Art Yarn 101: Core Spinning

They say core spinning is the "work horse" of the art yarn world, and indeed it does allow for lots of manipulation of your fibers.  One of the beauties of core spinning is that it allows you to stretch your fibers farther and farther to end up, ultimately, with more yardage.  A yarn needs structure so that it doesn't drift apart and leave you sweaterless, naked and cold.  When spinning the vintage way, part of your fiber gets twisted into the center of your yarn, giving it that necessary structure and strength.  But if you are spinning with expensive luxury fibers like angora, cashmere or buffalo down, you don't want it to disappear into the center of the yarn, never to be seen again.  In core-spinning, you wrap your fiber around a pre-spun core so you don't lose any of your precious gold.  And all fiber is precious gold in it's own way.  

My first experience with core spinning was a really, really fun disaster.  First I learned the basics of spinning in a 2-hour class at the Friends & Fiberworks Winter Retreat 2012.  Then an hour later, I took a class in core spinning with Melissa Yoder Ricks of Wild Hare Fiber Studio.  Was I ready to learn core spinning?  No, I think not.  I couldn't even spin the vintage way.  But I had fun cramming all those bits & bobs onto my core--ribbon, beads, fiber, sequins, mohair locks.  It still makes me smile to look at it today and to remember how I was so awed by Melissa's control and dexterity as she demonstrated at her wheel, wondering if my hands would spin magic like that.  I was intimidated, I'll admit it.  I mean, look at this hot mess.

If you've been following my blog, you know I've been working through Jacey Boggs Spin Art, one technique at a time.  I've been stuck on core-spinning for a few weeks.  And I don't mean stuck as in practicing until I got it right.  I mean stuck as in afraid to dive in.  Afraid to dive in, I realize, because I've been holding on to those "I'm not good enough...I'll never be able to spin like that" judgments left over from that first core-spinning class.  And it wasn't even a bad experience.  As I recall, I was exhilarated with the experience and thrilled with my yarn.  Does this ever happen to you?  That sometime in the interim between the first thrill of discovery and the moment of getting down to work to hone your skill, the little voice of unreasonable expectations in your head starts whispering its disheartening messages and, if you are not careful, it wins.  It wins and then, if you are not paying attention, you give up.  But if you are vigilant and looking out for that part of you that wants to lay down on the sofa with a bag of funyuns (good lord!) and the undertow of Facebook or Etsy or Seinfeld reruns ready to suck you down, you recognize that you have a choice.  And sometimes you choose wisely.  You choose to go to your studio, pick up your tools, make something even if it is bad, relish the making of the thing without regard for the end product.  And you win.  And tomorrow your choice is easier, and you win again.  And every time you choose to go to your studio, that little voice gets smaller and smaller and smaller until it just gives up.  And you keep winning like that...one victory at at time.

Thus ends the philosophical part of my post.  Now for some pictures!

A page from the book....

Jacey Boggs:  Spin Art, Mastering the Art of Spinning Textured Yarn

Raw materials...hand painted polwarth, kettle dyed silk noil, sparkle (not shown but always present in my projects)

Raw materials hand carded into rolags.  I was going for yarn that, when knit, ir reminiscent of confetti.

The core is a commercially produced cotton boucle thing that came on a cone, and that I prepared by spinning counter clockwise ("S"), so that when I spun my yarn clockwise ("Z"), it would wind up balanced.  It ended up still a little twisted, so next time I'll put more Z twist in the core.  

Pinch a little fiber in your spinning hand and draft a bit, then let it wind on the core at about a 90 degree angle.

Notice how the fibers, instead of being parallel to the length of the yarn as in traditional spinning, are perpendicular to the core--a signature of core spun yarn.

It's pretty.

And a little like confetti.

 This is the same combination of fibers spun the traditional way, then plied.

 It's pretty, too.

Here they are side by side.  The 2-ply is fluffy and springy.  The thickness of the core spun yarn depends on the thickness of your core.  Mine was thin.  As I was core spinning, it felt out of control and I thought that my yarn would be inconsistent and bumpy.  But it evened out nicely after washing it and setting the twist.

I plan to knit some swatches today to see if it really looks like confetti.  Meanwhile...I can't decide.  I love them both!

"Your will is free, it is deliberately left free and you have to choose."   

                                                                            --The Mother

Art Yarn 101: Thick and Thin

I've been making my way through Jacey Boggs' book, Spin Art: Mastering the Craft of Spinning Textured Yarn, one project at a time.  We've done the Racing Stripe and the Auto Wrap.  Next up--Thick and Thin.  

Which is exactly what I spun (right?) when I sat down at the wheel lo those many months ago (eleven) in the middle of Biltmore Square Mall during the Friends & Fiberworks Winter Retreat, which, by the way, is coming round again January 18-20, 2013.  I took a 2 hour workshop with the lovely Julie Wilson of Jehovah Raah Farm.  I wouldn't exactly call it spinning, what I did that day.  It was more like cramming fiber into the orifice and twisting it up in bunches of fat and skinny loops and then joking at the end of the workshop about how it was "art yarn."  Not even close.

But you have to start somewhere and keep practicing your craft, and eventually you get to the point where you've got some mastery over the technique.  Once you have mastery over the material and the technique, then you can begin manipulating the material in more creative ways with intention.  Intention is the key.  Without that, it's just an accident.  Sometimes accidents are happy.  But I'm never fully satisfied with happy accidents unless they sing in harmony with the rest of the composition.  

To spin harmonious and well balanced thick and thin yarn, start with a shorter staple fiber like merino.  Short staple is important to the structure, because when you do a little wrist flip to draft out the thick part, you want to see where to pinch it at the end of the fiber.  You trap those ends in the thin part, and voila!  Yarn that has structure and will knit up into a textural masterpiece.

I had Romney fiber on hand, which I'd dyed in my new colorway, High Desert.  Romney staple may be a little long, and the first bobbin was definitely over twisted and pretty kinky.  Got the hang of it, though, by the end of my batch.  Have a look...

The wrist twist

This is how I hold my hand while spinning the thin section.

Then you pinch and turn you hand/wrist as if turning a key in a lock 

to draft out the thick section.

And here is a swatch, knit on US 10 1/2 needles.  I just love the texture of all those bumpy slubs.  I'm thinking hat or cowl.  Something simple to show off the yarn.

'

What I would change

I would spin my thin sections a little shorter to give more balance to the thick and thin sections in the finished yarn.  I would spin this yarn on my plying head in order to accommodate more yarn on the bobbing and to get all those fat slubs through the orifice more easily.  

New WIP and New Yarn

Just what I needed...another WIP (I'm at 7 and counting).  But I couldn't resist casting on for a hat on our drive down to a Hot Springs Thanksgiving yesterday.  The yarn is Urban Gypz's delicious one of a kind hand spun, so soft and so interesting to knit.  I love the surprise of every unique inch of yarn as it unwinds from the ball.  Good thing, since I screwed up the gauge count and had to start all over again.

And here is a little something I finished this week--hand painted merino in Reed plied with hand painted bamboo.

Art Yarn 101: The AutoWrap

After having fun with the Racing Stripe, it was time to move on to the next lesson in Spin Art by Jacey Boggs, in my autodidactic quest to learn all I can about textured yarns.  The Autowrap, as it turns out, is a really rewarding technique that is also pretty easy.  You can use a variety of materials, getting different results each time depending on what you combine. 

For my first attempt, I chose a stripey Jacob top from Hobby Knob Farm and wrapped it with hand spun mohair carded with a little glitz.  Two things.  One, if you use a hand spun wrap, be sure to spin your yarn in the opposite direction from the handspun.  I spun the mohair counterclockwise, or S, then spun my yarn clockwise, or Z.  Two, it is really, really, really easy to overtwist this yarn, and don't think you'll fix it by spinning it back the other way once you are done.  You will not fix it.

For my second attempt, I dyed a batt of Jacob, also from Hobby Knob Farm but blended to a uniform gray and wrapped it with a commercial mohair blend.  I think I mastered the twist in this trial, and I've got enough for a hat.  YAY!

Let's get this Thing going!

This thing being my blog about my latest obsession, the one that might stick.  I've been obsessed with a lot of things in my lifetime--yoga, NIA, writing, sewing, dog training, travel, shoes, folk art.  And I've spent an obscene amount of money pursuing these obsessions, all the while looking for "the one."  You know, the one that keeps me awake at night.  The one I never want to stop doing.  The one where I buy the books and actually read them all because I just want to know more, more, more.  The one I want to do the moment I get up in the morning, before coffee, before breakfast, before washing the sleep out of my eyes.   I believe they call that one's "passion."

I think I've found my passion.  At least that's what spinning yarn feels like to me.  I am a woman obsessed and I love everything about it, from plunging my hands into a freshly shorn fleece to watching colors blend as I hand paint the fiber to to the excitement of seeing the yarn take shape on the bobbin and knit up into a luscious fabric or garment.  This is it and I can't stop myself.  Not even to eat.

So, first things first, my little room upstairs that has been so many things is now my little spinning nook.

                 
The sun streams in from across the mountains in the morning, my favorite time to work.

Here are some of my first yarns:

1.  Truly, the first yarn I spun in the class I took with BJ at Earth Guild.  After class was over, I tried my hand at dyeing, and was quite pleased with the results.  Why didn't I write down the recipe?  Must get better at taking notes.

 2.  My first "art yarn" where I carded (on hand carders, no less) merino, alpaca, sari silk, scraps of a silk hippie skirt I bought in Hawaii and never wore, and sparkle.  I loves me some sparkle.

Isn't it pretty?

3.  Merino plied with bamboo, with which I am knitting a SKIF sweater, so stay tuned for that.  I can't stop looking at the fabric...it is soooooo beautiful.

4.  This one I started on vacation.  I taught myself how to spin on a drop spindle so I could spin on camping trips.  I mostly didn't spin while camping, but I did knit a hat on a backpacking trip.  No pictures, though...I gave it to my friend Kristi.

There it is...a beginning.  I can't wait to see where it leads.  I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite trips ever.