There are those who spin fiber on a wheel using guide hooks on the flyer. They may understand what I mean by one more up and back.

Before Plying – One More Up And Back

First of all, I know not all of the blog readers care about spinning. Feel free to skip down to my current projects.

Second of all, the description of how I spin fiber may require you to visualize something you’ve never experienced. Again, feel free to avoid this section by skipping down.

Finally…if you care:

It’s important to try and evenly load a bobbin when spinning. Especially for when singles or plied yarn is taken off the bobbin. If I had a big difference in the amount of singles on one part of the bobbin, it can get a little crazy as it spools off the bobbin. Wheel spinners know this. Imagine that I’m plying my singles. And I’m drawing a single at a part of the bobbin where it’s almost near the bobbin core. This will mean that the bobbin is spinning quickly to unspool the singles as fast as I need them. And then imagine it starts to draw the singles off a part of the bobbin that is fully loaded. The speed of bobbin-spin to unspool that yarn is much slower! The deceleration of the bobbin turning will often cause some crazy flying/twisting/tangling of the singles.

Some folks buys special flyers that will automatically load spun/plied fiber onto the bobbin in an even way. I’ll write more about Woolee Winders in a subsequent blog entry.

But for now, I’m happy with almost two full bobbins of singles and soon I’ll have a couple of hanks of handspun Jacob yarn.

Current Spinning and Crochet

As noted in the body of the blog, I had a surge of spinning activity, and I will soon start plying this fiber into yarn!

For those just joining us, this is Jacob fiber from a sheep named Minette. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the final yarn will look and knit up!

I also finished the latest Crochet Thermal Stitch Beanie.

I’m still very much enthralled by this hat design. As a novice crocheter, it still demands a bit of my attention, so it’s enjoyable to make. And I have loved how the resulting hat looks every time I’ve finished one.