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)
Making A Distaff, and Spinning Bast Fiber
Make a distaff. I took a class on bast fibers a couple of years ago and I remember the basics went like this:
You need:
- A dowel, 1/2" dia. or so about 3-6 feet long (table or floor model) You may want to put a nail in the very top, about 1/2" long.
- A base, I've got a cast iron base meant for a goose neck lamp, something that won't let the thing wobble.
- A disk, about 4" to 6" in diameter of Styrofoam, foamcore board or a few layers of cardboard. Does not have to be a perfect circle, does not have to be perfectly smooth and does not have to be drilled exactly in the center.
- Butcher's string or equivalent. Something smooth that will still stay tied.
- About 5 yards of 1/4" of good satin ribbon, the stuff you would sew with not the crafty stuff; the instructor mentioned the meaning of the colors which I promptly forgot.
- A smooth large towel or a small bed sheet, and a table large enough to lay your fiber onto that's about waist height.
- a small sponge (elephant ear, from art supply stores is nice if you can get it)
- a small bowl
- an old, clean toothbrush
And
A distaff can be a piece of dowel, stuck into a stand. The hoop or ring can be made out of a disk of Styrofoam, punched out in the center and held in place by string tied from the rim, up to the top of the distaff (it helps to make a groove with a penknife) tied 4 times. That way you've got the string to support the fiber and the disk and the disk can be removed for easy storage. Make this groove about an inch or so from the top, leave some room.
Take your strick of fiber, open it out flat and split it so you have about two fingers' thickness. Get it straightened out and get a good grip on one end. As you handle the thing you will probably see one end is fatter than the other. Get a good grip on the thin end and shake firmly to get rid of the chaff and really coarse bits and to open the mass of fiber up nicely for the next step.
Tie your ribbon really tightly around the bit held in your hand, about 1" down from the end. The idea is to get a good grip on this stuff. Tie the ribbon so the fiber is held in the middle of the ribbon and tie the ribbon around your waist with the fiber in front. You're ready for the next step.
Put your distaff within easy reach, lay the towel down on the table and belly up to the table, fiber in hand to one side, as far as you can comfortably reach without the fiber falling off the table to the side. Laying down a thin layer of fiber sweep your arm across the table, change hands and go as far to the other side as you can, then come back. The idea is to make a crisscross web of fibers that will open up the hank of linen or hemp as evenly as possible.
When you're done you have a triangle of fiber draped on the table in front of you on the towel. Untie the ribbon from your waist, lay your distaff on the edge of one side of this mass, and tie the ribbon tightly to the top of the distaff around the nail. Then, and this is the tricky bit, roll the distaff so it picks up the fiber in a smooth bundle all around itself. The disk should be positioned so about 1/3 or so of the fiber hangs down beyond it. I remember the instructor saying the fabric was helpful, but I found if you do it right you don't need it except to keep the fiber from catching on everything, and the towel could get caught in the fiber when you roll.
Now, you should have a distaff, with fiber in position, tied to it and a couple of long tails of ribbon. Set your distaff into its base, wrap the ribbon loosely around the fiber, crisscross like a ballet dancer's shoe ribbons, and tie below the disk, very loosely in a bow. You will need to re-tie as you work, so whatever knot you use must be removable.
Now, sit down to spin with the distaff above and to the side of your back drafting hand. It should be visible without effort, but slightly behind your hand. This part is nice on very hot days. Get a small bowl of water and a small sponge, small enough to fit in your palm. The sponge should be wet but not dripping. Take a bit of fiber and tease it down off the distaff. Tie to the leader like always, but slick the fiber with the sponge or your wet fingers just before you start it into the orifice.
Spin LOOSELY. On the lowest whorl of your spindle. Baste fibers (linen, hemp, ramie) will become brittle and weak if over twisted, and you don't need much twist to keep these long fibers in a sound thread. You will also be shocked at how little fiber you need to tease out to get smooth yarn. Spin slowly at first to get the feel of it. Change hooks often, avoid the humps and valleys because the end WILL vanish forever into them if they're there. Keep your forward fingers and hand more than damp but not actually dripping. Don't drag the fiber over the sponge because it will pick up bits and make a mess, rub it over your fingers.
Turn the distaff occasionally, you want the fiber to reel off evenly, and the crisscross fanning should make that happen easily. Retie your ribbon periodically to keep the fiber from bunching and messing up. And, again, change hooks frequently to keep your bobbin winding evenly... Trust me... that toothbrush doesn't always work...
An idea mentioned recently is to have some thin, strong, smooth fabric handy and lay down a layer of fabric after each layer is spun, making a sandwich of linen, fabric, linen, fabric. This might well work. Having had to cut an ENTIRE bobbin of single off... I will try it next time.
Ok, you've got singles done. Probably the finest, most even singles you've ever spun! Ply that sucker, use the ballwinder, unlike fine wool the linen doesn't seem to try to tangle because it's pretty stiff. Don't try Navaho ply, the tight turns when the loops are formed would probably break over time (that's just my opinion though, try it and see what happens).
Then... when you've got nice smooth skeins of hard twine finished that's about the weight you want, I'd suggest weaving it like that. Or using some starch to keep that damn stuff smooth until you're finished weaving it. Then, throw the finished fabric in the hot washer, hot dryer, hot washer, hot dryer... And that will soften it. I would not use fabric softener, because you don't want to seal the fibers, but I might try some washing soda. I have heard, but not yet tested it, that hemp holds dyed color much better than linen. Undyed linen and hemp are practically indistinguishable.
I've softened skeins of linen in the washer/dryer and tried to weave them... BAD IDEA. VERY VERY BAD IDEA. I had not spun with the water, and the yarn turned into hairy twine. Even with starch I couldn't get a shed and finally gave up and cut the warp off the loom.
Hemp yarn? You ARE a glutton for punishment, aren't you? I've tried to knit with linen, I don't recommend it, nor would I want to knit with hemp - you think cotton is harsh and unforgiving... you ain't seen NOTHIN'. Think not just nonstretchy but hard finished and stiff as well. And even thin linen yarn cannot be broken, you have to cut it or it will cut you!... It would be wonderful to weave, but knit... oh no, I don't THINK so. At least, not without a knitting machine.