Okay, so let's finish preparing the fiber. The locks are obviously long so by using that same fiber as my base, I can keep it fairly thin. But I need the fibers going more or less the save direction. That's what hand carders are for. Basically, they're brushes for fiber. Here's mine...
So, you just simply dump a bunch of fiber on one card and start carding.
|
| Uncombed but picked fiber |
|
 |
| Combed you can see how the fibers lay more or less parallel. |
|
 |
| Take the fibers off the cards. Normally you would roll them from the long side for woolen spinning, but I want them to be more worsted which means they lie in the same direction so I'll roll from the short end. |
 |
| And voila! Faux roving to use as my base for tailspinning. To the wheel Batman! |
|
|
 |
| So spin a few yards of just plain yarn, then lay out your individual locks for easy access since you'll be using both hands quite a bit. |
 |
| Start by splitting your fiber up the middle, going for roughly in half. Make sure you have over-twisted a bit to make the next steps easier. |
 |
| Pick up a lock, bringing the tail forward over your finger and press it up between the fibers, holding the back section firmly in that hand. Now use your other hand to wrap that tail around the front section of the fiber... |
 |
| ...like this. I do this because it secures the tail better without having to over-spin your yarn. The goal here is a nicely balanced tail spun yarn. |
|
 |
| Now, flip the lock up parallel to your yarn and let the twist flow into both sections, securing the tail and taking out the extra twist you put in before placing the lock. |
 |
| You can see here that its not really tight even though I am holding it with some tension. |
 |
| Repeat until you run out of locks or patience, whichever comes first. Just remember the goal is pretty AND balanced. I don't hang weights on any of my yarns, they stand on their own merits and I'm getting close to perfectly balanced yarn with this method.
| | | | |
|
