My first spinning an plying attempts

[sammimag]

I took a spinning class this weekend. Oh man it was really hard for me! We did some on a drop spindle but spent most of the time on a wheel. It took me forever to get the rhythm down so I finally got some yarn.

 

The first skein is the yarn I made in class, about 22 yards

 

This skein is some some yarn I spun using a drop spindle.

 

 

I think I need to work on drafting my fiber better. Plying yarn with a drop spindle was also tricky. I'd love some tips. I did have some decent twist to my singles but it all disappeared when I plied.

[xantha]

One tip I have for you if you are having trouble drafting while spinning or spindling is to do a lot of predrafting (predrafting video here) before spinning. I spend a fair amount of time predrafting before I spin since I normally can't draft as fast as I'd like to while spinning.

 

Plying with a spindle is much more difficult than plying with a wheel for me! Some people feel the opposite way.

 

When you say that the singles had a lot of twist but the plyed yarn doesn't -- what do you mean exactly? What were you expecting that didn't happen? Your plying looks about right for your singles and I think the black-white yarn looks really cool!

[sammimag]

Plying with a spindle is much more difficult than plying with a wheel for me! Some people feel the opposite way.

 

In some ways I might agree with you! I'm having a hard time drafting a little more while I'm plying. I'm moving father back that suggested to draft a bit more. It seems to me that I need to pull much harder than necessary.

 

Thanks for the video on predrafting. That's what I have been doing! It is helping me get a thinner single.

 

When you say that the singles had a lot of twist but the plyed yarn doesn't -- what do you mean exactly? What were you expecting that didn't happen?

It seemed to me that the twist came out of the singles that I spindled and spindle plyed than they did with the skein that I used a spinning wheel. I need to make a lazy kate of some sort to hold my singles. They were getting untwisted as I plyed.

 

Your plying looks about right for your singles and I think the black-white yarn looks really cool!

Thanks! I love the colors too. I guess I want to get to the point where I can have some thinner more reg. looking plyed yarn. Then on purpose make some variations.