teal and purple colorway -- I decided if I was going to make luxury sock yarn, it was going to be for me, and it was going to be in my favorite colors.
Let me just say that this is probably some of the best prepared fiber I've ever had my hands on. when I untucked one of those little buns (holding one feels like holding a baby bird in your hand) I was treated to some of the softest, smoothest fiber I've ever had. The whole "like buttah" thing? Well, "buttah" don't have anything on this stuff.
Aside from the incredible preparation, while the batts contain all three colors, Abby has placed them side by side so they can be easily separated. I am thinking that I am going to split them and try to spin some "self-striping" yarn by spinning a certain amount of each color into my single in a regular pattern and see if I can make two singles that I combine into a two ply that match up enough to maintain the striping pattern in the final yarn. All 4 of the little bundles I have amount to just over 4 ounces of fiber, so it shouldn't be a long spinning project.
Well, not once I get finished with my CVM. I've told myself that this is a treat that I can only have after I finish my moorit CVM project. In the coming weeks, we'll see how strong my will is.
