We need to express some thanks. First of all, thank you to the Convenor, Spinning Blog Moderator and Committee Chair who worked diligently to make this event run so smoothly. There was a great deal of effort spent prior to this inaugural run. Secondly, we feel remiss not thanking the person who inspired our interests in these yarns. At varying points in our lives, we both had the good fortune to be taught novelty yarns by Ted Carson. Although Ted died a few years ago, we remain grateful for his expertise in spinning, his ability to teach, his patience and his marvelous sense of humour.
Tricia and I have both enjoyed our interactions with those who responded to lessons and posts. Best wishes to all who have been watching this space.
Happy spinning!
Barbara
What a Joy !
ReplyDeleteI have only just finished my snarl yarn and it looks like the blog is finished now so I’m writing to you to say thank you for a very enjoyable few weeks. I have done far more spinning than I would usually get to do. Since I work full-time, this has involved some early mornings and long evenings spinning away busily. I used mainly a bag of coloured tops called “teddy bear” colours from Forest Fibres, our local supplier, and these turned out to be ideal because the colours blended well together. Other fibres, such as silk and mohair, were within my stash.
I am not sure if anyone else in the Gloucestershire Guild has done the workshop but will find out at our next meeting. As directed, I made up a folder and now have a superb record of all ten novelty yarns – some more successful than others. My best ones were the crepe and the spiral; I particularly like the texture of the latter. Even the “disasters” are still usable for something and I am delighted with the samples.
The only place I got stuck was with the core-spinning. My core (Z spun cotton) was perhaps too thick and it shows through the white mohair (put on S-wise). I suspect that a further plying with another thread will do the trick but I shall have to take advice at our next Guild meeting because I’m not sure which direction to ply it.
My thanks to you and all involved for their hard work.
With kind regards,
Linda Catlin
Gloucestershire Guild, England
Hello Linda,
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you and hear of your adventures with these constructions. It's also helpful to know that the suggestion to organize your samples was worthwhile.
RE: direction of twist for your corespun. As with most yarns, I would reverse the direction of twist for the plying. You will need to spin a fine S-twisted yarn and then ply it with your corespun using a Z twist.
Your cotton yarn may have been too heavy / bulky. Next time, you might wish to try corespinning on some very fine lace weight wool yarn which should connect more readily with the mohair as it has a stickier, hairier surface. For good coverage, having the fibre supply well-opened and lofty is really critical in my experience as is slowing down the rate of twist.
Please let us know how your yarn turns out and if these suggestions where helpful.
Thanks again for getting in touch.
Barbara
Whoops! That should have read "were helpful", not "where helpful".
ReplyDeleteBarbara