Rolag Spinning!
I had so much fun making a giant pile of rolags on my new blending board yesterday that I just couldn’t wait to spin them up! I set up my wheel on the 5.5 drive ratio and spun the rolags with a woolen method, letting twist enter the drafting zone. I haven’t gotten longdraw down yet on my wheel, so I used more of a short backward draft against the twist. There were plenty of lumps and bumps, and while I wasn’t expecting a super smooth yarn, this still tells me I need to work on creating smoother, more consistent rolags.
I spun 2 bobbins Z twist about 1/2 full and then plied them together S twist onto a new bobbin using the same drive ratio. Plying really helped my yarn look more even. I wet finished the yarn in very hot water with some dawn dish soap and snapped it several times to even out the twist, then I hung it outside to dry on this lovely spring day (it’s over 60 degrees 😁).
I won’t lie and say I am super happy with how the yarn turned out, but I did learn a lot from this project. My next batch of rolags won’t be quite as large, so that I am able to experiment on a smaller scale in case it’s not something I love. Lumps and bumps are normal with a woolen drafting method, but I came up upon a lot of inconsistencies in my rolags which tell me I need more practice. I also learned that having a game plan before making the rolags is pretty important. My method produced a yarn with a lot of random splotches of color that stand out in a unpredictable way. Next time, I will pay more attention to the placement of colors so I get a more cohesive finished yarn.
Good thing wool is a renewable resource! 🐑
It looks amazing Sarah! I love the colors! This was fun to read and I’m learning new terms from the fiber world. I would love to watch you spin at your wheel someday! I’m curious to see how it works. You’re so talented!
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