Plying Saturday: Part Two - Tour de Fleece

The guidelines for the Tour de Fleece recommend wearing yellow on the last day of the tour or any day you feel like you're doing especially well. I had this at the back of my mined when I got dressed on Saturday. I couldn't remember if I had a yellow shirt or not, but there it was, hanging in my closet.


And Saturday was a good day. After I plied my merino I tackled Navajo plying. I think I caught on pretty well. I'm doing it exactly like Rexene, but I found what works for me. (There's another 15-second masterpiece of my plying at a different angle here.)

Here's my bobbin part of the way through the plying. (I was taking a popsicle break.)

Here's a still shot of me Navajo plying.

I'm still using a single wrapped into ball instead of a Lazy Kate. It worked pretty well as long as I kept it in a bowl.

Here is the completed yarn. Once again, the larger bobbins on Mom's Louet saved the day. Mom said all this probably wouldn't have fit on one bobbin on her Ashford.

Next I wound it onto the skein winder.

Then I tied it off.

And here's the completed skein, all wound up.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if we hadn't replaced the part I broke. My Mom got a new drive band while she was at it. The wheel was old when my Mom bought it used about 15 years ago, so it was coming. The old parts were turning yellow. You can see the old parts, including the broken footman to treadle connector, here.

Here are all three skeins that I wound on Saturday. I made yarn!

Plying Saturday: Part One - Merino and Corriedale

Saturday afternoon, I finally got a chance to finish plying the merino that I started on the Fourth of July. The wheel was fixed and ready to go. (And I was happier than I look in this picture.)

I got a one-handed rhythm going pretty early on. I actually switched hands when one got tired. I know most people only use one.

(I just realized how bad that first sentence sounds out of context.)


This time I managed to get a 15-second masterpiece of me on the spinning wheel (with Mom behind the camera.) Now that I look at it, it looks like I'm pulling back with a lot of force after feeding in the yarn, but I'm not. Or at least it didn't seem like I was at the time.

You'll notice I've still got the two singles in separate bowls as a substitute for a Lazy Kate. Mom actually has a Lazy Kate, but it was full. Besides, I spun the singles on my drop spindle, so it wasn't like it was on a bobbin to start with.

Here's the completed bobbin. Mom and I were both pleasantly surprised that both singles were almost the exact same length. (The very end of the lighter single broke off later on, but the difference was still only a few inches.)

Here's the side view. I think I did an ok job of distributing the yarn evenly across the bobbin.

Mom said the bobbins on this wheel are a little bigger than her Ashford wheel. I would have probably had to use two bobbins if I had used the other wheel.

The nice thing about Mom's Louet is the skein winder at the top. (I'm not sure if it's technically called a swift swift, since it's a fixed size.)

I don't have the numbers with me, but I counted the revolutions (or at least tried to) and multiplied it by the circumference of the skein winder. I can't remember the number now, but it I had more yardage than I expected.

(Ok, so technically it's not circumference because the skein winder is square, but you know what I mean.)

Here's the skein all tied up and ready to go.

All that skeining inspired me to use Mom's Niddy Noddy for it's intended purpose. I managed to tie off the Corriedale single I spun without taking it off the Niddy Noddy. (I still had a layer of "yarn barf" from my first try underneath.) Mom said it had been on there so long that the twist may already be set. Really a Niddy Noddy is not meant for storage, but that's just how it ended up.

And here are the yarns, all skeined up.

This is the plied Merino...

...and this is the Corriedale single.

I haven't set the twist on the merino yet. I'm still a little gun shy after the other yarn bled. However, my Corriedale is soaking right now. It's naturally gray, so I don't have to worry about bleeding.

I'll have pictures of Navajo plying my Tour de Fleece yarn in a day or two.

Navajo Plying

I'm "remote blogging" from Mom and Dad's again. I finished plying the merino already, and I'm about to start Navajo plying my Tour de Fleece single. Mom found a good video tutorial that I had to share.



She talks about "finger knitting," but really I think it's more like crocheting a giant chain without a hook. 

There are even more spinning tutorials from Rexenne on her YouTube page.