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Author Topic: Our First Time Spinning  (Read 8488 times)

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #15 on: April 01, 2017, 11:06:29 pm »
I think most of us produced yarn like that at our first attempt plying! Well, I did! Keep at it, suddenly your hands and feet will start working together and you will have yarn to be proud of. Keep your first yarn as a reference to see how far you have progressed.

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #16 on: April 02, 2017, 07:03:12 am »
My latest yarn looks like that.  It had an accident between hank and ball winder and with 199 wraps of the niddy noddy it is not just a small bundle either.

You have produced a yarn with "life".  Well done.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2017, 09:59:02 pm »
Wash it and dry it, you may be surprised.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2017, 10:04:39 pm »
Wash it and dry it, you may be surprised.


Especially if you weight it slightly when it's hanging up to dry.


I have heard that t helps if you thwack the skein a few times against a hard surface such as a table.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2017, 10:06:27 pm »
Yes to thwacking but I'm a disagreer to the weighting idea.  It'll just go back to where it wants to be when it gets wet ;)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #20 on: April 04, 2017, 08:33:30 am »
And thwacking is such a great way  to release tensions, but less good if the skein is still quite wet!  :roflanim:

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #21 on: April 04, 2017, 09:56:51 am »
So how do I get it off the spool to wash it, without it going all Rastafarian on me?  ???
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #22 on: April 04, 2017, 11:11:42 am »
Ideally you would use a niddy noddy, which is a simple device to wind a skein on to. Or, if you haven't got one if those, wind it off onto your forearm the same way you would wind rope or a hose pipe. Once you have it in a skein on your arm, ask Mrs Womble to put ties around the skein - 4 will probably do, then slip the skein off your arm and put it to soak in fairly warm water with a little soap added. The soaking will let the fibres relax and set the twist. I usually leave a skein for at least 30 minutes soaking, then rinse, squeeze it out in a towel, thwack it on a wall or work surface, hang it to dry then admire your efforts!

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #23 on: April 04, 2017, 01:45:20 pm »
Once off the niddy noddy (a wonderful thing that a Womble can make out of bits of plastic tubing) I put mine into hot water in the sink.  Ensure it is thoroughly drowned.  Remove squeeze and hang up in the shower to dry.  No leaving for ages, thwacking or weighting here.

cans

  • Joined May 2013
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #24 on: April 04, 2017, 05:23:22 pm »
Ok....
I'll ask the question
What is a niddy noddy, and what does it look like?
 :innocent:
         So that Womble can make one   :)

Louise Gaunt

  • Joined May 2011
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #25 on: April 04, 2017, 06:24:47 pm »
A niddy noddy is a central stick with an arm at either end, the arms being set at 90 degrees to each other. You wind yarn around the arms using a nodding nodding motion to create your skein. You tube will show you much better than my explanation !


Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #27 on: April 04, 2017, 10:07:23 pm »
Aha!  It turns out I was plying it backwards (facepalm!!  :roflanim: ).

Once I found out you have to go the other way when plying, things went considerably better:



So, thanks to Youtube, and to [member=75709]Buttermilk[/member], I ended up with some ropey looking yarn wrapped around the world's noddiest niddy noddy.



and as a result, my first skein is now hanging above the Rayburn, drying.



And you know what?  I think I've earned myself a wee Laphroaig!  :excited:
« Last Edit: April 04, 2017, 10:20:31 pm by Womble »
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #28 on: April 04, 2017, 10:40:30 pm »
Brilliant!!  Well done, Womble :applause:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Our First Time Spinning
« Reply #29 on: April 04, 2017, 10:52:02 pm »
A steep learning curve but well worth it.  Well done.

 

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