Today my favorite tool is my pin vice. It has many tiny drill bits stored inside and is just right for making small holes to start tiny screws in precious material. My youngest’s guitar needed a new tuning mechanism (a washer broke on the old one), and although the new part fit everywhere else, one hole was way off. Ten seconds with my pin vise and the last screw had a new pilot hole so I could smoothly screw it in. Now she can tune the guitar without the third string being squirrelly.
Oh I had a good time plying this merino wool!! I wrapped the singles nostepinne style when I spun them, which made lovely center pull balls. For plying, though, I chose a top whorl spindle because it would hold more. I can also set the top whorl spinning by rolling it along my outer thigh, which makes it go much faster than flicking. I had just read an article about Romans depicted spinning in art, where the leg was raised at an angle to roll the spindle. Aha! If I timed it right, I could raise my leg on the forward step, roll the spindle, and continue the step and only have a little hitch in my stride. (It is sad that rural women in Italy were forbidden to spin and walk because it was considered a bad omen.) I also pushed how long I could ply before I had to wrap. I figured out that I can hold my left arm out about head high and let the spindle hang, then when the twist was where I wanted it, swing the spindle up and catch it in my right hand. I have to watch the hubris, though, because if I get too cocky a strand breaks and I spend the next five minutes of my walk splicing the yarn back together. Still, it was not only an enjoyable walk, it was longer because I wanted to finish the second ball.
No, I am definitely not wrangling buffalo. American bison are not to be messed with by amateurs!! But plying the fiber, yes please. This is my first time plying singles that are most definitely of woolen preparation (the fibers are every which way, as opposed to worsted preparation where the fibers are aligned), and plying two singles is a whole new experience. I can barely tell the twist, it is just a lovely fuzzy line. I used a top whorl spindle to ply because it is easier and the singles can take a little heavier spindle than the fluff. I did have one single break, but it was easy to felt the ends back together and keep plying. I rather like the two ply as well because I can ply every last inch of my precious fiber — the tail end left of one ball I just doubled up, felted the ends, and kept twisting.
After plying, I wrapped the yarn around my niddy noddy and rinsed it to set the twist. Once it was dry, I wound the skein into a cake. It is so soft! Now to decide what I am going to do with my precious little bundle of yarn.
My eldest found a chrysalis while we were weeding the front garden. She put it in a jar with a wire mesh top (yeah, we have these just hanging around for exactly this reason) and in about a week a moth emerged! She let it go outside after its photo session. After doing a search on iNaturalist we found out the caterpillar form is called an armyworm and damages crops. Hmm.
I noticed that I had to spin my experimental spindle quite often. I was not able draft fast enough and the twist built up and reversed the spindle. I needed to either draft faster, or slow the spindle down. I started by drilling a couple holes in the base of my spindle and wiring in an embroidery hoop. Moving the weight away from the center slows down the spin (yay physics!)
This worked well, but was very heavy. So I visited a local craft store and picked up some steel macrame hoops. Rather than wiring them in, I had the idea to snap them on. Because I so helpfully included an indent at the bottom of the spindle (which at the time I just thought was pretty), I could make a catch with the wire so the hoop could be changed out.
I need to perfect the balance (which using a lathe on the spindle and more precise wiring should help), but with this modest modification I could produce yarn so much faster. The hoop is low enough that I can still use the nostepinne style ball wrapping, and when I want to use the spindle supported, the hoop pops off. It is not really surprising that I came to this solution. Wire is one of my favorite mediums, right up there with wood.
