Branching Out
I was finished with “Branching Out” before I left for vacation, but I never got to photograph it. Today I enlisted Loki as a model. He was not cooperative. He and Bodhi were way too busy sniffing the hand spun alpaca to provide a proper pose. Instead, I have a boring “Scarf on Door” and an equally boring “Scarf on Tree” to show you. I am not sure how many repeats I did…I basically just went until I ran out of yarn which happened to be just long enough for a scarf. Final measurements are approximately 65″ x 7″.
I also got a little spinning done. I am trying some new fiber I am getting for the store…Ashland Bay 70% Merino 30% Tussah Silk blend in Reds (looks moer purple to me). One of the things I love about this roving is that the colors are preblended. It’s really fun seeing what the next color combination looks like as every few feet is spun (I am easily amused). The 
fiber is wonderful but I am not doing it much justice. I decided to try to spin it much thinner than I have been lately…time to learn new skills, right? The first small
batch I did was quite pitiful. Since there wasn’t much and it wasn’t a usable yarn anyway I tried Navajo plying for the first time. The technique is not hard at all and would probably even be easy with good yarn. My yarn broke several times. This does not make for a good plying experience. I had much better results spinning this fiber on the second round. I was careful to put quite a bit more twist in it and not allow thicker areas (the weak spots in the first attempt). It will definitely need to be plied to be usable but I think this batch is quite a bit better.
2 comments
I think you’re right - that must be the ticket: overspin your singles if you plan on navajo plying. I’ve had it break on me quit often and Margene said she’s had the same trouble. Your Branching Out is just lovely.
Your Branching Out is quite lovely in its repose upon the branches. I’ve read a zillion times that new spinners tend to overspin their singles, yet nearly everyone I know underspins. I’m still working to get enough twist in my singles that I’ll be happy with the plies. Navajo is tricky, you need a good amount of twist to compensate for the fact that it’s going to be a 3 ply, yet the nature of Navajo is to make yarn a little “hard”. Some people complain about it’s tendency to feel like barbed wire. I’m trying with my Petals singles to spin very thin and very high twist for Navajo just to see for myself. Unfortunately I just got some seasilk so all other activities, including bathing shall cease for a bit, otherwise I’d let you know how this went.
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