Frontpage Article – Page 27

Learning to Love the Singles yarn

December 17, 2015/3 Comments/in Frontpage Article, News /by Guest Blogger

Guest blogger Amberlee Venters visits us today with her story of learning to spin outside her own box and give singles yarn a try, both for spinning and knitting. If you’ve ever been hesitant to spin a singles yarn, Amberlee’s story might just inspire you to try an experiment of your own.

——————————————————————————————————–

The Inspiration

In my spinning room (if you understand “room” to mean “bin in a closet in a room,”) I have a bunch of 4-oz braids of gorgeous, multicolored roving, which is mostly the result of several years in a fiber club that I never could quite stay on top of. These braids, bags, and bumps sit there, nestled in amongst their brethren, waiting for the day that they will reach their full potential.

I have only knit with singles yarns a few times, and during those experiments I learned of my tendency to remove twist from the yarn as I knit – a super-helpful technique for creating a finished object without a million ends to weave in. This, along with the multitudes of plied yarn available to me, has been enough to generally put me off spinning singles.

As I rarely knit with singles I also don’t tend to spin singles that will remain singles. My goal since learning to spin has been to achieve the coveted sock yarn, consequently I almost always approach my spinning with fingering weight in mind. So the idea of spinning something new, along with the motivation that this new method might result in going from braid to yarn in a shorter period of time, led me to give singles another try.

The Experiment

I sat down with a 4-oz braid of Falkland wool, zero expectations, and no plan. I debated with myself the best way to spin this fiber: Do I go with my default fingering weight? Or, more accurately: Will I be able to achieve anything else at this point? Maybe I should try to aim for something thicker. This is a singles yarn after all, it’s staying a singles yarn. And anyway what if I hate it? Better to have less yarn if I hate it.

As I discovered, spinning singles yarns goes refreshingly quickly! Within a few days I filled the bobbin and exhausted the fiber. Success! I had made a single that would stay a single, and with no plying to do I was practically done! The next challenge would be winding the yarn off the bobbin. (See above comment re: I accidentally untwist everything I knit.) To my complete surprise I was able to wind the yarn from the bobbin easily and with no breaks. More Success! Perhaps it would even make it through its bath in one piece! Maybe I’d even manage to not felt it into a huge mess! I eagerly drew a tub of water and deposited the fiber within. What emerged some time later (I tend to forget when I put things in to soak. Surely I’m not the only one? No? Just me? Cool) was the most uneven mass of yarn I had created in years. When I first learned to spin I read that once you attain the thin, beautiful, even sock yarn of your dreams it is nigh impossible to spin anything other than fingering weight without extreme concentration and clarity of intent. Since I went in to this with neither of those qualities, I expected the worst. This yarn came out completely uneven and crazy, but also squishier and softer than anything else I’d managed to create thus far. So maybe it wasn’t a failed experiment after all!

Now the real test – could I knit with this yarn without untwisting it and ruining the project? I settled on a simple cowl pattern – the Variance Cowl by Lisa Mutch – a quick knit in case thing went hilariously awry. As it turns out this was a good choice, because I did indeed untwist the yarn while I was knitting. Twice. However, I ended up with a very lightweight, squishy, soft cowl. Lighter than anything I’ve made before, despite its lack of lace and abundance of wacky inconsistencies. This is a revelation! (This wacky hobby of mine is a bit silly out here in California, you see. Making lighter weight items is key to enjoying knitted things for more than a month or two each year.)

The Results

Confronting my hatred of singles has taught me a few things:

Spinning for singles yarn is speedy compared to the slow spin of sock yarn. This is great news, especially when faced with a seemingly unending bin of 4-oz braids from fiber clubs.
I have to watch my twist, particularly because of my knitting problem. If I had been more fastidious regarding the amount of twist added I probably would have encountered less untwisting in the knitting process.
Not spinning fingering weight yarn is really tricky! I still ended up with a finished yarn that’s somewhere in the range of heavy fingering to sport weight most of the time.

Going into this experience I fully intended to continue disliking singles yarns, but this is not the case at all. I’m sure I’ll experiment more with spinning singles yarns for the sake of singles in the future, but I definitely need to plan my attack more completely (if you understand “completely” to mean “at all”).

Amberlee exists on Ravelry under the slightly embarrassing username: amberleesapain. She currently has no blog but is considering starting one.

Why Do Spinning Teachers Teach the Same Classes?

