Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tour de Fleece - Day 16

I finished spinning my Buzz batt!!
This is a full 1 oz. and it seems like so much all spun up on Shelby!

Now I can't wait to ply it!

True to my word...
I couldn't wait...
So here's an update:

There have been lots of discussions about how
to use a Turkish spindle and how
I wind the yarn on to make it look so pretty.
So here is a picture tutorial.
Hope it helps!!!

First off to wrap onto a Turkish Spindle, 
you wrap the yarn over 2 legs, and under 1 leg.
Once I have spun a length ready to wrapped on,
I do a butterfly across my
pinky and thumb like this:
I'm using my index finger to stop the twist from
going into the rest of the fiber,
which is being held in place with my two middle fingers.
This picture shows the end of the first round.

Then, I start the second round of wrapping on.
Just like the first round, I go over 2 legs, under 1 leg
But the yarn that goes over the 2 legs, 
goes to the middle, next to the shaft.
The one that goes under the leg, 
starts on the outer most portion of the leg.
For each wrap, you just follow the previous yarn,
laying the current yarn next to the previous one.

I'm certain that that made absolutely no sense.

So, 4 rounds later should look like this.
It's ok if there are gaps between rounds at this point,
as you continue, they will squish together
and it will look neater by the time you end this layer.

Keep going like this: 
spin, draft, spin, draft, spin, draft, 
butterfly, wrap, half hitch, spin, draft, spin, draft... 
you get the picture.

Wrap all the way to the edge of the legs 
before starting the next layer.

And for the record, after uploading these pictures,
I really wish I had drawn a face on my hand for these pictures!
That would have been so funny.

I've also had a question of:
"How do you find the beginning of the yarn,
inside the little turtle, when you are ready to ply it?"

Well, both when I spin my single and when I ply,
I tie a slip knot onto the bottom of the shaft.

There is always a little tuft of unspun fiber on the tail ends,
So when I'm done, you can still see it.
Like this:
This one is already plied but, if it were not,
I would just grab that piece as I remove the shaft!