Tag Archives: Schacht Matchless

Rest Day

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Today is the second of two rest days during the Tour de France and Tour de Fleece, so it seems like a good opportunity to update you, dear reader, on my progress.

Aren’t these colors just amazing? This is a Spunky Eclectic Spunky Club selection from June 2016 in the color way Easy Peasy. The fiber is Cheviot, which is one of my very favorite fibers to spin.

I had two bumps of Easy Peasy and after splitting them into thin strips, I spun them end to end on my Schacht Flatrion in double drive. The bobbins are posing on my Ladybug. I still haven’t decided how I am going to ply these singles. I might chain ply them to make a self-striping yarn with short color repeats, or I may ply from both ends of a center pull ball, or I may do one of each.

This is another of the second bumps from a Spunky Club selection, this one in the color way TACO. I spun the other bump last year at this time. I spun these singles on my Schacht Ladybug in double drive using the high speed whorl and high speed bobbin. Nowadays I use my Ladybug mostly for plying in Scotch tension, but every once in a while I will spin on her just to remind me of how sweetly she spins in double drive. I honestly think that the Ladybug is the best all-purpose wheel on the market. She is so versatile and spins well in double drive, Scotch tension, and Irish tension.

These are the completed TACO singles. I spun this to make a 2-ply fractal yarn plied from both ends of a center pull ball. I split the fiber in half lengthwise, spun one half end to end, then split the other half into thin strips lw and spun them end to end on the same bobbin. When I ply the singles, I won’t have any of that pesky leftover yarn to deal with.

Lulu the torbie keeps me company when I spin.

Lulu says, Look at me! I’m so pretty! My mommy loves me to sit with her while she spins.

My current project is Be The Light on mixed BFL, also a Spunky Eclectic Spunky Club selection from bygone days, October 2016. This is the first bump, spun in double drive on my Matchless.

This is the second bump of Be The Light. For the first bump, I split the fiber lengthwise into very thin strips which I then spun end to end. For this bump, I split the fiber in half lw and I’m spinning both lengths end to end. I will ply the two singles together to make a fractal yarn that will probably become a scarf or maybe a shawl. I love the subtle striping of fractal-spun yarn. I know I will end up with the dreaded left-over singles, but I will cope. If there isn’t too much leftover, I will make a plying bracelet and attach it to the skein. I do this by winding the plying bracelet without breaking the singles. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. If there’s too much leftover singles, I will wind a center pull ball and ply from both ends to make a mini skein.

The TdF ends in six days, and I am almost finished spinning the fiber I hoped to get done during this year’s Tour. I still have some plying to do, so I have plenty of time to reach my goal and maybe even surpass it. YAY!

Tomorrow is a challenge day, and I’m not sure yet what my challenge will be. Maybe it will just be to finish up Be The Light or to do some plying. Or maybe I will try doing some long draw again. I’m terrible at long draw and really need to practice. But I’m so bad at it that I always feel like I am ruining the fiber. Sigh.

TdF 2018 Days 6 & 7

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More spinning! And with any luck, I will remember how to insert pictures from Flickr and add captions.

The singles spun from the Farmer’s BFL from Spunky Eclectic in the color way Aspen were almost but not quite finished on Day 6/Stage 6.

I finished the Aspens singles on Friday, Day 7/Stage 7 of the TdF. I still haven’t decided how I’m going to ply these, but I’m leaning toward a 2-ply from a center pull ball at the moment.

Day 7/Stage 7 This is the last of the second bumps from my Spunky Club, this one from March 2016. The color way is Black Pillar and the fiber is Po-Mo-Silk, a blend of Polwarth, mohair, and silk. It’s lovely to spin and loves to be spun very thin. I might get the singles finished on Day 8.

My Matchless has been getting a workout so far, but my Flatiron isn’t being neglected. I’m spinning Black Pillar on the Flatiron in double drive using the smaller pulley on the fast whorl (17.4:1). If you look closely, you will see that my drive band is black. I’m trying out a new to me type of drive band based on recommendations on the Schacht forum on Ravelry. It’s hemp, and the first time I used this drive band, I wasn’t thrilled with it. But I decided to try it for this project, and so far I really love it. I am getting a steady but soft take-up without any backspin and with light treadling.

The Hemptique 10# hemp cord that I bought comes in a boatload of different colors, including some variegated, and I couldn’t decide on a single color, so I bought a variety pack that has a dozen different colors on small spools.

Look at all those colors! And there are many more colors available. It’s no wonder I couldn’t choose just one

Each spool is enough for 2-3 drive bands (depending on the size of the drive wheel). I don’t think the hemp cord will replace the 8/4 cotton rug warp (seine twine) that I love (and that also comes in a boatload of different colors), but I will definitely be using it in addition to the rug warp.

Tour De Fleece 2018 Day 5/Stage 5

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I got a fair amount of spinning done yesterday, which was Day 5/Stage 5 of the TdF, but my frustration with WordPress continues. Before yesterday, I was able to upload pictures to my blog post from Flickr and add captions and such, but for some reason I can no longer do that. Although there is a button for editing a picture, when I press it, it takes me to a page that has the picture but none of the boxes for adding a caption, centering the picture, etc. Perhaps I just don’t know the magic formula for making that stuff appear, but I have to say that it is spoiling my blogging experience and may well put an end to my already spotty blogging, not that anyone would miss my blog. Anyway, I ended up uploading the pictures from Flickr to WordPress just so that I can put captions on the pictures. I will probably use a certain search engine to try to figure out what’s going on with WordPress and why what worked just a couple of days ago no longer works. Gotta love technology.

I’m spinning this fiber in double drive on my Matchless, which I am falling in love with again.

Spunky Eclectic Aspens which I divided lengthwise into very thin strips. I’m spinning it end to end and it’s going very nicely. I will probably do a two-ply from both ends of a center-pull ball, but I am also considering chain plying to make a self-striping yarn. When I spun the other bump of this fiber, I didn’t much enjoy it because it was very difficult to draft. But stripping the fiber and predrafting it has made a world of difference and I am enjoying this spin a lot.

I finished up the singles for this project, also in double drive on my Matchless.

Spunky Eclectic Romney in the Little Bluebird colorway, another second bump from a Spunky Club selection. I divided this fiber up for a fractal 2-ply plied from both ends of a center-pull ball, and now the singles are resting before I ply them.

Finally, yet another “second bump,” this time Icelandic wool from Spunky Eclectic in the Squirrel colorway, spun in Scotch tension on my Flatiron using the slow whorl.

This fiber is best spun with low twist or else it feels like twine. The singles are done and awaiting plying. I will use my favorite method of making a 2-ply yarn, winding the singles into a center-pull ball (actually a”cake”) and plying from both ends. With this method there is never any left-over singles.

Tour De Fleece 2018 Day 1

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Here’s what I accomplished on the first day of the TdF:

I spun this braid of superwash Merino from Spunky Eclectic in the color way Feathered Friends from the 2015 CLUB Remix.

A progression-dyed braid

I split the braid in half lengthwise, then split one of the resulting strips in half, which gave me one big strip and two smaller strips. I spun each strip onto a separate bobbin using my Schacht Matchless in double drive,

The two small strips are at the top, the larger strip at the bottom.

and I will chain ply the singles to create three skeins of yarn to make a hat (the larger strip) and matching fingerless mitts (the small strips). I hope that dividing and spinning the fiber as I did will result in stripes that will be about the same size in both the hat and the mitts. We’ll see. The knitting is a ways down the road still.

I also started the second project of the 2018 TdF which I’m spinning on my Schacht Flatiron. It, too, is a Spunky Eclectic CLUB Remix from 2018, a braid of Cheviot in the color way The Undead.

When I received this fiber, I had a hard time imagining how it would look when spun.

I decided to strip the bump lengthwise into very thin strips, spin them end to end, and then either chain ply the singles or ply from both ends of a center-pull ball. I still haven’t decided how I want to ply the singles, but I do know that I love how the fiber looks when spun.

I’m leaning toward chain plying these singles because I love the contrast of the dark and light.

Today I hope to finish spinning “The Undead” and maybe even start a third project or do some plying. I love the Tour de Fleece.

 

Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 5

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Well, another project that is going to take forever because I am spinning this yarn very thin, but that’s the way this fiber demands to be spun. Say I to my fiber, Your wish is my command.

Into The Whirled Herding Cats in Superwash Targhee on my Flatiron

I enjoyed spinning on my Matchless, but spinning on the Flatiron is heaven on Earth.

Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 4

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Well, it took me three days to spin up 4 ounces of Into the Whirled Gilmore’s Glorious Goods because it wanted to be spun very thin, but the 4 ounces of ITW Talisman (Targhee), demanded to be spun thick, and I obeyed. So I was able to spin it all in one day.

I was originally going to spin the Talisman for a 3-ply (chain-plied) fractal, but I changed my mind and decided to do a 2-ply fractal. I will ply the two bobbins together to make a subtle self-striping yarn, but the stripes will get progressively shorter from one end of the skein to the other because for the second bobbin, I divided the strip in half to make two strips, spun one of the strips, then divided the remaining strip in half, spun one half, divided the other strip in half, etc., until the strip was too thin to be divided.

Two bobbins of Talisman on the left, and my finally finished bobbin of Gilmore’s Glorious Goods on the right. The color isn’t very well-adjusted. The Talisman is shades of teal and shades of rust.

Tomorrow is another race day, and I think I will spin some more Targhee. But I think I will use my Flatiron instead of my Matchless.

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So, I haven’t quite finished the bump of ITW Gilmore’s Glorious Goods yet, but I still have a couple of hours of spinning time before I go to beddy-bye, so I will finish up tonight and start Project #2. I have really been enjoying spinning on my Matchless.

The bobbin is nearly full.

I think my next project will be a 3-ply (chain plied) fractal. I haven’t done one of those for a while.

Tour De Fleece 2017 Day 1

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On Friday, I prepared my fiber for the TdF, so today I was all ready to start spinning. My first project is a 75/25 Bluefaced Leicester/Tussah silk blend from Into The Whirled in a colorway called Gilmore’s Glorious Goods. I’m normally not all that wild about spinning BFL because most of the BFL I’ve spun tends to have a lot of nepps and second cuts, and the addition of silk makes it a challenge to draft. But this fiber is like butter. The nepps have been few and far between, there are no second cuts, and the wool and silk are so well blended that the fiber practically drafts itself.

I split the fiber into 8 strips and I’m spinning the strips end to end, keeping the colors in the same order. I plan to chain ply the singles to make a self-striping yarn with relatively short repeats.

The Matchless is at the start line and the fiber is prepared for the race.

I really thought this yarn would want to be spun more on the thick side because, well, that’s just what happens when I spin silk blends, especially when the silk is blended with BFL. But this fiber really wanted to be spun thin. When it’s plied, it will be fingering weight.

Day 1 progress

I’ll finish up spinning this fiber tomorrow, and I might even be able to give you a sneak peak of the second project I have planned.