How Not to Spin a Beaded Yarn

About 10 years ago or so, when I had first started to spin, I was eager to try everything. Once I had the basics down, I leaped head-first into thick and thin yarns, exotic fiber yarns, and novelty yarns. One yarn I wanted to try making was a beaded yarn. Didn't know the first thing about it, and of course, being eager, didn't bother doing any research either. I have found that I am the kind of person that likes trial and error, instead of alot of thinking and planning.

So, the only way I could think of making a beaded yarn was to string beads on one of the plies of yarn, then stagger the beads as I plied. I spun up some coopworth fiber as thin as I could, then took a bag of black irridescent seed beads and using a wire beading needle, I strung on a good number of beads onto it. Well, I quickly found out that it was going to be a very slow and tedious process. I managed to get a couple of small skeins done, but soon lost interest and put the rest of it into a bag and stowed it away.

That was 10 years ago. This year, I began cleaning my craft room and found the bag with the seed beads and the ball of yarn still waiting for me to finish it. It took some effort, but I managed to make myself sit back down at my wheel and start working on it again.



It was still tedious, but this time I knew an end was in sight. Just one more ball of yarn to go and I would be finished!



And whalla! It's done! Heck, I'm not even sure what I was making this yarn for anymore! I think I just wanted to see if I could do it. And I did. And I know I'll never do it again! At least not that way. I'm really surprised that I never had the yarn break as I was pulling those beads along as I plied.



So, this was how not to spin a beaded yarn. The way you are supposed to do it, is string the beads onto a thread and ply it along with the spun yarn. While cleaning my craft room, I also found alot of beads that need a use. I plan to do some more experimenting in the new year, and you can be sure, I'll be doing my homework first this time!

New Blends

Time is really flying by and before I know it, it's going to be Sept. and I'll be off to the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY. I had all these dreams of having new and exciting angora/wool blends to sell but alas, I have been lazy. Well, not lazy but definitely preoccupied. I did manage to start carding up one new blend. I'm calling it Phoenix, and it was inspired by Fawkes, the phoenix in the Harry Potter movies. It's a blend of red wool and yellow, red, orange and plum angora with splashes of gold and red glitz.



I used to get my blends carded on a professional carding machine and would pay up to $8 a lb. I've been recently spinning up some of the older blends and have discovered that the carding process leaves much to be desired. The professional machines break the angora causing it to pill and clump up. It's going to take longer, but I've decided to start carding my blends by hand on my drum carder. I think the personal touch will preserve the quality of the angora and create a much better product in the end.



I'm still waiting for my first angora/wool blend sale from my etsy shop. I have a feeling it's coming soon. Until then, I'll keep the dye pots going and the carder carding!

Spinning Short Fibers

Often when I am doing custom spinning of dog hair, I have to work with short fibers. I'm talking about fibers less than 1 inch long. In these cases, I have found that blending those fibers with wool or another long fiber will provide a good base for the yarn. The longer fibers help the yarn stay together and hold the shorter fibers in place.



I recently completed spinning Airedale fiber which was pretty short. I started out with 8 oz of dog hair and began blending in a wool that matched the base color of the dog hair. It didn't take much, only 2 oz but it made spinning the dog hair that much easier to do.



I first carded the wool then split up the batts. I hand-picked the dog hair after it was washed and dry then laid a layer on the take-up trough of my drum carder. I then laid a piece of of the carded wool batt ontop and began carding.



Once the dog hair was transferred to the carder I added more underneath the wool batt until everything was on the carder. I pulled the batt off, then repeated the process once more. I then ran the entire batt through the carder a couple more times to really blend the fibers together.



The end result I think turned out much better than if I had tried to spin the dog hair by itself. Also, because I blended a long fiber with the short fibers I didn't have to put more twist in the yarn than usual to keep the yarn together. This allowed the yarn to be airy and have some bounce instead of being too dense and having a solid feel to it.



Another tip I have is if your yarn comes out a bit mroe scratchy than you wanted due to the fibers used, try washing the yarn in hair conditioner. Hey, it works for us right? I've found that it won't completely soften a harsh fiber, but it can improve it somewhat. And it smells pretty good afterwards too!

More Dyeing Tips

A rainy day like today is the perfect day to dye...fiber that is. I've been working on perfecting my dyeing techniques to achieve better results. Something I learned about my self recently is that I've always been stingy with dye. I dyed two batches of english angora fiber this past week. One batch I held back on the dye, on the other decided to double the amount. The second batch definitely was worth the extra dye and you can see the difference below.



So now I understand why I am sometimes disappointed in my dye pot results. Don't be stingy! I always thought the dye companies were inflating the amounts they say to use of their products just to sell more, but that's not the case. I primarily use ProChemical Acid Wash Fast Dyes and I'm starting to use about 1 tablespoon of dye to 4 oz of fiber. It seems like a lot but to get those deep intense colors, that's what I have to use.

