Whew! Was it only a month ago I started spinning this Falkland? I showed you how I split the fiber in Spinning for
Stripes and the first singles on the niddy noddy in Spinning for Stripes Progress. I thought it would never end. I got a little impatient on the second half and I think my singles got a bit thicker. Add that to the fact that I obviously didn’t split the fiber accurately and you can see the sad, lopsided result.
Yep, those are the two different portions of the fiber, one spun into short color repeats, (the large one – over 600 yards), and the other spun into long color repeats, (the smaller one – 400 yards).
I did learn a winding trick that worked great for me. I wrapped my singles onto empty toilet paper rolls. Very handy for super skinny singles and no tangley mess to deal with at the center of the ball. For plying, you can put a chopstick through each roll and poke the ends through a basket or shoebox to make a homemade lazy kate. I normally just put each one in their own bowl and let them roll around within the bowls while I ply.
We have fractally spun yarn. It looks like it will self stripe, just as we’d hoped. The yarn measures out to between 23 – 32 wpi, depending on the strand I select.
And here’s the pretty little package of 400 yards of fractally spun fingering weight yarn, all skeined up and tucked in,
waiting for Mom to get to work knitting….something. This is not destined for socks after all. There’s just too many thinnish areas to think they’d wear worth a darn. So the socks from handspun goal stands. Something to work toward.
Ah, the stripey spinning joy of it all!
That’s beautiful, Julie!
Thanks Kate. I’m sure having fun!
That yarn is just gorgeous! You’ve really mastered spinning in such a short time.
Thank you Susan! I don’t know if I’ve mastered it, but it’s one of those Pandora’s boxes of techniques. Seems like once you get started, you want to try to do it all. I think I’m definately improving.
that is sooo gorgeous !!!
Thanks, k!
Wow, your plied yarn looks great! It’s making me want to try fractal striping, you explained it so well. And I can see how using the cardboard “bobbins” could make things much easier. Thanks for writing up and photographing your process to share!
I’m glad it made sense to you. You’re so welcome – I’m really enjoying sharing my spinning stories. I’d love to see your results on your blog too! 🙂
Your plied yarn looks lovely Julie! I like your bobbin idea. I have all the items on hand for this. I’ve ordered a Kundert spindle, two books on spinning: Respect the Spindle and Start Spinning, and some fiber from Etsy (BFL roving and Falkland wool roving). I was fortunate enough to find the downloadable DVDs that go with the books I ordered on the Interweave website, on sale until midnight tonight. I’ve already watched both DVDs. I’m excited about learning something new and you’ve definitely inspired me to “jump in.” 🙂
Ohhh, big fun coming your way! I loved spinning both the BFL and Falkland. How great that you found the DVD’s on sale. I found the videos to be really helpful. Have so much fun! 🙂
Those colours look beautiful! I was wondering how you managed the fibre vs the weight of the cop. I want to try fractal spinning the next time I get some multi-colour fibre, but both my spindles can only handle 40 – 50 grams max.
I thought about splitting in half vertically then splitting one half into 8 vertically and the other half into 2 horizontally and making two skeins that way.
You seem to have picked up spinning so well, I’m really jealous! I really enjoy reading all the posts about spinning here. It’s reassuring to know that not everyone relies on a wheel.
Yes, I still get my joy out of spindling. Haven’t made the change to the wheel yet. I kind of enjoy micro managing my fiber. 🙂 If your cop overloads the spindle, just wind it off, leaving a fuzzy fiber end and you can join them together when you come to them in the plying. At least that’s what I’m doing with my latest project on the turkish. The turkish spindle I have just couldn’t quite handle half the fiber for this latest fractal spin I’m working on.