Pretty Fibres

After a bit of a rummage through my roving stash this weekend, I came across this lovely hand painted roving by 'All the pretty fibres'. I think I showed you it last year when I bought it but I didn't want to spin it straight away till I had got a little more practice in spinning. So, okay, I haven't spent that much time spinning, only on  Jelly Jelly and black coffee but I think as those were both plied yarns, I may try to spin a consistantly even single. That 'consistantly even' bit is going to be the challenge:-)

When I learned to spin, yonks ago, it was on a traditional wheel using rolags and all the spinning techniques seemed really easy. Now, on my modern louet with roving, it seems that all my previous skill has gone out the window - sigh:-) I still have some samples of those earlier yarns so I looked them out and although they weren't as super duper as I'd remembered, they still seemed more competently spun  - with even tension throughout. Different wheel and tension? Different technique of using roving? Whatever, this is the wheel I have and the roving I've stashed so A+B has to equal a decent C!!

So I've spent some of the weekend, splitting some roving into even slivers. Well, as even as I can get them. Another area that could do with more patience! Now, I'm going to make sure the thickness throughout each sliver is as even as possible as I think this is where I slipped up a little last time and got a few thicker areas. And when I hit a thicker area, I changed my  technique to thin it out as I went and it went a bit pearshaped regarding evenness - hey-ho! If I spun a bit more often I really would learn from my mistakes quicker;-))

I'm also interested in seeing how this particular roving will spin up. There is a lot of length to each section of colour so if I average 3 x length of colour on the roving as the length of the spun yarn, that's a lot of each colour. It's definitely going to be stripey! I know I could choose to spin the roving a different way to change this effect but I want to see how this one plays out first. If I like the effect enough, I may get some undyed roving to play with and expand my dyeing into fibres as well.....

Black coffee skein completed

While I was thinking about what to show you today, I realised I hadn't shown you the finished skein spun from the Black Coffee roving.  It took me pretty much right up to christmas but I managed to get the singles spun, plied and posted just in time for my mum's birthday. What was especially nice was the post arrived while I was on the phone to her so I got to hear all the 'oohs and aahs' when she opened the parcel:-)

Want to see?.... ok:-)

The sad thing was the light was so poor for photos between finishing and posting that although I took loads of pictures, very few came close to the true colour of the spun fleece. But you can get a good idea of how the two singles plied together. I was thinking there would be more of a colour contrast with greens and plums in the mix but overall it's quite subtle and harmonious.

This is my first proper plied yarn and although the singles were a little thick and thin in places this did even out through the plying to give quite a nice fingering weight/4ply yarn. But I did learn an awful lot about tension, under and overspinning and getting the right amount of twist in the plying stage so it's been really helpful - and addictive:-) Yup, I'm itching to start playing some more!

I still have a little of this bobbin left as I managed to spin one half of the roving a lot longer than the other although they weighted exactly the same:-) but I think I just seem to make thinner yarn the longer I spin! If I can just get consistant! Spinners out there, is there a knack to this or is it as I suspect,  just practice?!

So I'll have to ply this up so I can free the bobbins for the next lot of roving. I'm thinking of mixing two different dyed rovings together either during the singles spinning stage or as two different coloured singels to ply together. Now, if I can just get the never ending DIY out the way for a little while.....:-)

Black coffee

Not the kind you drink but the kind you spin! Yes, some more spinning is going on - at last! I managed to pull myself away from the knitting to indulge in a bit of spinning. Motivation? Some spun roving as a christmas present - for a certain someone who loves colour and free hand spun yarn:-) But as they are unlikely to read my blog then it's safe to post my progress for you to see.

The roving may be familiar to some of you from a fibre purchase I made earlier this year - february to be exact! I couldn't believe that when I checked my earlier post on this but, yup, that long ago. The colour is 'Black coffee' and the fibre is by Fibreoptic - also where I got the lovely pinky/purple roving 'jelly jelly' that I spun up recently and now use for my blog banner. That skein has been gifted but I still have half of the roving left to be spun.

I learned a lot from that spinning session - like I split the roving too thin and my single was way too thin in places and not even enough thoughout. So,  more spinning practice is needed:-) This time I've not made the slivers quite so thin so I can practice whether I want to draw some fleece out as I go to get a more even yarn.

I know I should probably start with thicker yarns but I just seem to gravitate to thinner threads. Well, as long as its even, I can ply to get a heavier yarn - for now. The perfectionist in me will insist on mastering this yarn thickness issue sometime soon in the future, but for now, I'll settle for a smooth, even yarn. I've read up so much about tension, ratios and the right bobbins for my wheel that I'll be dreaming of it!! Now to the spinning where I hope some of that research has paid off!

This is the roving single using half of the fleece. I think it is a bit more even than before and seemed to spin up quicker this time but still a thin thread:-) I do like the colours and how they merge together. The light has been so poor that each photo made the yarn look a different colour palette! So I've include a couple of images to give you a better idea overall.

I've also been thinking a lot about how to use the roving - particularly how to get the best from the colours.  If I split the roving into lots of little slivers, it won't draw out much longer than the staple length so the colour sections will spin up pretty much to the length shown on the sliver. If I don't make slivers at all and spin straight from the full roving, I will be able to tease a lot of fibre from each section of colour before moving on to the next section. This will produce a completely different yarn with much longer colour gradations.