Another thing I've started to do that I didn't used to is completely pick apart my fiber before throwing it into the dye pot. I used to think that it was a waste of time, but after finding countless white spots that never got dyed, I started to pre-pick my fiber. Think of it as maximizing the surface area exposed to the dye bath. The more surface area you expose, the better the depth of color you will get. Picking also gives you a chance to separate out any second cuts and VM (vegetable matter). Believe me, it’s much easier to pick it out from white fiber than it is after it's dyed.

Here are before and after pictures of 4 oz of white wool I dyed Shamrock Green.





Everyone has their own way of dyeing, just like everyone has their own favorite spinning wheel. Dyeing is a trial and error kind of activity. It’s important to remember that fiber is a renewable resource! If you don’t like how it comes out, you can always get more. I've been dyeing for over 15 years and I am still learning new techniques. I'm working on a few new color blends I hope to share in the coming months. Right now, though, I need to go check on how my yellow angora is coming!

Hair of the Dog

I hate throwing anything away. I also enjoy creating something wonderful from nothing. That's why I spin dog hair. It's a great fiber to work with and you just can't beat the natural colors. Most people think "Ew! Yuck! Dog hair?" but have you hugged a long-haired dog lately and felt how soft and warm their coats are? Well, all you have to do to get rid of that "doggy" smell is to wash the fiber multiple times to wash out the body oils from the dog. This step must be done prior to spinning. After spinning it's much more difficult. Once those oils are removed your finished yarn won't smell like wet dog every time you wash it.

Just like any other fiber, if the dog hair is at least 1" in length and has a crimp to it, it can be spun by itself. But I have actually spun Bichon Frise for someone that was the consistency of dryer lint. I had to put a significant amount of twist in it to keep it together but it worked.

I have also blended shorter fibers together with wool. I have done this with cat hair because the customer didn't have enough hair for the project she wanted to make. I blended her cat hair with merino to match the fineness of the fiber. And she made a lovely tam (beret) out of it. Softness is something to consider when spinning dog hair. I have spun german shepherd before that was mainly guard hair. The result was a bit scratchy. Plying with another fiber can also double the yardage you can get.

For one of my state fair entries last year I spun my golden retriever and chocolate lab and plied them together. The entry called for two 2-oz skeins. I was literally chasing my dogs around the house with a brush to get the required amount!

If you own a long-haired pet, I recommend spinning or having your pet's hair spun into yarn. I still have two skeins I spun from my very first dog, Petey, a Keeshound that I haven't decided what to do with yet. Petey's been gone since 1996 but I love the fact that I still have a tangible part of him with me still.

Etsy Musings and a bit of Bathroom Humor

I've been working on promoting my fiber business for oh, about 15 years now and I'm still trying to make it "big". I started going to craft shows and wool festivals when I was in high school. It was a lot of work then setting up and tearing down the booth for not much return. It's still a lot of work and as I get older it seems less and less worth it. Back when I started, the internet wasn't really being used as a social networking tool. I realized this morning though, just how much technology has changed and how it's affecting how we small businesses are doing business. Having a full-time job, a husband and two lovely dogs doesn't allow for much time to absorb everything there is out there on the web. Mornings are especially tough as I am trying to get everything ready for the workday. My routine is pretty much the same, get up, take a shower, poke the husband to get out of bed, let the dogs out, make coffee, let the dogs in, feed the dogs, get lunch ready, make breakfast, unload the dishwasher, load it back up, put the dogs in the crate and out the door for work. In the midst of this routine, the couple sips of coffee do the trick and I realized, instead of grabbing the morning paper or magazine on my way to the bathroom, I've been grabbing the laptop! Why not, right? I have to check my email, my etsy store, my twitter account, my blog, not to mention catching up on reading the valuable etsy articles on selling and marketing. But this is now how business is done, on the computer. It sure beats all the hassel of packing up inventory, driving across the state to set up a booth for the weekend, staying in hotels, and packing it all up again the next day and coming home. I've cancelled all but one show for this year. I'm focusing on my etsy store and bringing my products to people across the country. I have a long ways to go, only 5 etsy sales last year, but I am hopeful. It's still a lot of work being on the computer, but I'd much rather do it from the comfort of my own bathroom.

Handpainting Yarn

Most people I meet in the spinning world hate to spin natural colored fibers. They say that they get bored when they are spinning all white, grey or brown. I'm the opposite. I love to spin stark white fiber because I know that when I'm done, I can go to my dye pot and create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. I especially like to handpaint my skeins of yarn so I have complete control over the dyeing process. Everyone has their own techniques, but I like to soak my skeins in a water/vinegar bath, then wring out and lay onto plastic wrap.



I use sponge brushes to apply the dye exactly where I want to, then when ready, I roll up the skeins and place in a pot to steam for 30 minutes. The results are sometimes breathtaking!



I don't like to waste dye, in any amount, so when I am steaming I always put a few locks of wool or other fiber in the bottom of the pot to soak up any dye that inevitably leaks out of the plastic-wrapped skeins.

If you have never tried dyeing before, I highly recommend it. Whether you are working with raw fiber or finished yarns, creating your own color blends using dyes can be extremely rewarding!