Spinning some John Arbon fibre - Wooden Bobbin - multicoloured version

As I mentioned in my last post I had bought some fibre in May 2022 from another spinner that was de-stashing.  

This is an interesting blend, both in in terms of fibre content and colour combination.  The fibre content is 40% Corriedale, 30% Merino, 10% Exmoor Blueface, 10% Zwartbles, 5% Bluefaced Leicester, 5% Wensleydale.

Having spun up the first braid and whilst being happy with that yarn I decided that I would spin up the second braid in a completely different way.  There are a few options available to me. 1) Pull apart the colours and create some kind of gradient yarn but I can't see this working as I can probably isolate the green and the white but the rest, nope. 2) Fibonacci Spin, this has potential as I can isolate the green and the white and then the rest would probably have to be blended together to make one browny-grey shade.  I don't think I want to make a Fibonacci Yarn. 3) Pull off chunks and spin-over-the-fold to keep the colours together and then I have two options: a) spin two singles like this and ply them together for a barber-pole yarn or b) spin one long single and then chain ply to make a 3 ply yarn but pay attention to the colours coming through and adjust the loop lengths each time to try and keep the colours clean and together. 

For this braid I decided to spin it over-the-fold, as per option 3, but I didn't initially decide on which option to take for the plying so I halved the braid in length to give me options and started with the first smaller length.  Once I saw how it spun up I was able to make a decision on the next step.

I liked the way the colours were isolating and into various shades of the brown so I decided to continue and spin one long single and then chain ply it.  I spun it quite finely, like the first yarn, but as I was making a chain ply 3ply this yarn was going to spin up thicker than the first yarn.  I had to adjust the length of the loops when plying to accommodate the colour changes as best as I could.

The finished yarn is double knit weight, 106g/262m, and it's nice and soft.  It has turned out really nice and interesting with lots of colour blocks but there are also some sections that are a bit barber-poled but this couldn't be helped and I don't mind it.  I am glad I went this way and not with the option of spinning it over-the-fold and then making a 2ply barber-pole yarn.

Spinning Xinhai Revolution

I've done it!  I've spun up the last of the full braids of fibre from a previous supplier and I have to say it feels good.  I know it sounds stupid and I could have just sold all of the fibre off and got rid of it ages ago but for the most part the fibre isn't the problem, it is the memories of the conversations about it and her and her best mates attitude towards anyone who had a different opinion to them.  I don't have any such memories with this fibre as I had long since left the club and the group chat when this fibre was produced and, likewise, I don't have any such memories attached to the 37 small clumps of "blend ingredients" that I have in my stash that range from 1g to 22g as they were just instant purchases and not something that was discussed.

This fibre is called Xinhai Revolution and I bought it from another spinner when they were selling off some of their fibre stash and I liked the colour combination along with the texture.  I have no idea about the inspiration for the colour but I do know that the Xinhai Revolution took place in 1911 and overthrew the last Imperial dynasty of China and led to the establishment of the Republic of China.

I knew that because of the texture in this one that I would not be able to spin it too finely so I spun it over-the-fold to help make it thicker/bulkier but without it being too dense and heavy, using the loft of the fibres in a positive way to achieve this.  I just plied the two singles together and done this for each of the braids.

Both skeins have spun up to 12 wpi - sport weight for a combined total of 206g/627m and the fibre content is 50% Corriedale, 25% Bamboo, 20% South American, 5% Viscose Tweed Nepps.

Spinning some Faux Cashmere

If I can spin 100% Silk yarns then spinning another braid of Faux Cashmere should be a breeze.  I've tackled a braid before, back in 2022 for the TDF, where I spun that as a 2ply yarn and just pre-drafted and spun from the end and plied. Faux Cashmere is actually 100% Nylon

This time I decided to try something different with my new found confidence in different spinning techniques that I have been trying out in more recent times.

I'm working on spinning my way through some of my older braids of fibre and this one I got from Yummy Yarns UK back in August 2018, 6 years ago!  The colour of this is called Pebble.

