Members' Tips and Tricks
Members are invited to show off their experience and expertise by submitting "Tips and Tricks" for this page. Below are the articles submitted as of 3/5/2010:
Ball-Plying Procedure, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Carding Directions, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Centerpull Ball Tips, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Clean Wool, Pre-Spinning Preparation, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Dyeing Evenly, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Making A Distaff, and Spinning Bast Fiber, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Wool Scouring, by Elena Dent (added 2/24/2005)
Ball-Plying Procedure
Okay-dokay... what to do when you spin very fine and want to spin from a ball-winder wound ball:
Get an umbrella swift or standing swift.
Get some Lori-Lin synthetic silicone spray or equivalent from a knitting machine user's shop. It washes out of yarn easily. Using one of those annoying, "cheap" little plastic ballwinders with the folding arm - but you tape the arm with electrician's tape so it can't move relative to the winding post. The huge splendid wooden ballwinder doesn't work if you spin very fine.
You've got singles, so wind these onto the swift, tie chokes in at least four places and make sure you can find the start end vs. the finish end of this skein. Tie these ends around the skein IN A VERY LOOSE LOOP. Rinse, hang and dry to set the twist. Don't weight it, it's not necessary.
Now, here's the tricky bit. Your skein is dry and you need to wind onto the ballwinder. You need that ball to be very square in its profile, seen from the side it's as perfect a square as possible with the top and bottom concave and the cylinder a bit bulged in the center; from the top and bottom you should see very few to no crossovers where the thread jumped off the shoulder and crossed the shorter route - those are what cause snarls.
Take the chokes off the skein, but don't untie the start and finish ends. Get a good grip on the skein and hang it into a paper bag. Spray the Lori-lin on the skein before putting it on the swift, shaking and turning it to get spray onto the yarn. Usually a fair amount, but if you're using combed top which smelled slightly sweet and felt slick and clean while spinning it has already been prepped with Lori-lin and needs very little spraying.
You need your swift mounted so its shaft is facing you and the 'wheel' of the spokes is facing you. The single winds off from underneath and the hand not controlling the ballwinder is acting like a tensioner, lightly gripping the single but also able to take up sudden jerks and snags if the yarn in the skein catches. Start with the "finish end" of the skein, it makes it a little easier to wind off.
You want your tension from swift to ballwinder to be as even as possible, your tensioning hand will move as needed to catch snarls (when the single didn't relax completely and has one of those little nubs or twisty bits). If you are having trouble with the single not coming off the skein easily spray with a bit more Lori-lin. That will help.
If your ball, for some reason, is not forming properly turn the winding post so it's facing toward the swift and just wind it back onto the swift and try again. It ought to just fly right back off the ball.
If the ball is forming with rounded shoulders and a lot of crossovers it will give you grief. Causes for this can be:
- Uneven tensioning, the single was snagging a lot as it wound off. Solution: spray with more Lori-lin. In extreme cases take the skein off the swift, shake and spray with more. Be careful not to lose your grip and tangle the whole thing. If your single is already very slick, you might have too much Lori-lin on it. You may need to rinse the skein and get rid of that. Loosen the tension on your swift a little, there might not be enough room for the skein to open up.
- Your ballwinder's leader wire could be moving relative to the winding post - more tape! It must be absolutely still.
- You weren't maintaining even tension with your tensioning hand - practice will cure that.
Once the ball is formed, be sure you don't lose the end and take it off - spray a bit more Lori-lin in the center to help it start easily.
When you're spinning from the ball sometimes the center pulls out in a snarled gob. Stop, turn the ball so the outer single can still travel freely around the ball but it won't catch on the inner single and 'fiddle' with the gob. Don't pull, just gently fiddle and futz, easing it apart but not pulling on either exposed end of the snarl. As you continue to ply you usually will see that snarl just fall apart and you can continue with no trouble.
As the ball winds and your center opens up, slip your hand into that (take off any rings first). You will feel the fiber moving and as you end you'll be rocking that hand back and forth to free up the single as it moves. Ideally you will ply in one swell foop - stopping tends to collapse the ball which can get ugly.