I finished some more laceweight yesterday - two ounces of yak/targhee blend from Coppermoose. This one ended up being 440 yards - slightly finer than my last batch - and is a two-ply. Even though the difference in comparison to the rambouillet/angora is slight, this one definitely looks finer - I managed a tighter twist in the plying.
I did have problems plying some of the yak/targhee. My usual method is to wind off at least some of the singles on my ballwinder, and ply from a center-pull ball when I run out of singles on the bobbins. In this case, even winding off on the ballwinder was enough to break some of those singles.
My next project is 1-1/2 ounces of a pale gray and black shetland that also came wrapped around a spindle. This is definitely coarser than the stuff I've done so far. Not that it's actually coarse - all is relative. This time I took the roving and divided it into two batches. I'll spin each on a separate bobbin, ply just from the bobbins (without winding off) and decide what to do with any leftovers when I'm done.
I think I may be reaching the limits of what I can do on the Mazurka as far as laceweight, though. Even though the shetland is coming out thin, I feel like I should be able to get it thinner. I'm really not sure if the problem is with the wheel (or the operator!), or the roving, which is a little less consistent than I'd like. My next attempt will be an oatmeal-colored shetland lamb fleece (with some intriguing black hairs) from a friend. I'm going to just open up the locks and spin it - it's gorgeous!! I may try this on my Reeves saxony. That one came only with double-drive, so right now I have rigged a scotch tension on it. I'm trying to come up with a way to drill a tapered hole in the mother of all to put a regular scotch tension on it. (I can turn a tapered peg on the lathe.) I have not yet found a good way to drill a tapered hole, however. Any and all suggestions welcome.
My other two wheels are a walking wheel, and a Canadian production wheel (which only has double drive as well, and I'm not drilling any holes in that one!). I'm not likely to get laceweight with either of those.
I did have problems plying some of the yak/targhee. My usual method is to wind off at least some of the singles on my ballwinder, and ply from a center-pull ball when I run out of singles on the bobbins. In this case, even winding off on the ballwinder was enough to break some of those singles.
My next project is 1-1/2 ounces of a pale gray and black shetland that also came wrapped around a spindle. This is definitely coarser than the stuff I've done so far. Not that it's actually coarse - all is relative. This time I took the roving and divided it into two batches. I'll spin each on a separate bobbin, ply just from the bobbins (without winding off) and decide what to do with any leftovers when I'm done.
I think I may be reaching the limits of what I can do on the Mazurka as far as laceweight, though. Even though the shetland is coming out thin, I feel like I should be able to get it thinner. I'm really not sure if the problem is with the wheel (or the operator!), or the roving, which is a little less consistent than I'd like. My next attempt will be an oatmeal-colored shetland lamb fleece (with some intriguing black hairs) from a friend. I'm going to just open up the locks and spin it - it's gorgeous!! I may try this on my Reeves saxony. That one came only with double-drive, so right now I have rigged a scotch tension on it. I'm trying to come up with a way to drill a tapered hole in the mother of all to put a regular scotch tension on it. (I can turn a tapered peg on the lathe.) I have not yet found a good way to drill a tapered hole, however. Any and all suggestions welcome.
My other two wheels are a walking wheel, and a Canadian production wheel (which only has double drive as well, and I'm not drilling any holes in that one!). I'm not likely to get laceweight with either of those.
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