What I noticed when I undone the braid is that the dye didn't go all the way through the thickness of the braid in most places.  A lot of it was just on the surface which means that there is way more white fibres than anticipated.  I decided that I would probably be best to pull off small chunks and spin over the fold to try and keep the splodges of colour together in one long single and then to chain ply to keep the colours together even more.  For this to work effectively and give me a decent amount of meterage to knit with I will have to spin as fine as I can.

As you can see from the spinning on the bobbin, this method is working pretty well, producing lengths of different colours/shades.  I like the way this is spinning up, it's really pretty.

I think this has spun up much better than the braid I spun back in 2022.  It has a different feel to it.  The first skein feels "heavy, dense" whilst this one feels light, airy and soft and that has to be to do with spinning it over-the-fold which traps more air between the fibres.  Maybe I should spin over-the-fold more often.  Choosing to chain ply has helped keep the colours together but I think this could have been improved on further had I been more selective and flexible in the lengths of my chain loops to keep like for like colours even more together. This yarn is still gorgeous and is 97g/244m and comes in at a light fingering weight.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2024 Stage 16

The Cycling: Stage 16 is 188.6km of a flat route that starts in Gruissan and ends in Nîmes.

The Daily Challenge: A little bit of a tenuous link to our song today... Nîmes is twinned with Preston in Lancashire and Lancashire is the home of fictional duo Wallace and Gromit.  Our song of the day is the Wallace and Gromit Theme.  Spin something that you find tricky - grab your fibre-arch nemesis and conquer the challenge!

Suggested Fibre: We've opted for Carded Fawn UK Alpaca Sliver because its soft and short, so we really have to pay attention!

What I did

Well, I didn't watch 2 hours worth of instructional videos last night for nothing.  I decided to tackle my arch nemesis fibre.  Silk.  I'm not talking about Silk in a blend.  I'm talking about 100% pure Silk spun on it's own.  Fine, flyaway, slippery as hell, easy clumping Silk.

I have a very particular set of fibres that I have been putting off spinning for a very long time.  It is a 12 Days of Christmas set that I got in 2018 from a past supplier.   I wrote a couple of posts about it at the time here and here.

I am starting with the first 20g bump of Tussah Silk from the pack and will spin over-the-fold.  The main braid was the first day and the Silk started from Day 2.

I haven't soaked the finished yarn yet, I will do that when I have all of the silks spun up, but here is a photo of my first skein of handspun 100% pure Silk yarn.

It wasn't as difficult to spin as I envisaged but I did get a little tangled up at the end when I made a small Andean plying bracelet as one bobbin had a bit more on it that the other one and the Andean plying bracelet slipped over my hand and off right towards the end.  It's not perfect but I'm pretty happy with it and at this point it is measuring up as 19g/97.5m but that might change slightly after a good long soak sometime in the near-ish future.  I'm certainly happy to carry on and spin the remaining 10 bumps of Silk.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 5

The Cycling: Stage 5 is 165km of a mountain route that starts in Pau and ends in Laruns, both in the Pyrenees, France.

The Daily Challenge: We're all about texture today!  Grab something that feels different to your main fibre and give it a blend.  Extra points if it is something you haven't blended before! 

Suggested Fibre: Railway Grey Tweed

What I did

I don't have any of the suggested fibre but I do have a textured braid called "Taste the Rainbow by Damo, it's one of the WoW Team Blends 2022 and is 100% Tweed Wool

I split this into two equal amounts and spun it over the fold and then plied the singles together.

I wasn't too sure about whether I liked the single that was being spun, I think it could have been better, nicer, it certainly looked prettier in the braid than as a single.  I wasn't the only team member who was using this particular fibre for today's challenge and we've come to the conclusion that it is probably prettier and nicer either plied with a plain white or add more white fibre at the drafting and spinning the single stage.

The finished yarn is 100% Tweed wood, double knit weight and is 173m/100g.  It's not the softest or the prettiest yarn in the world but its a bit nicer now that its plied, compared to how it looked on the bobbin as a single.