The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Crafts => Topic started by: Cheviot on December 31, 2012, 02:22:08 pm
-
Hi,
Since joining the forum in Sept, and reading through the crafts section I find that I am becoming increasingly interested in wool and fibre, I have just ordered a drop spindle, really just to play around with, as they are so inexpensive, it doesn't really matter if I find I don't actually use it much.
Now to my question, I have seen on the forum people talking about butts, tops and rovings, I haven't a clue what any of them are, can anyone enlighten me?
Regards
Sue
-
Hi Cheviot and welcome to fibreland. Um.....it's batts not butts :roflanim: but I quite like the mistake 8)
Batts are what comes off a drum carder so carded fleece presented a bit like a Santa Claus beard.
Tops is a similar preparation but comes from a commercial carding machine and is presented as a long fluffy endless strip.
Roving is a thinner preparation, for example pencil roving is about the thickness of a pencil and can be spun without further drawing - sounds a bit boring :eyelashes: I turn my tops and batts into rovings by hand before I spin them.
All of them have the fibres running roughly parallel to eachother for worstead spinning (batts rather less then the others), but can be turned into rolags for woollen spinning....or something ;D
'Butt' is a fibre word, as well as the obvious US meaning, and means the end of a wool staple (bundle) which was closest to the animal before shearing. The other end is the tip.
There are so many fibre and spinning words to learn - it should keep you happy for ages :thumbsup:
-
I've always called what comes off a drum carder as a rolag.
-
Oh, I thought a rolag was the little tube you made off hand carders?
-
It is jaykay, but if you tear your batt or tops into small sections then you can roll those into rolags and woollen spin them.
It looks as if there are going to be as many alternate meanings for fibre words as there are for sheep
words ;D :sheep:
-
I think ex and I just assumed that they were rolags whether they were big and off a drum carder or small and off hand carders.
-
Hi,
Thanks for replying fleecewife, as you probably guessed, I am a complete novice in the world of wool ( batts not butts ), and at the moment it all seems very confusing, I watched a video on you tube with someone spinning wool on a drop spindle, and she had what looked like a wool rope to spin with, I take it that is a roving or rolag.
I can't knit or crochet, so have never really had a great interest in what you can do with fleece, however I also ordered a peg loom and some weaving sticks, so hopefully if I ever manage to spin any wool I will be able to use it, to hopefully make something useful :fc:. I also just spent all my Christmas money :(.
Regards
Sue
-
Good luck, Sue but be warned. Weaving can be very addictive. ;)
-
Hi Sue. You won't need to spin the fleece for using your peg loom as you can draw it as you go. This will also help you to learn how to draw fleece for spinning. It will be a much chunkier end result for the pegloom, but you will start to understand the way fleece and fibres work.
Using a spindle - I find it easiest to make rovings before spindle spinning, then wrap the roving into a little birds nest and push my hand through it (otherwise you end up catching the roving in the spinning thread where you don't want it).
I feared spindling for years until a very kind and skilled person showed me how easy it is :thumbsup: . Now I often spindle in preference to using a wheel, especially if I only need a relatively small amount of yarn.
You'll love it :love:
-
Maybe I need showing. I've never got the hang of it. Just when I think I'm there the wool separates.
-
Oh MGM that's what it's all about ;D but eventually you get the knack. I hold my two hands at the same height and draw horizontally, with spun yarn hanging over a little finger, so there is less weight on the unspun part. Then I lower one hand carefully to let the twist run up. If the drafted fibre gets too thin, or if your spindle is too heavy, then the yarn will break. It's a great excuse to have lots of spindles of different weights ;D 8)
-
*sighing loudly* that's what I was taught, FW. It must just be me. I'm giving up now though because bending down to pick up the spindle is not easy. Nor, come to that, is standing up for very long and if I try it sitting down, there won't be time to get going before it reaches the floor. *sighs again*
-
Yeh, I can see why they're called drop spindles :P
I am very pleased I learned to draft on a spinning wheel before I tried to use a spindle - I think if I'd done it the other way around I'd have killed someone.
-
:D Yes, I learned on a wheel first :thumbsup: I think for learning with a spindle, you start with a heavy one so the yarn is thick and less likely to break. But if children can do it..........
I do love being able to spindle spin - it's so simple and basic, using the most uncomplicated tool.
MGW - perhaps you could try the 'park and draft' method - there are Utube clips of it. Sallyintnorth was using that method initially so maybe she can summarise...... I do sympathise with the effects of ill health you are suffering. Not being able to do things you have been doing for much of your life takes a whole lot of readjustment. I'm at that stage too, but always hoping that things will go back to normal (which realistically they won't, for me :( ).
-
Just wrote a pile about Guilds, supported spindles, park and draft, and plying over chasms, and lost the lot :(
I'll do it again later if and when my stupid cursor decides to stop being stupid. :rant:
-
Plying over chasms ???? This should be interesting - hurry up and mend your cursor Sally :excited:
-
FW, it is horrible. I haven't dared try knitting yet in case it's another thing I can't do, which is silly really, especially as I am sick to death of sitting and reading or palying games on the computer all day. My rheumatology nurse said that the hope is that I will be back to how I was before the Rheumatoid Arthritis hit me and the blood tests suggest that the drugs are doing what they should but I don't feel any better yet. I hope you do have some improvement.
