Spin and ply a yarn - PEP BB textile.straw.spin.plyyarn

Here is my submission for the Textile - Straw - Spin and Ply Yarn BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
 -  show unspun fibre - from Cormo sheep
 -  show the process of spinning - photo
 -  show the process of plying - video and photo
 -  show finished yarn - photo including a scale

I have lots of drop spindles (most of which I made), two spinning wheels, and two electric spinners.  I used my EEW nano to spin singles.  I transferred the singles from the nano bobbins to cardboard bobbins.  Then used my HansenCrafts miniSpinner to ply the singles into a three-ply yarn.

Hi. If I ply the same wool I spun for this BB https://permies.com/wiki/151939/pep-textiles/spin-yarn-textile-straw-spin#1315773, which I prepared for this BB  https://permies.com/wiki/148266/pep-textiles/prepare-wool-spinning-PEP-BB#1165132 wil it be OK here? Or do I have to prepare, spin and ply a new amount of wool now?

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi. If I ply the same wool I spun for this BB https://permies.com/wiki/151939/pep-textiles/spin-yarn-textile-straw-spin#1315773, which I prepared for this BB  https://permies.com/wiki/148266/pep-textiles/prepare-wool-spinning-PEP-BB#1165132 wil it be OK here? Or do I have to prepare, spin and ply a new amount of wool now?

Hi Inge!

I'm looking at the PEP textile page, and I see these points:

spin 8 ounces into yarn (singles) - 2.5 points
spin 8 ounces into a plied yarn - 3 points

The points are largely represented by the amount of hours put into the task. So, I'm thinking that it wouldn't be fair to use "spin 8 ounces into yarn (singles) " for "spin 8 ounces into a plied yarn" because you'd be getting 5.5 points for 3 points of work. We could technically remove the BB certification for the singles, and then you could apply for the plied yarn instead, but that seems like a lot of work.

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi. If I ply the same wool I spun for this BB https://permies.com/wiki/151939/pep-textiles/spin-yarn-textile-straw-spin#1315773, which I prepared for this BB  https://permies.com/wiki/148266/pep-textiles/prepare-wool-spinning-PEP-BB#1165132 wil it be OK here? Or do I have to prepare, spin and ply a new amount of wool now?

Hi Inge!

I'm looking at the PEP textile page, and I see these points:

spin 8 ounces into yarn (singles) - 2.5 points
spin 8 ounces into a plied yarn - 3 points

The points are largely represented by the amount of hours put into the task. So, I'm thinking that it wouldn't be fair to use "spin 8 ounces into yarn (singles) " for "spin 8 ounces into a plied yarn" because you'd be getting 5.5 points for 3 points of work. We could technically remove the BB certification for the singles, and then you could apply for the plied yarn instead, but that seems like a lot of work.

Thank you Nicole. I will first go on plying the yarn I spun for the first BB. And then I will start a new yarn. The wool (fleece) is here, but it wil surely take long for me (spinning with a drop spindle only in 'spare time'). No problem :-)

I’ve recently gotten back into hand spinning, and it is bringing me so much joy!  This is a mix of two rovings from local dyers—a merino/silk blend and a pure merino. I spun and plyed it on a top-whorl spindle, and skeined it on an Amish niddy-noddy. It’s 508 yards of about a sport weight, and will probably end up as a hat and mitten set.

I spun some of my Gulf Coast sheeps' wool into into roughly 9 oz/420 yards of 2-ply yarn!
You can see how the wool was prepped here: https://permies.com/wiki/148266/pep-textiles/prepare-wool-spinning-PEP-BB#1307435

I used a drop spindle, and a lazy-kate-and-bobbin set I made from wood, dowels, screws, hot glue, recycled PVC pipes and cardboard.

As you can see from the singles-spinning photo, I did some of my spinning as a demo at a Church festival. This resulted in several fascinated little girls asking if they may please try, which meant that I gave up some of my original 8 ozs for lessons, which meant that I ran out of wool and had to add more to get back up to 8 oz, which is why two of the skeins came from wool I had previously dyed with indigo. (Hopefully, I will be able to find the photos from that dyeing project and make a separate post for that) I did however weigh the plied yarn to show that it was still over 8 oz.

