Trenchwork

The one disadvantage to spinning lace-weight singles is that you’re doing it forever and begin to wonder if you’re making any progress at all. As a result, I’ve spent more time on the Rose than on the spindle lately, partly because I was really determined to finish *something.* (As always, click for a larger view.)

The photo is missing one skein which is still drying, and for which I was too impatient to wait to photo. (Ignore the blue ties and the skein-end in the middle of the bottom skein.)

The Stats.

Fiber: Ashland Bay Merino-Tussah (70-30) blend, McKenzie colorway, from Mielke’s Farm.
Finished Weight: just less than a pound.
Yardage: ca 940 yards of standard three ply, plus about five yards of two ply leftovers.
WPI: 16.
Spun on: Rose.

The Lessons.

I’ve learned a few things here. First, I really really do enjoy fine wools and I loved working with the silk blend. It drafts like a dream, and is so easy to create joins with new fiber. This particular roving was a lovely blend of dusty blues with a bit of dark taupe here and there. There were occasional clumps of Tussah in the blend which I allowed to go through, and the final result was a nearly-denim heathered yarn with a certain sheen that I absolutely love.

I started this yarn intending it to be lace-weight, but since I’m spinning some Merino-Tencel at the same time, I decided to spin the singles at lace-weight and then make a three-ply yarn. The original idea was to Navajo ply them in order to learn that technique, but that quickly went out the window after I pulled out some regular wool to practice with. I understand what’s supposed to happen in a Navajo ply, but I wound up with a snarly mess and far, far too much twist. I didn’t want to risk totally destroying the yarn, so I opted for a straight three-ply instead, figuring I’d still be learning something new. I’ll practice the Navajo ply on that black-white wool waiting in the wings; it should help me see what I’m doing a little more easily—particularly if I spin it for a worsted weight.

The singles are generally pretty consistent, although now and then I let the idea of a three-ply intimidate me into making the single thinner than it should have been for fear that I was going to end up with something which was thicker than I expected. The ply evened out most of that, and the finished yarn is actually pretty even. The thicker Tussah spots or occasional slim “glob” of silk add a little character without throwing the WPI off by much, and a bit of the dye seemed to wash out during the setting process and leach over into the white of the silk so the occasional glare of white silk was muted. And you know, I do like the final product.

Plying was actually the thing which was most challenging. Lucinda had warned me that a three-ply needed more twist in the singles than a two-ply, so I remembered that when I span the singles. (Thanks, Lucinda!) I also remembered her tip—which I’d also read elsewhere—about using the lid from a spice cap to help sort the individual singles, but I’d forgotten to ask precisely how one did that. Nor did I have a spare spice bottle whose cap I could steal, but I was prepared. I’d made a point of stopping at my favorite button shop in Trondheim—Sommers—and finding a smooth, plastic button with four large-bore holes for just this purpose.

Since I only have four bobbins for the Rose at the moment, I could only fill three of them with singles; I had to reserve the fourth for plying. I threaded the singles each through a hole on the button, knotted the ends together, and started plying. It took me most of the first bobbin of plying to figure things out, but by the second bobbin, I was starting to get the hang of things. I found that I got a better result if I pinched the singles against the button holes in my left hand and forced them to smooth out any kinks in the singles before the singles passed through the holes when I slid the button back along the length of the singles toward the source. I held the twist back with my right while my left moved the button, then when enough built up, let the twist travel to the button. The one definite thing I learned you should NOT do is to let go of the silly button while plying in order to separate or untangle the singles further back: The twist travels to both sides of the button and you’re then stuck spending the next ten minutes untwisting what’s on the singles side of the button in order to move it again. Of course, the positive aspect of that experience is that I also learned how beads, flowers, feathers, and special effects are caught in the twist for novelty yarns. The fact that I wasn’t intending on doing any of those things just now is totally irrelevant.

I’m rather pleased with the final product. It took me a little while to figure out how much twist was the right amount in the ply, so the first bobbin has some sections which are a bit overspun; things definitely got better in the second bobbin. I ended up with some leftovers and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make a three-ply out of two separate singles without doing the Navajo ply or going through a lot of singles rearranging, so I “sacrificed” those final few yards and turned them into a two-ply as a sort of tiny test skein. No idea what I’ll do with it, but it gives me an idea of what the Tencel blend will look like as a two-ply.

I’m still learning, and while it’s not perfect and I have no trouble seeing where I have room for improvement, I’m rather pleased with this spin.

Next, however, I think I’m going to play with creating a Navajo-plied worsted in that black-white roving.