[Fleecewife]

When I was down at the Wensleydale Wool Shop I bought a little bag of brightly coloured dyed fleece, all curly.  I want to incorporate this in with some of my Hebridean yarn to make a yoke on a jumper.  I have never done anything like this before as I am usually just a straightforward country spinner.  Does anyone have any tips?  I tried a short piece and it worked ok but I need a whole bobbin of singles.......  I don't want to card it smoothly together but to have blobs and lumps of colour dotted about in the dark brown. I have already spun the plain singles and now I need to start on the colourful one, then I will ply the two together.  I do have a booklet on fancy spinning but it doesn't cover what I want to try to do.  Help !!

[Lesley Silvester]

JUst gently open up the bits (can;t remember what they are called) and add a small amount at a time.

[Fleecewife]

Thanks Goatwoman.  Would you recommend adding the coloured fleece into the rolag or in my hands as I spin?  I have already gone through the bag and teased the locks so they will spin ok.  With my test piece I added the coloured bits as I was spinning, but I was thinking that if I added them to the rolags after they were carded then I could make sure I have enough to last the whole bobbin.  But I think I would have better control adding them as I spin - it was such expensive stuff that I was a bit mean with how much I bought 

[jaykay]

I would 'core spin' with it I think.

I hasten to add I am very bad at it but I watched it done to great effect at Woolfest with just this, coloured curly wool. I think it's shown on The Gentle Art of Plying DVD but also there's some info about it in the Spin Control book.

To describe, as you are plying, you 'add' the curls holding them at right angles to the yarn and allowing them to 'catch' at intervals between the two plies.

[Fleecewife]

Ah, that's a thought.  I can do that    I'll try a little bit and see if it gives the effect I am looking for.  Thank you Jaykay

[Lesley Silvester]

Good idea.  I was think of feeding little bits in as you spin rather than carding it into the rolag but adding it while plying would probably be more effective.

[Fleecewife]

My first practice bit did involve adding in little bits as I spun and it turned out ok although I didn't try plying or knitting it up.  Very fiddly which is why I wondered about adding it to the rolag after carding, but probably not enough control of spacing of blobs....
I will try both and do some samples too - if they are good I can use the sample yarn in the jumper, and if not I can rip it down and try again 

If it works I will post piccies but don't hold your breath - I am a slow worker 

[Fleecewife]

Hmm well I tried both ways and they both produced reasonably interesting yarn.  Then I knitted up some samples and they looked remarkably unimpressive.  The jumper will be in stocking stitch but I could only get the lumpy bits to show on the reverse side, with just a few flecks of colour on the outside.  I think you have to knit 3 rows of colour to get a clear stripe in one row, but with intermittant bobbles that won't work.  Back to the drawing board 

[SallyintNorth]

I don't suppose moss stitch would do it?  If the pattern would work with moss instead of stocking?

[Chris H]

I would not card any of the fleece, and just add a coloured lock at random.............then ply with a sewing thread. This gives the yarn balence but allows the 'locks' to pop out and look lovely.

[Fleecewife]

Thanks all.  I've been a bit out of the running for the last wee while so haven't tried any more options.  But now I will try both your suggestions Sally and Chris, a combination.  I hadn't thought of plying with sewing thread - does that just allow the curls to stand out more?  Does it make a difference once it's knitted?

[Chris H]

You need to ply for knitting or you get lopsided (the knitting not you)
Plying with a sewing thread makes for a more textural yarn as the sewing thread wraps around the spun yarn. Can be used to make loop yarns as well.

[Fleecewife]

 I sense a tutorial coming on......    How do loop yarns work?

[Chris H]

Happy to do a tutorial...........how does that work??

[Fleecewife]

Nothing special - just write it here.  The trouble is that the window to write in is small and I get annoyed with it as you can just do a bit at a time.  You can post pics too