December 10, 2015/1 Comment/in Frontpage Article /by Jillian Moreno

I’ve had a couple of people ask me lately, with all of the spinning teachers teaching these days why do they all teach the same classes?

Well they do and they don’t.

Think about teaching spinning like sneezing, everybody does it, just not in the same way. Some people shake the walls and windows when they sneeze, some have tiny cute ah-choo sneezes, and some hold their noses and don’t let it out at all.

Or think about all of the fiction you’ve read in your life. There are really only four stories, but in the hands of different authors they become delightful and unique things.

Spinning is the same thing. There are classes about fiber, drafting, color, plying, finishing, etc. But no two teachers teach them the same way.

How a teacher teaches is based on how they spin, what they love, how they were taught and how they like learning.

Some teach through story telling; some follow a strict outline.

Some mosey along; some teach at speed.

Some say, one way only; some give variations.

Some give you 50 choices; some give exactly what you need, no more no less.

You’ve probably had classes from each one of those teachers.

None of them are particularly better or worse, they are just different.

To have a great class experience, you need to find the one(s) that is right for you where you are in your spinning journey right now.

If you take a class with me know that there will be color, because I don’t like to spin white wool for three hours. I tend to go fast, because I want to show you as many things as I can. You will have choices, because some days I don’t want to spin every variation and some days I just can’t spin blue fiber. And I rattle the walls and windows when I sneeze.

That’s me, no two teachers teach the same way.

So how do you choose?

You might know you’re in the mood for one type of teacher or the other. You might be besotted with a topic and want to hear what every teacher has to say on it.

You can ask other spinners who have taken a particular teacher’s class what it was like.

Be sure to read the class description carefully, between the lines – if you want to dabble in a topic, you want to avoid classes with the phrase in-depth. If you are a knitter you may not want to take a class with a teacher that spins to weave. If it says 12 ways in three hours, you will be spinning quickly.

If you have questions email the teacher and ask, we’re always happy to answer.

I still take as many classes as I can squeeze in because there is always a different combination or approach to spinning, and I always come away from a class having learned something new.

Review the Texture issue and win some batts!

November 28, 2015/8 Comments/in Frontpage Article, Give-a-way, Reviews /by Jacey Faulkner

It’s that time again, the time when I ask you to review the current issue. I want to know what you think. I have some gorgeous textured batts to send one lucky reviewer/subscriber. They’re the kind of batts that make fantastic corespun yarn, the kind that Steph Gorin wrote about in this very issue. If you’ve never tried this technique, it’s be the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl. Of course, if you’ve already tried it, you don’t have any need for more fiber do you? Oh, right, spinners always need more gorgeous fiber!

So here’s what you do. Just leave a review for the texture issue of PLY Magazine here, under the review tab. Also make sure to leave your name! On December 3rd, we’ll use a random number generator to pick a number, find the comment that matches that number and announce the winner! We’ll use your name to look up your address and ship your gorgeous batts the very next day! You’ll be corespinning in no time!

Want to Spin Faster? Find Your Focus

November 19, 2015/1 Comment/in Frontpage Article /by Jillian Moreno

Over my years of spinning I’ve noticed something that helps me spin faster, focus. Not just focusing on the spinning, but what entertainment helps me spin.

Sometimes I watch movies or TV, sometimes I listen to music or books, sometimes I hang out with friends while I spin. Each one has an effect on the speed of my spinning.

Here’s what I’ve figured out works for me. Hanging out and spinning with friends is my favorite, but I spin my slowest. When I’m social spinning, I tend to pay the least attention to my actual spinning, and I stop and start the most. There’s a lot of show and tell, getting tea and snacks and wanting to try everything my spinning pals are doing.

I thought that watching movies or TV would be my fastest spinning friend. Nope, it’s as much distracting as it is relaxing. I can spin just fine without looking at my spinning, but looking away splits my focus, especially if what I’m watching is exciting or has a lot of tension (think Walking Dead). And watching television with commercials really puts my spinning rhythm off.

Listening to music is OK, but finding exactly the right music that fits mood and treadling speed sometimes is hard. When I first started spinning I tried to spin to bluegrass because I thought I would spin faster to faster music. I spun horribly over twisted yarn instead. Note to self: treadles do not work like an accelerator in a car.

The best thing for me to really fill bobbins is to listen to audio books. It doesn’t matter what I listen to; it can be Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Harry Potter, but it has to be a book not a podcast. Something about listening to stories puts me in the best flow. I watch my spinning, but am transported and entertained. I’m always surprised at how much I get done when I listen vs. watch something.

Do you get into your spinning flow by watching or listening?

Arm Knitting with Textured Yarns

November 19, 2015/1 Comment/in Frontpage Article, Projects /by Guest Blogger

Regular PLY contributor Maja Siska is here to show you how to turn your skein of textured bulky yarn into a wearable piece in less than 30 minutes. Take it away, Maja!

——————————————————————————————————–

Arm knitting works well for that special skein that is too beautiful to knit regularly, or just the latest crazy yarn off your wheel looking for a life of its own. Yes, you could wear the skein around your neck – but if you want something more “finished,” this is a good way to go.

How do you do it? Just use your arms instead of knitting needles. It makes gigantic stitches, which open into loops that show all the glory of your yarn.

It is child´s play – literally: I have taught it to a 7 and 10 year old and within half an hour they were proudly wearing their scarves.

I love arm knitting because it is quick and easy, it makes a proper item that you can wear multiple ways, you do not need a lot of yardage, and last but not least it allows your textured yarn to be seen in all its beauty.

Adapting Arm Knitting for Handspun
Depending on the length of the skein, I have begun with anything from 5 stitches for a long thin scarf to 12 stitches for a wider one. If you knit it and it is too wide and too short or the reverse, just rip it back and change the number of stitches; it will only cost you another 20 minutes or so.

For a cowl, I found the best way to close the loop is to make a scarf and then knot the two ends together into every other stitch or so with a bit of left over yarn. I leave about 2 inches of tails on these knots and they become a feature – rather than trying desperately to hide the seam.

An example: approximately 35 yards (32m) of yarn, arm knitted across 9 stitches = 4 ft (120 cm) length, which works for a cowl.

And the most important rule: HAVE FUN!

For more information …

Here is just one video demonstrating this technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPer3Xv2QSM

Trained as an architect Maja is also a designer, artist, knitter and spinner. Anything wool is high on her list. She lives in Iceland on a farm with an array of animals. https://www.facebook.com/Icelandisfullofwool/

On ravelry: majasiska.

PLY Away Sponsor: The Spinning Loft

November 17, 2015/1 Comment/in Frontpage Article, PLY Away /by Guest Blogger

One of our sponsors for PLY Away is The Spinning Loft – and today, Alison from The Spinning Loft is here to introduce us to her business and give us some sneak peeks of what she’ll be bringing with her to PLY Away! Here’s Alison …

——————————————————————————————————–

Have you heard? The Spinning Loft is both a sponsor and a vendor at PLY Away!

We were so excited to hear about PLY Away that we had to throw our hat in with Jacey and the PLY Away crew. With such a great group of teachers and classes, fantastic vendors, and the backing from such an amazing publication, there was no way we could say “No.” More importantly the conference is a perfect match to our mission: The Spinning Loft exists to help bring shepherds and spinners together through fleece, and in so doing, to help preserve rare breeds.

It’s our pleasure to work with shepherds and to make their wool available to our fellow handspinners. We seek out shepherds everywhere with quality rare and heritage breeds, from Hog Island here in Maryland to Gammelnorsk Sau (the wool that made the Viking ship sails!) from Norway. We have the distinct pleasure of making these fleeces accessible to spinners, explain what characteristics make the breed, and help them explore these breed’s unique qualities.

Alison holding a Hog Island lamb

It is a great partnership that enables us to keep what we both love – the farms and the sheep – alive. The shepherds are compensated fairly for their work and the quality of the fleeces and we are able to introduce spinners to some really wonderful fibers.

That’s a big complicated mission, but it comes from a single starting point – a passion for wool. I love doing this – I love the wool and I love to expound on its wonders.

I started spinning like so many do, with commercially prepared fiber. Then I learned how to process my own fleece from raw, attended my first breed study class, and began expanding my exposure to different breeds.

Beth Smith, then owner of The Spinning Loft, changed my relationship to wool forever. We attended her breed study class in which we explored 12 different breeds of sheep. We explored fine wools and coarse wools, crimpy wools and dual coated wools. Wools from sheep I had never seen before. She also told us about the forthcoming book by Deb Robson that was all about the wool from different breeds of sheep.

I was hooked.

By the time The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook came out, I had sampled about 40 breeds – nearly all the sheep commonly available in the United States. And when Deb did her book signing at Maryland Sheep and Wool, I stood in line for my copy and a signature … bouncing up and down so energetically that Deb declared she had “never seen someone so excited to buy a book about wool.” I simply loved the idea of the book so much – and the sheep – I couldn’t contain my joy and enthusiasm!

I have taken several breed study classes since and I have sampled over a hundred breeds (and counting). With every new breed I sample, I become more and more enamored with wool. Every time I have the chance to try a new breed, I find myself just as giddy as the day I acquired my copy of The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook. It is this excitement and fascination in other spinners that I try to foster with The Spinning Loft, and it is particularly exciting when a brand new spinner – or a spinner brand new to breed study, or even a spinner brand new to a different breed – discovers all those breeds of sheep.

It was this passion that led me to buy The Spinning Loft from Beth. We both wanted the mission to continue and to share the joy of All The Wools. Sheep have so many different types of wool and so many uses for it, I’m just never bored. Trying new wools is exciting – discovering their properties, what I can do with them, how they feel in my fingertips, how they spin, what the yarn looks like, what the finished object looks like. It’s so easy to see why so many breeds have evolved – either through locality or through breeding for characteristics. And it makes me sad when we face the loss of a breed of sheep – what characteristic of their wool and what features that enrich us will be lost too?

The Wall of Fleece

We generally have over 50 unique breeds in raw fleece in stock, as well as commercially prepared top, with more fleeces always on the way based on shearing schedules. That’s quite a Wall of Fleece.

We can’t bring the WHOLE wall with us to PLY Away – but we are certainly going to bring as much of it as I can pack into my truck. Accompanying the Wall will be processing tools, wool scour, wash and rinse, and some of those valuable fleece guides and books about spinning different breeds into the yarn you want.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be bouncing with excitement to share a new breed sample with Deb Robson, Beth Smith, and all of you!

PLY Registration Rocked!

November 12, 2015/4 Comments/in Frontpage Article, PLY Away, Spinning /by Jacey Faulkner

As the clocks clicked over to 10:00, everything went live.

I was nervous that I was throwing a party that nobody would come to (highschool was a tough time for everyone, right?) but at 10:01 we had 2 orders! The guides worked! Those first 2 spinners went through there like the wind! Or like somebody posted on Ravelry, like silk.

By 10:11 we were 48 registrants deep and Stephenie’s 2-dayer was sold out! By 10:20 Deb’s 2-dayer was gone too! Over the next hour over 110 spinners zipped through registration and by the end of the day we topped out at 150 spinners, most with full schedules.

Here’s how it shook out:

All the 2-day classes are sold out except for Coleen Nimetz’s Silk, the temptress unraveled, which is dangerously close to being sold out too! If you want this class, hurry, Coleen is amazing! I had her as my 1^st year teacher in the Master Spinning program and she knows lots of secret things about silk!

There’s a bit more space in the 1-day Friday classes. Jillian’s Cheaper by the dozen class is long gone and it’s soon to be followed by Esther’s Wild Fibers class and Amy’s Sock it to me, both of which should be awesome and lots of fun.

The other 2, Illegal yarns and Technically Twisted both promise to be great but very different. Illegal Yarns is taught by the great Patsy Sue Zawistoski and she’s got such a brain in her head that I just want to walk behind her all day and hope some leaks out onto me. It’d be gross but probably worth it. Her class should be super fun and teach you how to break all those rules you want to break but are afraid to. Technically Twisted with Michelle is going to blow your mind! Michelle is the lead teacher for the Master Spinning Program and girlfriend can spin! She’s cutting her teaching down some after this so get in this class if you can! You’ll learn a ton, I can promise you that! If you can’t get in the 1-day, any half day with her would be worth your while!

The half day classes are a mixed bag. Many sold out right away (but some have other time slots available) and lots are on the brink. The totally gone ones are Deb’s and Jillian’s but Beth’s Going Steady which I may sneak into, is almost there as are all of Abby’s spindle classes and most of Amy King’s classes. Amy Tyler’s variations on long and short draw classes are also pretty full.

Ones that should be sold out but are only half full:

Silk Tasting: all the silk! Testing, trying, learning from a silk master! Seriously, I can’t believe there is any space! Did you read her silk articles in the Silk issue? Amazing!

Twist and Twine: If you have space for one more class, take this! Chris is so fantastic, you love her articles, she’s better in person!

Maximize your minis: I’m not as good at fiber prep as I should be so don’t be surprised if I totally crash Michelle’s classes! She knows so much.

Twist for Grist: If you want to know how to adjust the size and feel of your yarn, get in here! Michelle is great with twist and grist and again, she just knows a ton about spinning.

Wild Combing: It’s Esther, come on, the queen of texture!

