Okay. Question for the spinners (spinerettes? spinistes?) out there. Is there a name for this?
Other than 'effective', I mean. I'm self taught, so... is this an official draw method, long draw maybe? Or is it more of my usual weirdness?
I'm spinning singles as thin as possible, with the idea of chain-plying them into sock yarn. And then of course, knitting socks out of them. Because I've lost my mind.
And while I'm at it? Anyone got an idea what to do with 730 yards of DK-weight yarn? This handspun has been lurking in The Pit for the best part of a year.
Me either. I'm hitting Ravelry next.
Yeah, yeah, Russian Prime. I'm working on it. Let me dream of other stuff.
9 comments:
Spinsters.
I googled the yardage and came up with a chart from Lion Brand (I know, I know.) Basically, anything you can make would fall into Goober sizes, either a vest or a sweater. However, I'd probably combine it with something else and maybe stripe it? Then you'd have something for you or another adult.
I got a lovely skein of 230 yards of alpaca goodness for my birthday. I'm not sure what to do with it. I shudder at the thought of another scarf. I might do wrist warmer things. Any suggestions?
Trish
Isn't that a little kid's jumper right there? or a shrug? It's pretty!
How about a different colour half way up, at about the yoke (I seem to recall you talking about different coloured yokes before, although I could be delusional. After the morning I've had, it's more than likely)
Baby surprise jacket (boring)
Combine with brown and make mitered squares, set on point for a woods fairy jacket for the Goober. Easy, but a learning experience since you don't do miters much. Try to knit it in one piece.
Use as a background color, throw in all sorts of aqueaous tones and knit a stranded vest from edge to edge, working 10 garter stitch at the edge for ribbing.
Lace.
I am self taught, too so my knowledge is probably no better than yours. But, I read somewhere that long draw is when the fiber is 12 inches from the orifice to allow more twist in. I tend to do this anyway because I sit that far from the wheel so I don't feel all cramped up. I am self taught at most things and as long as they work out, I don't worry too much about it (although there is this niggling little doubt that I'm doing it wrong....)
Looks like a short forward draw to me, but I'm no expert. Long draw is sommething I've never been good at, though I wish I were, since it makes a fluffier single. But it involves a really long draw on a rather large draft zone, allowing the spin to come up into the drafting zone slightly while drawing back at the same time so that air gets caugh in the fiber as it is spun, and the more loosely spun areas draft almost on their own in response to the tension of the draw. I've seen my local spinning instructor do it a dozen times, had him give me advice while watching my attempts, had him tell me how close I am, and I still can't do it. Frankly, it looks like majic to me. I "wasted" 1/2 a Grafton batt not long ago, trying once again to get the hang of it, and, well, I'm still a short draw girl. But hey, if you're trying to spin for sock weight, you don't WANT a long draw, because that produces thicker, fluffier singles, neither of which are for socks! You want thin, sturdy, well-twisted stuff, i.e., short draw! So you're golden!
Short draw forward. When doing long draw, the twist goes up into the drafting zone and you do not have the other hand up in front of the fiber controlling the twist, unless you're double drafting that is.
Not to confuse you any more, but when you do a long draw, you often have some fat slubs in the yarn. Double drafting is where you re-draft those slubs before allowing the yarn to draw up onto the bobbin. Takes lots of practice.
I'm mostly self taught (I had a couple of classes that only dealt with the basics) and I came into the long draw/double draft pretty much by accident. There's lots of youtube videos that describe both the long draw and double draft techniques.
Shea
http://www.abbysyarns.com/wordpress/?p=238
2 awesome videso with spindles, but you can apply the same thing to your wheel.
btw, good job on the spinning!
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