Plying With Beads

  Although stringing the beads was a bit challenging, and manipulating my single fiber strand without getting it tangled in the strung beads during the playing process could have made me crazy, I was very pleased with the end results!

 These are the hand-dyed Suri Locks that I started with. 

 I spun carelessly from uncarded locks not worrying about any kind of uniformity.  I felt like a kid going out to recess, playtime!

 Once I got a rhythm going and coordinated pushing a bead forward when  I was ready for one, the plying flowed smoothly.

I used my Louet Spinning Wheel, versus my little electric spinner, because I needed to stop and start frequently.  My Louet gave me the control I needed without having to turn it off and on.

 I named it, as I do all my yarns, "Pretty As A Princess".

Stefanie Berganini has written some good instructions on spinning this kind of artyarn- click Plying With Beads

on the Spin-Off Magazine website.

 

This looks like a book I ought to have!

My New Yarn

So, here is where it all starts, with happy, healthy alpacas!

Stress does affect fiber quality - see the smiles on these two? Meet Unlimited Joy and Ariella!  There are two different breeds of alpacas, suri and huacaya, and the difference is their fleece.  A suri's fleece grows vertically to the ground, in dreadlocks, and will grow clear to the ground if not shorn.  A huacaya has more of a teddy bear look and their fleece grows horizontal away from their bodies.  I think of a suri as being majestic and a huacaya as cute!

Huacaya Fleece

Suri Fleece

In the Dye Pot with Gaywool Dye

Carded

Carding is the process of combing and blending fibers together - an art form in itself.  This is a blend of hand dyed suri and natural brown huacaya.

Rovings Wound Into A Ball for Spinning

Hand Spun Into A Single Ply Yarn

Finished Two-Ply Yarn - Food For The Soul!

Click here to buy now!

Pencil Rovings Great For Beginning Spinners

Pencil Rovings work great when first learning how to spin.  They are just narrower rovings which require less drafting and allow the spinner to concentrate on the project at hand!  There are different spinning techniques such as the Inch Worm Technique, The Long Draw Technique, The Worsted Technique, and Spinning From the Fold.  There are some great videos that demonstrate these techniques on the Joy of Handspinning website.  I tend to use The Long Draw Technique because this is what I was first taught and it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, know what I mean?  I have found it does work well with suri fiber because of the longer staple length.

Center-pull batts also make life a little simpler.  Spinners be sure to check out 'Paca Fiber in The Farm Store at www.alpacameadows.com/.

How To Spin From A Batt

Say, you've bought a carder and you are carding your own fiber. You doff it off the drum and now you have a large mass. Now what?  This mass you just created would be called a batt, but how does one spin it? I found this Photo Tutorial on Flickr that might be helpful. There are other ways but this is a good beginning.

How To Spin From A Batt, originally uploaded by afranquemont.


For the detailed info, you'll want to go through the set, How To Spin From A Batt, in sequence. There are notes on the photos, and descriptive text.

Learn How To Spin

I think we had alpacas maybe a year or so and I knew I wanted to learn how to spin.  Today I absolute love it - it is my therapy!  I love the feel of the luxuious fiber gliding through my fingers and I love that I can be sitting still and still doing something, getting lost in my own thoughts.  Spinning also tells me about my alpacas' fiber. 

There is a learning curve, like with anything else.  Leaning to spin requires patience and practice.  I skipped the drop spindle, it just looked hard, though I often see children at fiber festivals walking around and mindlessly spinning with their spindles, so it can't be too hard.  I began with a Louët Spinning Wheel because the woman that sold it to me convinced me I could spin!  She told me that she was dyslexic and very uncoordinated.  She said if she could spin, I could, so I trusted her.  I still spin on my Louët S10DT, DT meaning double treadle versus ST for single treadle.  I figured I wanted to have both feet moving rather than just one, so I opted for the DT.  You can save a little money; however, on the single treadles.  I added an electric wheel some years later for production spinning, but still think the Louët is great wheel for a beginner or advanced beginner.

Malabar Farm, home of author Louis Bromfield, is just a short drive from Mansfield, Ohio and that is where I headed to learn how to spin.  They have a Spinning and Weaving Guild that meets regularly.  One of the ladies showed me the basics and then it was just a matter of going home and practicing - that ugly word!  Pictured below are a few ladies from the guild that come spin at our farm on National Alpaca Farm Days.

There are also great on-line tutorials and videos that are helpful.  How To Spin Yarn is a site I found recently that is very helpful.  Be sure to scroll down the page - there also is a tutorial on Spinning Locks - for more advanced spinners.  Here are a few of my HandSpuns . . . I love that I can be creative . . . spinning fun thick and thin, bumpy, textured yarns!  Of course that is not the goal of a beginning spinner, but it sure is fun now!

Be sure to see the 'Paca Farm Yarns in The Farm Store on our website!