Urbanspinner

Mini Maxi

Have you ever thought about what scale you like to work at? By scale, I mean how many stitches/rows/twists per inch are found in a piece. I've noticed that fiber folks often end up gravitating toward a specific scale in their work, a sort of comfort zone. You know what I mean. There are the lace shawl knitters and the chunky bumpy hat knitters. Threadies (i.e. people who crochet with fine cottons) and afghan crocheters. Precision cobweb spinners and bold textured art spinners.

I've thought about my own scale for a while now. In 2003 I taught charkha spinning at SOAR and had some examples of my cotton threads laid out for class display. Another spinning teacher came by and remarked that I work really fine and tight. And my first thought was, "No, no, I'm teaching rug hooking this weekend! I work big and fat!" It was a defensive reaction that I am still puzzling over. (Why did I get upset when pegged as a fine thread spinner?) But ever since then, I've been paying attention to scale, both my own and that of other fiber artists.

(Click any of these images if you want to see close up.)

My conclusion is that I have a wide comfort zone when it comes to scale. I indeed do rug hooking, using bulky rug yarns and getting about 24 loops per square inch. I also do punch needle work, which is exactly the same technique, only done with tiny needles and a couple strands of embroidery floss. I'm guessing it's around 200 loops per square inch.

I've done some crazy tiny crochet. I occasionally edge handkerchiefs using needle-like crochet hooks* (0.50mm) and size 60 or 80 crochet cotton. (Think of sewing thread only more tightly spun.)

I also started a project to make crocheted patchwork bracelets with slightly larger hooks and single strands of silk and rayon thread. I'll admit this one was crazy-making, even for me. I managed to produce piles of little bright squares of varying colors, but haven't yet found a way to sew them together that produces nice clean edges. (You should have seen the nearly invisible silk thread I was using to sew them, and the specialized minute sewing needles I ordered online.) This bracelet project is still on hold. I haven't given up, but I'm pondering a different approach to joining the squares.

Contrast that to my current project -- a thermal blanket for my bed, made from worsted weight kitchen cotton. I'm using a size J hook. (That's 6.0mm, or about 50 times bigger than my thread crochet hooks if you calculate by area.) I'm estimating that it'll take about 8 lbs. of yarn to make it the desired size of 80x90 inches. I'm using a very simple double crochet stitch, with waffle holes big enough to stick fingertips through.

(You couldn't see a coin if I put it against the afghan for scale, so there's Ziggy --my yarn-hungry black cat-- as a model. And yes, after my 10 years of blogging, he still insists on sitting on my projects while I do them.)

After two weeks of intermittent work, the blanket is almost done and it is enormous! It makes me look immensely productive too, doesn't it? But it's not much work than any of my other pieces. There are about one-third the number of stitches in a row of this afghan as there are in the edging. (It's just a lot heavier to hold in my lap!)

I don't really have any conclusions about why I like such a wide range of scales. I find mini and maxi projects equally challenging and equally enjoyable. I mainly just switch the strength of my magnifying glasses between them.

*I nearly had all my carry-on luggage confiscated by airport security last summer because my little case of thread crochet hooks looked like hypodermic needles to the x-ray machine. I had to show the security agent the lace handkerchief packed in the same plastic bag to show him how they were used and why I wasn't a drug dealer. The guy shook his head as he closed the case, saying, "You could do brain surgery with those hooks."

Cotton puni article posted

Okay, here's another article reposted from my old blog. It is a tutorial on how to make a rolled cotton spinning prep called a "puni". I love spinning these little things - punis are my favorite fiber preparation, hands down. They are not hard to make and have all sorts of color mixing possibilities.

Read the tutorial

Pride and joy

(With thanks to the inimitable Stevie Ray Vaughn for the title)

When I got back from SOAR a few days ago, the first thing I decided to do the next morning is put together my big Alden Amos spinning wheel. I took her apart three years ago to bring her to a class, and I haven't been able to reassemble her since. (The wheel is fine. It was just me who was a bit broken.)

Well, it was time to bring her back to life. And here she is, in all her cherry glory.

