Since I had more spun cotton single than I needed for my crepe yarn, I tried chain plying it to make a three ply yarn sample. It did not go well. The cotton single was difficult to handle and kept breaking if the strands rubbed together. The resulting yarn is very haphazard with sections that coiled mixed in with the smooth ply.
Photo description: three ply cotton yarn on a wood bobbin
The chain ply and the crepe yarn don’t look that different on casual observation because of the irregularity of the single spin. The variations in width cause more visual texture than the plying techniques. I will have to try this comparison with a different fiber preparation.
Photo description: crepe yarn (left) and chain plied yarn (right) on a PVC niddy noddy
I found out about crepe yarn, which is a three ply yarn with a different construction. A single is spun in the S direction, then two plied in the Z direction. Then another single is spun with a Z twist, the plied with the two ply in an S direction. The resulting yarn has an interesting texture. I decided to try this method with the natural cotton I am spinning on the Ashford Traveller wheel.
Photo description: two bobbins full of spun cotton, the top is a Z twist two ply, then bottom a Z twist singlePhoto description: three ply crepe yarn on a jumbo bobbin on the left, and leftover Z twist single on a regular bobbin on the right
I grossly misjudged the amount of Z twist single and ended up with way more than I needed to ply the three ply. Sigh.
It will be interesting to see how the yarn knits up. It does have more texture than a standard three ply, but because my cotton was spun from raw bolls that had not been carded, the yarn already had a variations in the spin.
Photo description: four hand-spun cotton yarn samples, from the top down: Z twist single, S twist 2-ply, S twist single, crepe three ply
I’m enjoying spinning my cotton bolls. It is a meditative process, from picking the seeds out of the fiber to spinning it up. I have the time and no deadlines so I can enjoy the process. I absolutely see why cotton gins were invented, because seed picking bales of cotton by hand would be an arduous task.
For grins, I laid out a cotton seed head, then another with the bolls removed, then another with the seeds removed.
Photo description: three cotton seed heads, the left intact, the middle with the bolls separated, the right with the seeds removed from the fiber
I also did a video showing how I remove the boll and seeds, then spin the fiber. I have not been carding the fiber, but experimenting with the pulled fluff.
So I admit, I didn’t just get one set of potholder loops, but several, and experimented with color and weave pattern for weeks using a Pro Friendly Loom. This isn’t the smaller sized loom usually given to kids (which, if you want to give your kid the experience of weaving, wrap yarn around some cardboard and give them a blunt needle, then go to potholders). The Pro Loom produces large thick squares that are ideal in the kitchen. A nice touch is adding a metal or wood ring to the final loop, which is aesthetically pleasing and secure. Piglet’s Potholder Patterns has more ideas than you can make with 10 bags of loops, and is a lovely rabbit hole. Since the potholders are cotton, they are washable. Friendly Loom recommends washing them in a washing machine and hanging them up to dry.
Photo description: eleven pro sized potholders in purples and oranges with various patternsPhoto description; three more potholders in different colors
I still have a few odd loops left, which is OK, they might find their way into a potholder eventually, or be used in a different way.
I think “Rick Rolls” are hilarious. I loved Rick Astley’s song “Never Gonna Give You Up” when it came out (bass!), and it amuses me that it is now a cultural prank to deliver the ear worm in a sneak attack. I saw that someone used Minecraft blocks to build a QR code that went straight to the YouTube video. Nice. Since I have potholders on the brain, I thought maybe I could weave a QR code if it was a small one, like a Rick Roll. I didn’t want to buy black and white loops for an experiment, so I used the darkest and lightest loops I had on hand.
Photo description: Pro pot holder loom woven with brown and cream (and a couple of orange) loops into a QR code pattern
To get the right color options for each square, I strung all cream for the warp and all brown for the weft. There were some very, very long floats (floats are sections of weft that aren’t woven over under each warp thread). That made for a messy weave, and to lock in the sides I twisted the last loop. It didn’t really matter, the long floats made a messy grid and the picture didn’t scan. Bummer. When I took it off the loom the whole weave collapsed in shame at the audacity. (Ok, so not the impudence, it was the long uneven floats. I’m not a fan of floats.)
Photo description: potholder off the loom that has become a tangled mess due to the uneven and long floated weft loops
I did recover the loops for another project. The idea of weaving a QR code is not dead, I have some ideas on how to attempt future dastardly ear worm traps.
Critters and Craft 