There are a lot of great classes gone but there are still some gems to be had. I scheduled each of these classes/teachers based on how great I knew they would be, the things that I want to learn, and the people I want to learn them from. It’s going to be amazing no matter what classes you get! If you want to come, here’s the reg page!

And to those spinners that made yesterday such a success, thank you so much! And Jessica, man alive, you were outstanding!

A Little More About Consistency

November 5, 2015/in Frontpage Article, Spinning /by 024688@

Last month I talked about consistency and gave you a couple of my favorite tips but I left out the one thing I do at the start of every project. I make a sample card.

I know that lots of people love those spinner’s control cards with the diffeerent line thicknesses to compare your yarn to. I have a couple of those laying around but I find I am more consistent over the whole project if I make my own and it only takes a minute.

I find it easier to compare the singles this way. My eye can see it easier and I spend less time trying to figure out if I am remembering the correct line or if the yarn was slightly inside the line or not. Check out my card. This is the card I used for the columbia yarn I am using for the skirt I made on my floor loom and the one that is currently being woven on my rigid heddle loom. So that’s about 10,000 yards of 2 ply that I needed to spin. Obviously, consistency of yarn was pretty important. And it all was spun using this lowly card as a reference.

This particular card is done on a blank index card. I also use those large shipping tags which are easy to attach to my wheel if I have a long term project happening.

It’s pretty simple. I take the singles and wrap them around the card several times. I just tie the ends together on the back. You can tape them but tape doesn’t necessarily staty stuck forever. This is my reference during the spinning of the singles.

I punch 2 holes in the card and make a ply back sample that is 2 ply and 3 ply. These are my references for a balanced ply. I don’t always match this exactly but it is my starting point. If I want a more drapey yarn I may put less twist and if I want a sturdier yarn or a more elastic yarn I might add more twist than the balanced angle. But I always have this reference of fresh twist as my refernce.

I make both a two ply and a 3 ply sample regardless of what my plan is for the yarn because I save some of these cards for future reference so I can avoid all of the sampling that happened before the start of the project. I have a lot of these cards.

On the card I write the kind of fiber and the preparation – this card should say roving but I neglected to write that. I write the spinning method and often I will add the rhythm I’m using like 12 inch draft to 5 treadles. Again, I didn’t write that here but let me give you a photo of a card I did the right way. This Corriedale project card has all of the information I need to reproduce this yarn. Often I attach it to the swatch or sample I made with the yarn to make sure the yarn would work. All of these samples go into a bag with that breed so I can find them later.

I hope this extra little tip has helped. It’s so easy and has made a huge difference in my spinning projects that require more than 4 ounces of yarn.

Castles and Graffiti

October 13, 2015/2 Comments/in Frontpage Article, Photography /by Bernadette Emerson

By now most of you have received the Autumn 2015 Texture issue of PLY Magazine. This is my favorite issue so far! It is full of unique and inspiring techniques and projects, but I’m here to tell you more about the fantastic location for the shoot and one of the photos in the issue.

The issue was shot in Kansas City’s historic Workhouse Castle. The castle was built in 1897, and was originally designed as a city jail where petty offenders could work off their debt. The women repaid their debts by sewing prison uniforms, and the men labored for the city’s public works department. The prisoners mined limestone onsite and with it constructed the castle walls. The castle also housed the city’s poor and homeless during the cold winter months. Two decades later the castle became a city office building, and in the 1970s it was closed and abandoned. Without maintenance it fell into disrepair, and was subjected to such damage and vandalism over time that it became filled with tons of rubble and trash and was dangerous to enter.

In 2014 an amazing couple chose to put their wedding fund back into the community. Many volunteers cleaned up the castle (62 tons of trash!) and the couple (Daniel & Ebony) used the space as their wedding venue. You can read more about the transformation and continuing efforts here. We knew nothing about the restoration project when we chose the castle as our location, so we were thrilled to see the improvements. Meeting Daniel and hearing the story made it even MORE awesome.

Jacey’s favorite photo in this issue is the image on the back cover. I wish I knew the graffiti artist so we could give credit. The photo was captured through a tiny hole in an interior castle wall, through which the graffiti was perfectly framed. You can see the little hole in the wall in the following photo.

I’m so glad my curiosity led me to drag my stepstool to the wall so I could peek through the hole. When we saw the final shot, we knew it was a perfect fit for the texture issue. We have had a few requests for prints of the photo; we’re working on that and we’ll let you know when they’re available.

Bernadette