Tag: spinning

Nålbinding swatches

On By CarynIn Craft

I did some crochet, some knitting, and now it is time for nålbinding! I only had two ply and four ply yarn left, but I tried using a tapestry needle as well as a hand-made nål on the two ply. Sizing the loops to the tapestry needle was much too small and much too tight, but the 25mm diameter nål made a nice fabric for both the two ply and the four strand cable ply. I stitched in the round, then cut the tubes open. The swatch does not unravel when cut! Although a few tiny bits of yarn do fall out. Of the three methods of fabric construction, nålbinding is the slowest, but I enjoy it the most. The process is soothing and the resulting fabric is nicely stretchy (at least with this stitch).

Nålbinding swatches made from hand spun merino wool
Nålbinding while laying outside in a hammock
Cleaned up the cut edge by removing the partial threads, snugging up the attached threads and running them down the back of the work

Knitted swatches

On By CarynIn Craft

I had some more of my differently plied yarn, so I knit some swatches. I used different needle sizes for each yarn, but used stockinette for each piece. I was reminded how much faster I am with long straight needles than with circular needles, but my knitting is still slower than my crocheting. I like the knitted fabric, but don’t really care to knit. Ah well.

Knitted swatches of hand spun wool which was plied differently

All the knitted swatches had to be blocked because stockinette stitch is curly. The 2- ply was the softest, but the S plied four-strand had the most balanced stitches (the right and left side of each loop have the same number of twists). Most commercial yarn has an S ply.

Crocheted swatches

On By CarynIn Craft

What to do with wee balls of yarn? Swatches! The experiments on my hand-spun yarn continue. I crocheted up a swatch from each of the three balls of yarn, one two-ply, one three-ply, and one four-ply. I used a double crochet stitch for each swatch, but used a different sized hook for the four-ply. I’ve labeled each swatch (as you do) with a bit of hole-punched card stock.

The stitch definition is nicer (to me) for the three and four ply yarns, but the two-ply is has the softest feel. Although, the three ply may have felt softer if I used a size larger hook.

Ply comparison

On By CarynIn Craft

With my spinning experiments I ended up having three different plys of yarn from the same merino fiber, a two ply, a three ply (chain ply). and a four ply (cable ply).

From the top down, two ply, three ply, and four ply yarn from similar sized single ply (calico cat background)

I still don’t think the cable ply has enough twist, and I have trouble telling the two ply from the three, but it was an interesting experiment. Now, what to do with these wee balls of yarn?

Cabled yarn

On By CarynIn Craft

So exciting! Another way to ply! I was scrolling through a spinner’s group and found reference to cable plying, in which you take a two ply yarn and ply it again with two strands to get a four strand yarn. I had an extra cop of two ply that I could easily use to try the technique. I was able to ply from both ends of the cop (inside and outside ends), just as I did for the first round of plying. As a bonus, I’m almost positive that I can walk and do this! (I was way too enthused about it to wait until daylight, so finished the plying just standing inside). I definitely need practice, however, I’m not sure I added enough twist.

Two-ply cop being plied into a four-ply yarn

The most exciting thing is that this makes my fiber last for more walks! Spinning, plying, then plying again!