3rd Thursday

As mentioned in a previous blog - several of us at the third Thursday spinners group decided to try out some 'long draw' spinning.  Everyone came prepared to work on some aspect of it.  Making rolags, spinning on a charkha, a takli, normal spinning wheels and drop spindles, we all managed to try out some new aspects of long draw.  Everyone was successful, and in my case by the end of three (pre-made) rolags I was starting to get the feel of it.

I had started off prior to the meeting by giving the spinning wheel a good clean/lubricate - something I should be doing more of, but this was a good break - I removed all the bobbins and put new leaders on them, and then I rubbed some lemon oil into all the wood, and then greased all the bearings.  It's looking and working fine.

I used the three rolags spun in singles onto three bobbins.  The plying took care of most of the inconsistencies and the resultant 3-ply yarn has quite an elasticity that I certainly don't see in my 2 or 3 ply worsted/semi-worsted.  I will have to get some more practice at making the rolags as these ones were not consistent and had quite a bit of 'fluff' in them.  If I can make better rolags and do more long draw spinning I should be able to introduce a 'woolen' to the inventory.  My understanding is for warmer/loftier knitting, woolen is the choice.

A 24 yard skein of 3-ply woolen yarn