My single spun mint top fiber has been sitting on my drop spindle for awhile. I spun it so thin I really was worried about it breaking during the plying process. I finally took a deep breath, got out my homemade spindle holder, and chain plied with my vintage Befra Willy spinning wheel.
I wet the yarn on the niddy noddy to set the twist. I’m still not feeling and “coolness” from the mint infused fibers. Maybe that will come once the yarn is made into fabric?
I finished the first spin of the mint top fiber from my plant fiber sample pack my sister gave me almost two years ago. I am down to three packs from the original set. I’ve spun the rest and made up fiber pages for all of them. I may need another book to hold all the pages!
The mint top is “cellulose fiber infused with mint”, which is supposed to make the fabric feel cooler. I didn’t notice any cool feeling when I was spinning it, and it doesn’t smell like mint. It is a pleasure to spin though, and spins fine easily.
My plan is to three ply the single to give it some weight. I’m contemplating whether to chain ply or divide the fiber onto three bobbins. If I chain ply I don’t have to remove it from the spindle, or can transfer it to a single bobbin if I’m worried about the spindle jumping around. If I divide, I’ll have some single left over and I’ll have to transfer it to three bobbins. The risk of breaking lies in transferring to different bobbins and potentially losing some twist and weakening the single, or applying too much stress when making loops for chain plying. I think I’ll think on it some more.
Critters and Craft 