Tips
February 24, 2009 at 12:05 am (Uncategorized)
Ok as I write this it is midnight, and I should head to bed. But I thought I would write up a few of my ’secrets’ to spinning a nice, as-consistent-as-possible single, and a nicely balanced plied yarn. Just bear in mind I’m dog-tired right now, in case something doesn’t make sense, mmk?
Starting with your roving, I like to split it. I take the entire piece of roving, 4 oz lengths are good – and split it in half after un-seaming it (find the seam, and unzip it with your fingers). Take a half, and split again, one of those halfs and split again. Keep splitting until you’ve split the entire piece of roving, oh about 12 times or so, and the pieces are about as big as a pencil. Thus, pencil roving! I find that this helps me to spin more consistently. And it’s a heck of a lot easier and less time-consuming than pre-drafting.
Another secret I’ve figured out with singles, is that you always want to spin them smaller/lighter than what you really want. If you want a 14 WPI single, spin it at 16-18. Because when you’re finished with the yarn, and you wash it, and set it, and dry it, it will fluff up. So if you want a 2 ply worsted weight yarn, spin 2 24-28 WPI singles instead of 2 22-24WPI singles.
Now, I’ve found in singles, if you’re going to ply the yarn, you want to overtwist the single a bit. Why? Because when you ply it, you’re letting out some of the twist. You don’t want that single to fall apart on you or have barely any twist at all once plied do you?
When I ply, I treadle, and count the number of times one foot treadles. I treadle until the yarn looks good between the orfice and my pinch finger. Then I stop treadling and loosen the tension in my hand, so the yarn lays relaxed. Does it twist on itself right away? Too much twist. Is the plying really loose? Too little. If you relax the yarn enough, it will twist back on itself lightly, and this is ok. You’ll straighten that out later when you set the yarn.
I hope some of my tips will work out for you. I’m no expert, but I love to share some of the knowledge I’ve discovered to help others.
My congo
February 20, 2009 at 3:02 am (Buy my Goods)
We open March 3, lots of beautiful fiber and yarn to be had! My shop will have a 3 day aucion and a free for shipping lottery!
It’s so strange to me …
February 18, 2009 at 4:24 am (Yarn-Making)
I’m not sure how to write this without seeming full of myself but I am just utterly suprised that there are people out there that admire my work. Lately it seems there are people that really enjoy my handspun creations, and are asking me for customs. I love it, it’s always good to be wanted, right? At the same time I’m truly baffled – I was never one to stick out among a crowd. So it’s hard for me to believe it. I keep thinking, oh no, not me, so-and-so spins much better than I do! I am so grateful to these people for telling me that they admire my yarns, and so very honored that they ask me to spin for them.
I truly LOVE spinning. Up until now, I never felt I had found a craft I truly enjoyed and was good at. Sewing was always kinda meh for me. I hate the process of sewing, and it’s all about the finished project. And often, there are so many mistakes that I’m not happy with the item. I do love to knit, it’s an incredible stress-reducer. I enjoy the process, I enjoy making a fabric from yarn, and in turn, shaping that fabric to become a garment as I’m knitting. But deep in Southern Louisiana, many knit items go unused. It also hurts my back, neck, shoulders and hands.
But spinning? Oh, how I adore to spin. I can spin all day without stopping. I can just get in this zen-like trance, where my worries melt away and I just flow with the twist of the yarn. (How corny does that sound? lol) I adore the process, I adore the finished product. I honestly feel at peace when I sit down with my wheel. And the fact that I can produce useable yarn makes it all the better. So it’s a bit unreal that someone, somewhere will actually PAY me for doing something I love to do. It is a dream come true. And even if no one would every buy my items, I would still do it. My house might become over-run with yarn that would never be used, but still I would spin.
WooLee Winder
February 14, 2009 at 3:20 pm (Uncategorized)
Update: I’ve already finished that roving, plying and all! I love spinning with the WW. I even started a new BFL roving
My WooLee Winder came yesterday! I got to spin with it for about 30 minutes, and it is awesome! Their website claims you can spin more consistently but I don’t find that to be true. BUT! It does take less time to spin. I spun a 2 foot length in about 30 minutes and that usually takes me 40 mins. And I just LOVE how evenly it winds on! It’s just so pretty! The hills and valleys of a hooked flyer just bugged me so much.
That is my Cupid’s Arrow merino roving
So I was working on the computer…
February 13, 2009 at 4:07 am (Daily Living, Kids)
making myself some new business cards, and Matthew is watching The Wiggles the next room over. He’s been pretty cranky all morning, so I found it really odd when I realized he’d been quiet for quite some time now.
Uh-oh. That can only mean bad things …
Or not.
It was only 11AM! He doesn’t normally nap until 1pm! I guess, either he’s getting sick, or the new nap schedule is catching up to him! I discovered several nights ago, that if he only naps for 30 minutes to an hour, he is so very easy to get to sleep at night! It was taking me an hour at least, to put him to bed at 8pm. He was napping around noon to 2pm. Now? He is out within 15 mins both at naptime and bedtime!
Shh
February 10, 2009 at 10:14 pm (Dyeing Out Loud, Hand-Knit Yummies, Yarn-Making)
I’ll be selling my yarn & fiber soon — look for more news to come!
An intro
February 8, 2009 at 4:05 pm (Daily Living, Hand-Knit Yummies, Kids, Seam-Wrangling, Yarn-Making)
Hi y’all!
You may know me from my other 2 blogs (that I never keep up) neversatisfied & Cajun Cloth. Neither of those names work for me anymore, and frankly I am tired of changing names! So I figure ‘Cajun Crafting’ will cover all my bases 
I am a momma of two youngn’s – Abby & Matthew. Abby just started Pre-K this year and loves it, and is quite the chatterbox. Matthew is your basic two year old boy – very active, very destructive, very loud. But he is also so very sweet and loving.
I began my crafting journey when I started cloth diapering Abby at 11 months old. Seeing the high price of a diaper (averaging $15) made me want to learn to make my own. Little did I know how addicted I would become to making them and all the cute fabrics! So it didn’t turn out any cheaper *laughs*
Learning all about cloth diapering (and there is alot to learn!) had me wanting to learn to knit. A knit pair of longies would average $50! Totally worth it, but at the time totally not in my price range for a single pair of pants. So I began to knit, and again, little did I know how addicted I would become to yarn! (see a pattern yet?)
Learning to knit just eventually led to my newest love, spinning my own yarn and dyeing the fiber/yarn. My heart was never really in sewing, no matter how badly I wanted it to be, it just wasn’t. I just don’t have the inclination to sew like I do to knit and spin. Which is a shame because I have some beautiful fabrics and wonderful patterns, but they just sit.
I can’t even tell you the last time I turned on one of my sewing machines. I have three – you see when I start a hobby, or anything for that matter, I dive in headfirst and go all out. I want it all! So I have my basic machine that I started with (a gift from my mother and a lovely workhorse), a serger (finicky thing that she is, but sooo worth the time she saves!) and my newest, a combination sewing/embroidery machine. I would like to upgrade her honestly, but I just can’t justify it when I might only use it a dozen times a year.
So here we are today. Just call me a cajun momma with too many hobbies
