Friday 27 April 2018

I got cocky

I got a little cocky yesterday.  Sigh.  Let me start at the beginning.

I started the day with a full bobbin of Lincoln singles and I was eager to ply it.  I had such a great turn out with the first bobbin that I just had to get it done.  

But before I did that, I knew that my wheel needed some attention.  The last couple weeks, I noticed how loose the drive band had become and the brake spring and band were wonky.  I set out to fix the brake band first and ended up breaking it completely.  New brake band on and i excellent working order. Then I took the drive band off and cut it.  I admit there was a moment there on the drive band where I worried that cutting the drive band was a little cocky, but it all worked out.  Drive band shortened and working most excellently. 

Plying the Lincoln came next.  


 Just sublime.  No other way to say it.  I am pretty darn proud of this skein.  Of both of them.


I am now the proud owner of two skeins of 2 ply Lincoln handspun that is airy and light and pretty much the loveliest thing I ever saw.  Approximately 380 yards of awfully nice yarn.

The second skein is slightly more even than the first and much more of it has the lightly spun soft look I was aiming for.  It was a very rewarding thing to do.

That was when I got a little cocky.  

Buoyed by success tweaking my wheel and plying the Lincoln, I went to the box full of stuff awaiting plying and pulled out the green that I took off the bobbins that went to a new home.  

This happened.


It was going along just fine at first.  Nice and smooth with a really consistent amount of twist.


And then this happened.  I put the single back on my ball winder and wound it a little less firmly and very carefully and this happened again. My feeling is that it happened because the single doesn't have an even twist.  It probably would be wiser to ply it from a kate in two separate bobbins. 

I am going to recover the fibre.  I know I can.  I did it the first time, but it takes a long time.  And then I have to decide what to do with this.

 
Which is the rest of this fibre.  I don't want to go through this again, but will pretty much guarantee it will happen again if I work from this.

I got cocky and chose poorly.  Some things work and some things don't.  Not a bad lesson to learn, I suppose but I really wish I did not have to do so.

    

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