Adventures with Corriedale parts 3 & 4

Apologies for posting this lot in utterly the wrong order for you.  I had totally forgotten that I'd not yet posted the rest of the sampling, so with no further ado...

Part 3 - also known as attempting to learn how to spin supported!

Well I eventually got the hang of spinning on the Russian, albeit still as a park and draft style.  My diameter control is almost none-existent in terms of anything intentional, but if I didn't think about it too hard (like when talking to utter strangers on a train!) it seemed to come out relatively even.  I have since been told that spinning from the end of commercial top on a supported is a quick way to madness... but I've got to say it didn't work out too badly.  Yes there are thick and thin bits but they're not a million miles different.  Plying it also helped.  Is is considerably less even than my drop spindled yarn, yes.  Is it unusable, not at all.  One thing I did notice though was that it bloomed much much more than the other yarns have done up to now.  Annoyingly, and I should have thought about this before I did it, I don't know whether it is down to the spinning style introducing more air, or that I didn't weight it when I hung it to dry.  Given the amount it bloomed I would guess at a combination of the two.

Part 4 - or how to do a 3ply on a vertical lazy kate/get yourself in utter tangles

I've not done a 3ply before but given my hankering for socks at the moment I thought an experimentation in this field would be a good idea.  The single sample I have I've got to say doesn't feel representative of the majority of the cop.  I think its a little thinner and a little more twisted.  The backplied sample though starts to show the singles better.  I'm not totally sure what use this had given that I then 3plied it but hey its there for reference :)

Ah the plying.  Hmm never ever give a demo on how to ply something when you've never tried that particular version before.  My kate is untensioned so the capacity for lots of backtwist and other general snarlyness is increased.... especially when you mix is a somewhat damaged wrist that can't turn in certain ways at the moment.  Lesson learnt from this one?  Wind a plying ball next time!

Problems with plying aside I was pretty chuffed with this yarn.  I'd been aiming for a finished yarn of about 14wpi.  On skeining it the initial yarn was closer to 18wpi so I decided to dry it unweighted in the hope that it would bloom a bit, and what do you know it did :)  Turns out the Fleece & Fibre Sourcebook has it right.  It wasn't as dramatic a change as the yarn done on the Russian (24 to 18 wpi) but an alteration of 18 to 15 wpi is still worth noting.  The fabric has much more of the "sproing" that I'd expect from a sock weight yarn too.  It is noticeably thicker between your fingers and has a nice bounce to it that I suspect would feel very nice in socks etc.  Not convinced the fibres would hold up to that kind of abuse on their own though!

Fibre-East and spindling russian style

Last Saturday I made the longish drive up to Fibre-East held just east of Milton Keynes.  A three and a bit hour drive there, and the same back made for a long day but it was worth it for the new spindles I got.  Having been utterly bitten by the spinning bug, I was after a 25-30g drop spindle for spinning silk singles on and had been toying with the idea of learning to support spin after the interesting experience that was spinning on an aircraft recently.  Knowing Ian from IST would be there with his stand of temptation was enough to make the drive worthwhile:

From left to right are my Indian Rosewood russian spindle, spindle cup and my 27g Ebony on Sycamore rim banded drop spindle.  The cup I should say was very kindly not charged for which was much appreciated.

Yarn wise I actually behaved myself (though after the amount I'd just spent on spindles it was probably sensible), and just succumbed to this beautiful braid of Corriedale from Yarnscape:

I must admit it was the chat to Alison (of Yarnscape) that really made the trip worthwhile.  Whilst the spindles are beautiful, I could have bought them online.  The impromptu lesson in fibre properties, the differences between 2 and 3ply and a few other spinning related things beside on the other hand was spontaneous, very helpful and exceptionally friendly (can I get any more superlatives into that sentence do you think?).  It was the kind of thing you only get by going places and meeting people face to face.  Speaking of which I ought to say thank you to the ladies I shared a table with during lunch too.  I now know more about Shetlands than I did before and you put up with all of my beginners questions.  Thank you.

So, spinning on the russian.  Hmm.  Well, having taken to the drop spindle like a duck to water, trying to use this was like hitting a brick wall.  I don't know if it was the difference with being shown how to do it and learning from the University of the Interwebz, or that my hands just didn't get supported spinning, but I've struggled like crazy with this.  The Soay I bought just wouldn't draft, the phoenix merino/silk twisted up like crazy or fell off the spindle, and I didn't want to risk wrecking any of my other fibres as they're all earmarked for actual projects.  In the hopes of getting some cheap(ish) practice fibre and of bumping into other spinners I wandered over to Jumble Jelly this morning.  A lovely morning ensued, 50g of alpaca bought but sadly no other support spindlers so I was still stumped.

So what was a girl to do?  All of the videos I'd found up to then were of experienced spinners looking like they were doing six things at once.  What I needed was a "park and draft" style lesson for a russian spindle... one like this!  All of a sudden I got it, a bit of a faff getting it started but I got it.  The yarn isn't pretty, it certainly isn't consistent, I wouldn't like to try knitting with it, but it is yarn!  I think a bit more practice on this and my muscle memory might kick in.  A lot more practice and I might even make it to the heady heights of those spinners I saw in the other videos!