More on the Possum
So after I had spun my first two bobbins of possum roving into singles, I was ready to ply. I switched to my jumbo flyer/bobbin, because one thing that frustrated me about spinning is winding off these itty bitty little skeins when it’s all said and done. This was the first time I had broken out the jumbo set, and I had been warned it was harder to treadle. (FWIW, I spin on a Baynes double treadle, more on that later.) (I seem to be unable to hyperlink text, so here’s their site: http://www.spinning.co.nz/index.html)
The jumbo flyer was a little harder to readle, but not terribly, though it does have a much larger ratio than what I had spun the single on. (The standard flyer comes with 5.5:1 and 7.5:1, whereas the jumbo has a ratio of 3.5:1). Also, there are some mechanical aspects with the Baynes that I found a bit irritating when using the jumbo flyer, namely, the screw holding the rear flyer upright kept loosening (as you pivot this part to swap bobbins/flyers) and then the jumbo flyer would work itself loose and fall. (Major PITA). But the extra capacity was lovely.
I plied my first batch to neutralize the twist in the single, so I had a balanced yarn. Unfortunately, it was also hideously under-plied.
I didn’t realize this until after I had already set the twist though–which is funny, since it’s totally obvious. (Since this is a mix of possum and other exotic fibers, I soaked it, brought it up to a boil, plunged it into cold water, flung it a couple of times, and then hung to dry.)
By then, I was ready to ply my second set of singles, which I had spun a little tighter, and then consciously twisted more in the plying stage. The result was a rounder, tighter, overall nicer yarn. I plied it until it was a little past balanced (when doubled-back on itself, it would coil up with a loose twist):
After setting the twist as mentioned above, it relaxed into a (basically) balanced, cushy, two-ply. and I was stoked:
Now I’m debating about color–I love the natural color of the yarn, which has a lot of variation, but I’m planning on knitting this into a vest for my dad, who is not into brown, so much. So I am debating dyeing it burgundy/marroon-ish. So far I’ve finished up about 400 yards, and have another bobbin full of unplied single.
Tags: Baynes, fiber, jumbo flyer, over-plying, plying, spin, Spinning, under-plying, wheel
July 30th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I love that you explain exactly what you’ve done to achieve specific results. I think a burgundy/maroon-ish color would be FABULOUS. I imagine that dyeing over the natural brown would lend an earthy quality to the finished color.