my Spinning Frustration... help!

Hello all,

I need help with spinning this time:

I just brought this beautiful fiber from local Sheep and Wool
festival:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture001.jpg

hoping to spin it into thicker 2 ply yarn and make a nice winter hat
and mittens for my son.

The fiber is a blend of 40% kid mohair (second cut), 32% alpaca and
28% lambswool, everything naturally dyed. I simply couldn't resist
this golden mohair luster. And I expected to get something like this
all the way :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture003.jpg

Well, my idea turned into a total disaster: instead of evenly
beautiful two color thread I'm getting a 'first-timer' mess on
spindle, uneven and with places without mohair, like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture004.jpg

The fibers have very different staple lengths and very different
qualities, and I cannot get even drafting. I'm not an expert but I can
spin fine and even, like he

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture005.jpg

SO, is there a specific way to deal with such combinations or this is
all I can get? May I change somehow my technique before I 'ruined' all
the beauty?

It probably will be beautiful anyway, although it's not what I
planned.

Still hopeful,

Yulia

Hi Yulia,

I have no great advice but just wanted you to know that I understand
your frustration. I think you've got a challenging fibre mix there. Do
you have a wheel at all or are you just a spindle gal? I suspect even
drafting of this fibre on a wheel may be easier but that may just be
because my spindle skills are not great and I really rely on my wheel
to produce a nice yarn. Your spindle skills are clearly superior to
mine.

VP

On Sep 14, 9:40 pm, Wooly nobody@nunya wrote:
YW wrote:
Hello all,

I need help with spinning this time:

I just brought this beautiful fiber from local Sheep and Wool
festival:

That does look tasty.

The fibers have very different staple lengths and very different
qualities, and I cannot get even drafting. I'm not an expert but I can
spin fine and even, like he

Eh, that's the hazard with fiber blends.

SO, is there a specific way to deal with such combinations or this is
all I can get? May I change somehow my technique before I 'ruined' all
the beauty?

You can try carding a bit by hand to more evenly blend the fibers.
You'll still have different staple lengths but you'll have less chance
of encountering blobs of single fiber types as you go along.

In _Your Handspinning_, Davenport spends pages on carding, both
explanation and pictures. She covers mixing fibers on the cards. The
book is long out of print (even of the fairly recent reissue) but it
can be gotten through libraries. If your library does not have a
copy, ask about InterLibrary Loan.
Your Handspinning, by Elsie G. Davenport. Select Books, June 1978
(this is the American reissue).

Cece

Not sure how you are dealing with it initially, if you are spinning it from
it's length then pull it into strips so that you aren't holding great thick
wedges of it, and ease it out into spinnable widths, and mix colours
together that way... if you are spinning it as a semi worsted from over
your finger then you may be picking up more of one colour than the other....
?

higz Cher


"YW" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello all,

I need help with spinning this time:

I just brought this beautiful fiber from local Sheep and Wool
festival:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture001.jpg

hoping to spin it into thicker 2 ply yarn and make a nice winter hat
and mittens for my son.

The fiber is a blend of 40% kid mohair (second cut), 32% alpaca and
28% lambswool, everything naturally dyed. I simply couldn't resist
this golden mohair luster. And I expected to get something like this
all the way :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture003.jpg

Well, my idea turned into a total disaster: instead of evenly
beautiful two color thread I'm getting a 'first-timer' mess on
spindle, uneven and with places without mohair, like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture004.jpg

The fibers have very different staple lengths and very different
qualities, and I cannot get even drafting. I'm not an expert but I can
spin fine and even, like he

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...Picture005.jpg

SO, is there a specific way to deal with such combinations or this is
all I can get? May I change somehow my technique before I 'ruined' all
the beauty?

It probably will be beautiful anyway, although it's not what I
planned.

Still hopeful,

Yulia