Clearing the Bobbins

Did I mention I only have three bobbins for my Ashford Traditional?

That causes some grief now and then. It only came with one bobbin, and I eventually managed to buy two more from someone at a great price. I've already discovered I need more. I can't tell you how often I have to take what is on my bobbin off so I can spin some new fiber I want to try--or wait until I finish what I am working on---or just sample over what is on the bobbin.

Recently, I've been spinning some alpaca I bought at a lys. It was discounted, because it had been there a long while, and the shopkeeper managed to use all capitols in her voice when she made sure I knew it was OLDER fiber.

I was warned. Being a new spinner, I really hadn't had much experience with alpaca. My friend Annie gave me a handful to try, and it was soft and buttery. Someone else had tossed some in a box along with a purchase I made, and it was smooth and creamy. I have a couple of samples in the Phat Fiber boxes I've purchased that I've petted, and twisted a bit on my fingertips...but I really hadn't worked with Alpaca yet.

I had to keep reminding myself of that as I spun the "older" Alpaca. So I wouldn't develop a dislike for the Alpaca based on a false impression.

I had visions of a nice, thin lace-weight yarn from the fiber. That was not going to happen, said the fiber. Oh, it spun. But was so fuzzy it was hard to see what I was getting.



I tried spinning very thinly, but it kept slipping apart, until I eventually decided to make a thicker yarn from this fiber. That worked better, but it still wanted to snag or to drift apart. Nothing seemed to help. I tried misting it, that just made it feel like mud and made it even harder to judge when the twist was right. I tried mixing some oil into the mist, and that made it worse. I tried rinsing some of the fiber, thinking it might have been dusty. That just took forever to dry and didn't change the feel in the least. Eventually, I just decided I would spin it thicker, put in a lot of twist, and plan on making it a two-ply.

It didn't help that during the time I was spinning the Alpaca, I got lots of great new fibers I really want to spin--and there was already fiber calling me from my stash.



Eventually, I tamed the beast, and yarn was indeed made.



It's not terribly even, but by the time I had gotten disgusted with it I wasn't worried about evenness; I just wanted it off my bobbins. In spite of how it looks, it holds together well, and will make a lovely hat for one of my men this winter. That should keep someone's head good and warm.



I'll have to dig out my notes to see how much I used and calculate the yardage more accurately, but I think it's about 250 yards long. It's in the DK-worsted range by looks and I'll do a wraps per inch test later.