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Tuesday 21 February 2017

Sample Hand Spin

Hi Everyone
I've yet another wool fibre story today. I do others things but Im still spending time spinning - almost everyday. I feel, I need to keep going with my spinning skills - I'm doing well but ......... there's so much to learn !
However, a very exciting package arrived this morning. This was a 500gm pack of Merino/ Bamboo Top. I immediately stopped what I was doing and made a small test spin to check how it felt and how I needed to spin the wool. 

 
The wool is undyed with a beautiful soft, smooth texture. The test spin worked well and I was able to employ something called Andean plying - read about with the link if you don't know what this is : http://www.mielkesfiberarts.com/andean-plying-instructions/. So pleased with myself !!
It can be a tricky thing to get right and I've had issues before with this technique. It's about being able to easily ply the spun yarn without lots of transferring to various bobbins. Essentially it's using a hand to hold onto the two singles spun strands and spinning back onto a bobbin. Almost a tiny centre pull ball.
I will develop a test card with little pieces of my sample spin - singles, ply - pre wash, pre dye and post wash. I'm keen to do this testing because I'm hoping to turn the Merino/Bamboo fibres into a sweater. It's quite important to make sure I will have enough yarn to make the sweater - I will estimate but if it's close I will order more and prep at the same time. I'll let you know how things turn out.

I also got involved in another little yarn experiment today - but you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly what I did.

Thanks for calling in today.

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