Here's a close up of the bobbin/flyer area. Alden machines every piece of metal himself for an incredibly precise fit between shafts and bearings. He also hand-forged the wide metal band that holds the mother of all onto the wheel.

This wheel was custom-built for me. And when I say "custom" it isn't that I just placed an order for it and waited for it to arrive. Alden has a very interactive building process when he makes you a wheel. He sends you his infamous questionaire, in which you measure the length of your leg, the speed of your steps while walking, the climate where you live, etc. etc. The questions aren't random. Neither is his request to send him samples of your typical yarn. It isn't to critique your spinning. He needs to see how much twist you normally add to your yarn. Alden asks about your walking speed, because we generally treadle at the same pace we walk. So he puts the two numbers together, and it gives him an idea of how much twist should happen ideally with each pump of the treadle. He asks for your leg length, because he needs to know how high/low to put the treadles and flyers. And he asks about your climate because wheels that live by the ocean, for example, need to include accomodations for fluctuations in humidity.

Okay, so I filled it all out and asked for a wheel in cherry wood. With fancy spokes. And oh... the flyer needs to be on the right side, not the left. I spin at a wheel the same way I spin with a handspindle: fiber supply in left hand, right hand controlling the twist. It is far more comfortable for me to have the twist entering the yarn on the right side. That way, I can draft across my body, just as I'd do with a spindle, in a very relaxed position, no strain from twisting. Alden chewed on the right-handed flyer thing for a couple of days, but he eventually said yes and didn't give me TOO much grief about it.

Finally -- and this is the kicker -- I wanted the capabilities of different speeds to spin different yarns. In addition to the standard speed, I wanted a high-speed lace set-up, as well as a low-twist heavy duty thing to spin thick singles and rug yarns. I thought it would be a matter of getting a few different whorls.

Oh boy, I was wrong.

This is why my wheel is so singularly wonderful. You see, Alden doesn't just slap a different size whorl on a flyer and say, "There, it spins faster. Go to town." You see... simply spinning a flyer around faster doesn't help much. Why? Because there's the whole issue of take-up.

When we spin, especially when we spin fine yarns, there has to be a very precise amount of tension on the drafting triangle. We need to draw out the fiber without feeling the wheel grab it from us. At the same time, when we release the newly spun yarn, we want it to wind on the bobbin INSTANTLY, with a really robust take-up.

For this to happen, there has to be a very precise relationship between the size of the whorl, the size of the bobbin, the weight of the flyer, and the weight of the bobbin. This relationship also has to take into account the increasing weight of the bobbin as it fills with yarn. Both the empty bobbin and the full bobbin have to stay within the acceptable limits. If any of those go out of balance, the take-up goes out of whack.The wheel will either stop pulling the yarn onto the bobbin, or it will grab too hard. This, in turn, can cause issues with difficult treadling or too much wear and tear on your wheel's moving parts.

So when I asked for different speeds, Alden said the only way to do it was to provide a completely different bobbin/flyer assembly. And... I got three.

(From left to right: Lace flyer, medium flyer, jumbo flyer)

Each assembly is completely separate. From the mother of all to the bobbins to the size of the orifices, they are crafted completely differently.

 

(From left to right: orifices on the lace flyer, medium flyer, and jumbo flyer)

Anyway, at the end of all this, I have the spinning wheel of my dreams. It spins quietly, silently, and fast like the wind. No rattling or squeaking. The take-up is perfect. Treadling is effortless. I can spin as fine and fast as I want, with any drafting method I want. And when it comes time to wind onto the bobbin... zing! It's there. I barely need to adjust the tension as the bobbin fills. I can sit lazy in my rocking chair and spin comfortably for hours.

It's a delight. I'd forgotten how good it felt to spin on this wheel. Now, I can barely pull myself away from it.

Oh, and it always amuses me to bring her along with me to some spinning event. She knocks down into little pieces. (All the legs and arms and turny bits easily come apart.) So in one hand I carry the drive wheel, in the other I carry a bag with the wooden stuff. It doesn't take very long to set up again. And people always gape when a wheel emerges from the pile of sticks...