I want to create a bulky yarn but have the colors mix a bit with twisting. This means that I will predraft the yarn, but hold two pieces together at the same time. I will need to do a fair amount of "prep" before I start spinning. (And bust out my jumbo orifice kit.)
I pulled strips of fiber from the original fiber and then laid them end to end so the colors would mix, predrafting a little bit. This would allow good mixing of the colors.
I did this for all of the fiber, and then wound them into little balls so they wouldn't get tangled.
Then, it was time for the spinning to begin.
Maybe merino is the wrong fiber to try this with... or I'm not keeping it bulky enough. I am having some issue keeping the fiber together, and then I remembered that merino has a shorter staple length... maybe I needed to make a higher twist yarn.
When I was nearing the halfway point I started really going fast. Initially I was no in love with this colorway, but I LOVE the way this twist is working out. The tone of the colors is pretty similar (you almost don't see the twist in black and white) but the mix of orange purple and green is really incredible.
I think I will need to try this technique again.
I'm taking a photography class so I was practicing a lot on my spinning. (Hence the gazillion photos.) What do you think?
I didn't weigh the yarn at the beginning but I often seem to have trouble fitting the last bit of yarn on the spindle. I'm going to do my best because I don't want to have like 10 yards on a second skein.
This isn't the fault of the twisting technique of drafting two pieces together, but I really struggle with creating bulky singles. I think I end up with a LOT more variation in the thickness then I do when I try to do lace/fingering weight singles. This is good to know for the future. (Although these twisted yarns would be a little less special as a double or triple ply.)
Winding this onto a niddy noddy, this is definitely NOT a bulky yarn. Maybe I got worsted singles, but not bulky like my baby bod. Merino is super short staple length, so maybe I should try with something else.
105 wraps = 420 feet = 140 yards.
As always, I set the twist on the niddy noddy by wetting the yarn with warm water and letting it dry.
I spent a lot of time getting the pictures for this project right because I was also working on homework for my photography class. I hope to start having pictures this nice in all of my posts.* I will even start filming videos with my sweet new camera.
*Posts are written out of order months in advance, so it will take some time for my new skills to take over all posts.
spinning started 5/1/14
spinning completed 5/2/14