As I want to learn as well as produce lovely yarns:-), I've decided to try out both techniques. I had already slivered my first 4oz of roving (yes, I got two as it was so scrummy!) and had started spinning before this idea about colour occurred to me so I have to make a decision about how to proceed. I could start the second roving and ply the first sliver single with a full roving colourway single to get a play of short and long colourways meeting when they are plied together - nice - or I could have one skein of two short colourways together and one skein of two long colourways together to show the more obvious colour contrasts in technique.

Maybe I'll do a little more reading before making the final decision but I can't take too long as christmas won't wait for me!

Jelly Jelly

I've been spending a lot of time these last few days with fibres - specifially my new fibre from Fibreoptics called Jelly Jelly. When I saw this, it just cried out to be mine:-) The colours are just so rich and deep - and very fuchsia pink:-) I always have a hard time choosing just one roving in her etsy shop and of course, just after I found this one and bought it, I spied another scrumptious one! I have to stay away unless I am serious about buying fibres!!!

Being a strong pink, I had a hard time trying to capture the true colour. The top pic is the closest as the sun has lightened my pic of the roving coiled. This came as a thinner sliver of roving. I didn't realise when I bought it but that doesn't matter too much to me. The only difference is that being thinner, the same weight of fibre makes the length of roving so much longer!!!! So splitting this into thinner strips has been much more time consuming than normal. The strips just go on and on.......

In theory I wanted to split this 16 times. Once quartered, each quartered ball should be split into four for the thickness I want. In theory. In fact, the first two balls went a bit pear shaped and split into one thin and one thick so I could only get three instead of four splits altogether. But, the last two were fine. I like to think this means I'm getting the knack!! If you count the balls, there are more than 16 - I know. I don't quite know how I managed that either:-) I think I tried to split one even thinner and got left with a few half balls but I'll use them first to practice so nothing wasted!

Anyway, a bit at a time, the roving is now split, ready to spin. I have to draft it slightly to ensure each ball is of even thickness - which I already know is NOT the case with some of them! I'm thinking that I should wind them around something before spinning as the balls may not unwind evenly or more probably will grip the fibres and make them snap continually now the slivers are so thin. A few toilet rolls should do the trick:-)) And yes, I am sad enough to have been collecting them for just this emergency!! Tip courtesy of Yarn Harlot:-)

So between dyeing and knitting, some fibre may be spun this week .......

Fibre Adventure Club!

Last week, I was reading Debbie's blog from DT Craft and Design and she mentioned that she was opening more spaces in her sock and fibre clubs. Usually I can't afford to find a year's subscription all at once so I've unwillingly stayed away from these things, but with these ones you can buy 3 or 6 months as you go which is great for people like me. So, of course, I jumped at the chance! Having never been in one of these before, you wonder whether you will like the colourways that will be popping through your door. I love pretty much all colour but I'm very selective about what I do buy. From what I've seen on Debbie's blog though, I knew I would like whatever colour she picked as she has such an eye for colour.

I joined the Fibre Adventure Club rather than the roving or the sock club as I liked the idea of getting lots of different types of fibres and playing! This month is Kingfisher - yummmm! Just gorgeous. In my 100gms this month, I have some rare breed Jacob's fleece, Bluefaced leicester, Silk noil and silk throwers waste. The silk will really add shine and act as highlights to whatever I make this into. Now I have it I'm thinking, spinning or felting or both? You also get a very detailed leaflet with all the information on each fibre. I really like knowing how each fibre handles and these notes are very thorough - thank you Debbie!

It is interesting to see how each fleece takes the dye differently. The roving is a lot paler than the jacobs and the silks are much more colour saturated than the wool. Oh, it's going to be so much fun experimenting with all this lovely fibre! Roll on next month:-)

Roving eye...

Ah, knitting, do not despair! Although I still love to knit there has been a calling in me recently to spin. My spinning wheel is just sitting there saying, 'remember me?' And I slink past feeling guilty that I have spent the money on more sock yarn than buying some lovely fibre. But that is all to end! I finally resisted the yarn urge and went for fibre instead. And what lovely fibres they are. These are the online photos from each etsy shop as I couldn't wait for them to arrive before showing you them. But hopefully they will arrive soon.

This first one is from Fibreoptic's Etsy shop and is called 'Black Coffee' - a colour mixture of expresso, coffee, mocha, and a little caramel. Yum yum. She does roving and yarns in such gorgeous colourways that your hands start itching to spin just looking at them! I just love the subtlety of the colour palette and I'm excited to see how it spins up. Kimber at Fibreoptic was so helpful and friendly in helping me get what I needed. A big thank you!

This next one is from All the pretty fibres Etsy shop. Heike also sells her yarns and rovings on Ebay and her website needleworks pleasure, from whom I bought some lovely hand dyed yarn a while back. She has been ever so helpful in giving me advice about how much roving to buy etc. I haven't really spun seriously for a long time - read over ten years. It is maybe a tad more than that, but I'm trying not to think about where the time goes and how it's gone 'whoosh' all of a sudden.

I tend to have little bursts of carding and spinning and then drift away. But this time it is serious! I'll have to get some practicing in before touching the nice stuff but after that there are socks to be knitted with my own spun yarn! (well, that is if I can get an even enough yarn...it's been a while)

So knitting, you are not being abandoned. Just think of it as a means to getting some lovely yarn to knit with. Knitting and spinning working in harmony:-) Of course, you realise this could start me experimenting with dyeing roving.....