Green yarn

Literally, of course. Here is the merino that survived the tangle around the axle...

That is the obligatory shot with the quarter to show the yarn thickness.

I have about 160 yards. I am glad to be done with this. I did not enjoy the spinning process.

Repeat after me!

Do not do as I do.
Do not do as I do.

After I finished the triangle shawl, I decided to finish up the spinning project I had on the Tina. If you remember, I was making faux-rolags and spinning them. I had finished the first single and wasn't happy with the rolags so I tried a slightly different method for the second single.

I took the bobbin with the first single off and put it on the bobbin holder on the Tina. I then put an empty bobbin on and started spinning. I was doing long draw, focusing on the rolags and whether they were easier to draft or not. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the bobbin on the holder was slowly revolving....

Would you believe that the end of the single was caught in the center of the wheel and it was slowly winding off the bobbin and onto the axle of the wheel?

My phone was downstairs and my first instinct was to fix the problem. I let the single I was spinning go through the orifice so I wouldn't be removing twist from it and manually rotated the wheel to the left. I was spinning to the right and so this was the opposite direction. I slowly unwound the single and wound it onto the bobbin. After I was almost done, I thought about taking the photo. So you only see the very last bit on the center of the wheel in the pictures.

I was able to salvage almost all of it. This is what I lost

Whew!

So pay attention to where the end of your single is. It shouldn't be hanging off the bobbin, waiting to be caught in something. Fortunately, this is a pretty thick single so it held together. Also, the fiber is sticking to itself and while that made drafting tough, it helped in this situation.

The second round of faux-rolags worked a bit better. Where I had really predrafted it, it fed smoothly. The rest stuck together and required a little bit more forward draw type drafting to get it unstuck. But I finished spinning the second single last night and will be plying soon.

I didn't like spinning this at all. I may try faux rolags again but I think spinning from the fold is a lot less work and achieves the same result. 

Faux rolags take 2

I managed to finish spinning the first set of faux rolags I made. I had to rotate the rolag so that the fiber was always presented sideways to the orifice because it would clump up and the fiber would start feeding in straight. That does not work with long draw. Also this merino is sticky. I don't know if it is typical of merino or not. I've spun merino/silk and that drafts much easier. This is 100% merino and it doesn't draft easily at all. But it isn't felted or matted either.

 This is the finished single. Not easy to spin but will make a nice softly spun yarn.

I made more faux rolags with the second half of the fiber for the second single. I modified the process slightly.

 First of all, I used a little skinny rolling pin. That made smaller rolags and I'm hoping these will work better. The previous ones were too large.

Initially, I tried to just pull the fiber apart width-wise and roll it up.

But it made a pretty wide rolag and it didn't roll up neatly on my pin.

 Then I stripped the fiber in half lengthwise and then spread it out and pre-drafted it. I thought this might help the sticking. So I not only pre-drafted lengthwise but I pulled it apart width-wise.

 You can see the difference in the before and after strips.

 Then I rolled it in the pin but when I tried to separate it from the main strip, it almost never separated cleanly.

 But I rolled up the excess also into a nice little bundle. Then I slid it off.

And there is the nice pile of rolags. Let's see if these are easier to spin. If not, I will try again with some other fiber but not for a while.

Faux-rolag fail

I started spinning the faux-rolags I made the other day. I didn't do a very good job, or the fiber isn't right or it isn't all that easy to spin. I am able to spin them but it isn't easy. This is merino which is is crimpy and maybe doesn't draft as easily. I haven't spun a lot of merino so I can't dismiss that option.

It isn't drafting very easily. When I spun from rolags, the fiber drafts easily. This needs a little help from my leading hand. I am getting a nice soft single, but it isn't easy. I am pulling the rolags apart and really spinning from the fold.

It is going relatively fast. So I think I can finish the first single tonight and I will spend more time making the faux-rolags for the second single. I will draft out the fiber more and make smaller rolags with a thinner inner core.

More later.

Finally, success without a twist

I started the cowl again. Yes, it had a twist. No, I cannot figure out what happened. But I don't care any more. I went back to some well-loved dpns. I was using a new set to start the other because they happened to be handy and I didn't like them with this yarn.

 There it is. Half done. I started on the size 4 ebony dpns above and just switched to the size 3 ones below. They are rosewood. Both have lovely points for lace. Not too sharp and not too blunt and they feel like heaven in my hands.

 A close up of the gorgeous yarn with the beads. The beads sparkle nicely in the variegated yarn.

 I also make some faux-rolags to play with on the wheel. This is Spinners Hill merino from last year's Rhinebeck. I made them following this method, which I have wanted to try for a while.

And a close-up. I've done half the merino for one single. I think I want a skinnier thing to roll it on. I used the roll from contact paper as I thought my rolling pin was too thick. Next time I will use my skinny rolling pin from India.