sweetgeorgia

Going Loopy

My first efforts in spinning bouclé were pretty ugly, but this is my more recent attempt:

Spinning loop bouclé is something I need, and want, to practice. There’s a grace to be had in whipping mohair singles around a core yarn in just the right way so that it forms those pretty loopy circles.

This was my three-step process. Spin crazy handpainted adult mohair top into a Z-singles (spinning clockwise). Then take those singles and “ply” it together with an already plied core yarn (I used black wool from the school stash) — this is plying counterclockwise or “S”. When I say “ply”, I really mean pushing the mohair (held in the left hand) at right angles to the core yarn (held in the right hand) so that it wraps around loosely and forms little loops. Finally, take that loopy plied yarn and ply it again clockwise with a binder thread (I used copper-coloured metal thread).

I usually run in to problems with bouclé because I spin the initial mohair singles too thinly. Then when I try plying it with the core yarn, it refuses to loop and instead plies back on itself forming little “eyelash” bits. So, I just need to remember to spin a little thicker and not so hard twisted. Ta da, yarn that looks like Christmas lights.

Pink Novelty

At the last spinning class, we learned how to spin boucle… my first attempts are pretty ugly. See here:

It’s made up of a nice space-dyed mohair top (local supplier) and spun up with some shocking pink commercial yarn. Stringy-looking boucle, eh?

I like my second attempt much more… On Saturday, Michelle and I attended the Langley Weavers & Spinners Guild fair and I bought (among too many other things) a bag of hot pink adult mohair from Sun Bench Fibres. I took this and halo-ed it around some commerical black nubby yarn then wrapped it with a thin silver metallic sewing thread ($0.99 at Dress-Sew).

There’s only about 7 yards here — it’s brutal trying to spin this with a teeny tiny orifice and flyer hooks. Every few seconds, I’m thinking, why isn’t it winding on?!? and then I see that a chunk of mohair has trapped itself in a hook. This is when a big fat orifice would be so welcome!

Here’s one of the other things I picked up at the “Falling into Fibre” fair on Saturday: a new spindle! I’ve only ever used my heavy-duty bottom whorl Ashford drop spindle, so this is such a welcome change… It’s a 40g top whorl spindle made by Dave Smith/Shari Hamilton out of “Redheart” wood. So pretty!

I’m wondering if I can take this on the plane to San Francisco with me!?! Anybody ever drop spindle on an airplane?

And thanks for everybody’s comments and recommendations about the spinning wheels… There is so much collective knowledge and experience out there — I’m just so grateful that you guys share! As for the wheels, I think I’ll just have to try them both, side-by-side. I’m off to SF in just under two weeks so hopefully Morgaine at Carolina Homespun will have a couple wheels I can try out!