I got some scraps from my sheep-loving friend. It's all free, but rather short-staple length off-cuts from skirting. I loved this project! I learned SO much! However, spinning 8 oz. by hand took hours and hours and hours~ the longest of any bb I've done by far! I spun bat-carded pre-dyed green wool that I broke into strands like a roving as my first-ever. Then I learned to ply it. Next, I spun short, white merino wool. Boy, was it lumpy! But after filling multiple drop spindles, I got better, more consistent yarn. Plied, it's pretty uniform in width and tightness. Finally, I tried spinning the brown wool, but since the staple length was less than 2 inches, I had difficulty. It was even shorter than my white wool "waste." Eventually, I realized I could blend it with the white and brush it into rolags that spun ok. However, it's SO chunky! It was amazing experience. Now I feel like I could spin anything!

Next, I tried two methods for washing and blocking the wool. One was a hot water and hanging method. The other, steaming and thwacking. I like steaming better. I used some PVC pipe for a nitty-knobby. It's 15 inches long, and each of these hanks wrapped around it as many times as possible, (about 70) making about 500 yards of plied yarn altogether. It took ALL of this yarn to equal 8 oz. of finished yarn. I recommend more points for this bb, or less weight required.

For this BB, I'm spinning the rolags I prepared for the prepare 8 oz of wool BB. (https://permies.com/wiki/148266/pep-textiles/prepare-wool-spinning-PEP-BB#2501416)

8-ounces of rolags, ready to spin

spinning the rolags long draw

I like to ply from a center-pull ball, which I made right off the bobbin.

making a center pull ball with a nostepinne

plying from a center-pull ball

washing the plyed yarn

my 6 skeins hanging to dry

Next, I needed to measure the yardage.

winding a tape measure around the skein, it's 42 inches for one complete loop

counting the loops in each skein to calculate yardage

    Skein 1, 78 yards
    Skein 2, 81 yards
    Skein 3, 96 yards
    Skein 4, 68 yards
    Skein 5, 77 yards
    Skein 6, 95 yards

The total yardage for my 8 ounces was 495 yards of yarn.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
-  spin and ply 8 ounces of natural plant or animal fiber
-  minimum of 2 plies
-  minimum of 200 yards of finished yarn

To document your completion of the BB, provide proof of the following as pics or video (less than two minutes):
 -  unspun fiber
 -  spinning
 -  plying
 -  finished yarn

3.5 weeks ago, Cathy and I went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and I bought some "scrap bats" from Thorntree Pass in one of the vendor buildings. I looked for BBs that I could satisfy with it and here I am. I don't have exact fiber contents but while checking out they told me most of what they do is wool and silk with a little alpaca, mohair, and angelina. One or two of the bags I bought have some sparkly stuff so I made sure not to use those for this BB. It all felt like wool when spinning. I used a Louet S17 Irish tension wheel. I'd intended to drop-spindle because I kind of like the slow rhythmic work and this is done during after-dinner TV time with no pressure, but I couldn't find one and it's harder to lose even a compact wheel like this. :-)

My unspun fiber:


Me spinning:


The two singles:


My intent here was to ply the light blue against the dark blue. But I got started and thought the too-great contrast made it ugly. So I backed it out and wound each spool into a cake so that I could draw one strand from the center-pull and one from the outside wrap and made two different plied yarns:


I hanked them into 60" loops on the swift and then did a full/finish by immersing them in almost boiling water with a few drops of soap, letting it cool, thwaking most of the water out against the sink, and then letting it drip-dry hanging in the kitchen for three days:


In the end, it's 8.3 oz and 1030 feet (343+ yards) long:


As a bonus, I knitted up a swatch of the less pretty of the two yarns mostly to test the texture. It's slightly overtwisted and I was worried about its softness, but between the Z->S twist of plying and the fulling process, it seems nice enough -- not the most luxuriant fiber I've ever spun, but soft enough for a scarf and I'm picky about my neck, so a win: