Wool with a twist

The night before last (Tuesday), was the second class in my Introduction to Handspinning course. It went swimmingly, by all accounts. Even better, 3M managed to catch the moment when two knitters became handspinners (my other two students managed to avoid being photographed). Unfortunately, I didn't think to get their permission to post their faces on the blog, so here's two photos of their first skeins:

aaaand...

It's always a magical moment when a person holds something they've just realised they made themselves. Think about your first knit or crochet project - can you remember the shock that it was something other than a lump of tangled yarn? Handspinning is much the same. You take a sheep's hair and twist it and somehow it all turns into something other than a giant knot.

Anyway. It was a great night. We also went over the process of making a sheep's fleece more spinable. I.e. carding. 3M and the ladies found it so fascinating that I thought you might, too.

First came the hand cards and wool combs - both of which are used to basically brush the locks of wool into a fluffier state that is easier to spin. The next lesson was the drum carder:

Which is the mechanized, and much quicker, way to process a fleece. (I actually shouldn't just single out sheep, since we also carded alpaca and goat hair, too.)

Anyway. Everyone left with a pile of wool (or fiber as the case may be) that she had carded or combed herself. Spinning it is the homework for the next class. I'm evil, I know. If you want more pictures from the class, 3M took a bunch that are all up here.

constructive chaos

Let's see, let's see, let's see. A lot has been happening today. We received a shipment of Judy's Colors stocking kits for all the enterprising knitters who want to knit something very special this Christmas. We also received another shipment of Malabrigo. This one included several colors of Gruesa and Chunky that were out of stock.

And, most especially (but not most recently), we received a huge box from Norway this week. Containing the Oleana Fall Line:

Which is, quite simply, awesome. I truly hate to sound like a blond Californian surfer-dude, but it is. And I am clearly not the only person to think so, because our selection has been steadily diminishing since it went on display.

And, while on the topic of displays, I've been cornered* into showing off my handspinning display:

There it is. Done.

... no?

Okay, it's my tiny collection of handspun yarn and handspun-handknit garments (that I could find, anyway), to encourage enrollment for our upcoming Introduction to Handspinning class. Honestly, I don't know what terrifies me more - having too many students or too few. At the moment, the class isn't empty, which gives me some comfort. And, conversely, increasing terror.

At least it's three weeks away, so I have less time to be neurotic about it, which is a small blessing, however fleeting.

That's everything blog-worthy for now - look for a latest Newsletter in your email tomorrow afternoon!

*Proving that I lack the initiative to pimp my own skills out... or something.

True Plies: Partying German-style

True Plies: Skacel Artfelt© Roving

On a whim last Thursday, while working the sales floor, I grabbed a Greensleeves spindle and a 50g hank of Skacel's Artfelt© pencil-roving in the color "Party Time" (#901). Why? Because I wanted to see what would happen and also because it would keep me from tears of boredom during slow moments.

I immediately realized what a misjudgment I'd made. First of all, I wasn't entertaining myself anymore - the entire store stopped to stare at me. The staff even were mesmerized by the pretty whirling wooden thing that was making yarn. Second, I got about a dozen requests to teach an Intro to Spindling course (for knitters), which has been approved by our Fearless Leader, so look for it on the Class Schedule when everything is arranged.

Anyway, back to the pretty-pretty wool. I had also made the mistake of not considering the mesmerizing qualities of variegated roving. I didn't want to stop spindling because I wanted to see what color would come next. Even worse, my coworkers and our patrons were egging me on - so I spent half the day wandering around the floor trying to help people and spin yarn at the same time.

Since The Blogger was madly in love with the yarn I was making, I promised to give it to her if she'd write a True Plies column on knitting with it. This then sparked a discussion on how it should be plied, whether it needed to be plied?, or what it should be plied with. In the end, we decided that I would ply the thick 'n thin singles with Habu's Silk Wrapped Stainless Steel thread in dark blue. It would strengthen the yarn and also give it some sparkle:

(Bling Bling, baby)

By the end of the night (our Sip 'n Stitchers also piled on the peer pressure to finish the yarn), it had all been plied. The next day, The Blogger and I wound it into a skein and set the twist (the process of 'finishing' the yarn by soaking it in water and hanging it to dry):

After it had dried, we pulled out our very handy yarn weight tool to determine the WPI (wraps per inch) and approximate gauge. Shown below is the finished skein and the tool (Brass Yarn Gauge):


Un-scrunched, the yarn averaged 12 WPI, making it a worsted weight. I also checked the yardage of the skein the old-fashioned way - counting the number of strands in the skein, measuring the skein's length...


... and doing some multiplication. All told, the skein had about 146 yards from 50g of wool. Not too bad.

In the end I almost regretted giving away the yarn, but stood fast. It was lots of fun to spin and I really enjoyed playing with the roving. I'd definitely recommend it for any level of spinner. It'd be perfect for beginners who struggle with drafting or for really experienced spinners who want to experiment with designer yarns. Next time, I want to try the color "Fall in Vermont" (#921). It'd look really spectacular plied with Habu Textiles' Wool/ Stainless Steel in Terra Cotta, don't you think?

(Unfortunately, we do not have Skacel Artfelt © roving available for purchase online. But if you would like to send us an email, we'll do our best to help you!)