SITN, that happened to me the other day, I'd just PMed someone a really long catch up message and it all went. :rant:
-
Sorry I've been off air a while, will try to reproduce the lost post.
Guilds and spinning groups are usually great - full of helpful people who will love to help you get started. Find your nearest Affiliated Guild here (http://www.wsd.org.uk/guilds.htm) If all too far or otherwise unsuitable, there are probably other local spinning groups - ask in your local yarn shop if they know of any. And/or there'll probably be a spinner or two are members of one of your local knitting groups. And/or look/ask on Ravelry.
Re: supported spindles, I was just wondering if this would suit Lesley better than a drop spindle. I haven't yet used one myself but I've seen them used. They're being studied in A Spinner's Study on Ravelry - the thread is here (http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/a-spinners-study/2418049/1-25)
Park and draft - you can do this sitting down, holding the spindle up above your lap so if it does drop it only drops into your lap. Basically you leave a few inches of yarn above the whorl, twizzle the spindle and capture the twist in the yarn you already have, then park the spindle between your knees or under your arm and draft fibre, allowing the twist into it until you think it's time to add more twist or it'll break. (This is much easier to judge if you have already spun on a wheel, but you'll get it pretty quickly even if you are starting with a drop spindle.) Add more twist, park and draft again until your arm isn't long enough ;), wind on and repeat.
There is a good video on this but I can't find it right now. ::) Sorry.
And finally, to inspire us all, Cecilia spindling over the crags (http://wovember.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/01-5-spindling-on-crags.jpg)
There were three articles published as part of Wovember, featuring Cecilia; the plying over the crags pic was in the second. I loved them all so will include those links here too.
Working with wool part one (http://wovember.com/2012/11/25/cecilia-hewett-on-working-with-wool-part-i/)
Part two (http://wovember.com/2012/11/25/cecilia-hewett-on-working-with-wool-part-ii/)
Part three (http://wovember.com/2012/11/25/cecilia-hewett-on-working-with-wool-part-iii/)
-
Thank you Sally, I really enjoyed reading about Cecilia and her work :thumbsup: . I love the idea of spindle plying over a drop, as otherwise you don't have time to get any rhythm going - but you must be able to do that butterfly winding around your hand very quickly to get the spindle back up before it unwinds - presumably why it's not much use for the initial spinning. I have heard of people spindling from their roofs, but the same thing must apply.
What a prolific spinner she is - wonderful :knit: and such beautiful lustrous yarns. I love the Bluefaced Leicesters :sheep:
-
Thank you Sally, I really enjoyed reading about Cecilia and her work :thumbsup: .
I knew you would ;)
There are always several of her skeins for sale in the Wool Clip in Caldbeck, if you ever get the chance to go there. Truly inspirational.
-
Hi,
Omg, Sally, what a small world, in another life, Cecilia was my landlady, I lived on a dairy farm :cow:, on their estate, with my then hubby, the crag she is standing on in the pic was actually one of our fields, I hadn't any interest in wool and fibre back then, how I wish I lived near her now!!!! ???.
My drop spindle arrived today, I have to say it is a thing of beauty, the wood it is made of and the way it has been turned, anyway it arrived with a handful of wool already started on the spindle, the yarn that was on it was so fine, it could have been used for sewing, so after having watched a youtube clip on how to do it, I had a go, well the first bit I did was about 10 times thicker than what was already on the spindle, so I tried drawing it thinner, to the point at which I didn't think it could hold the spindle, but it did, and my yarn was almost as thin, although it wasn't as consistantly thin there were a few slightly thicker sections, but I'm wondering if I'm spinning it to much, as when I take the tension off, it sort of all twizzles up on it's self, it is however very strong, I tried to pull a length off and there was no way it would break.
I think I'm hooked :excited:, only problem now I've used all the wool, until some I've ordered arrives.
Regards,
Sue
-
Thanks for this, Sally. I'm going to have to look into spindles a bit more. I didn't realise there were so many different kinds. When I was first taught, more than thirty years ago, the spindle had its whorl on the bottom. I bought a spindle and wool at the Smallholders' show in Wales and that has the whorl at the top. I just couldn't get to grips with it at all, but the lap one sounds ideal.
The photo of spinning on the crag turned my stomach. I could never stand so close to the edge. ;D
-
Wow, Sue - sometimes those coming-around-again things in life give one a shiver!
Your yarn sounds absolutely brilliant. To get any kind of continuous thread at all on your first go is very very good; to get something you can control the thickness of is outstanding ;D :thumbsup: The twisting back on itself when you release the tension is exactly what it should do - if you look at the twisted yarn it makes, that's how that single will look when 2-plied. Spinners often do this with yarn they are spinning to check that it's still looking how they want it; Cecilia keeps a snippet of what she is producing next to the wheel / spindle so that she can compare what she is spinning and make sure she is keeping it consistent.
You're hooked :D :spin: :spin: :knit: :knit: