spinning update

[horusporus]

I thought I'd share my process a little bit. Spinning lace for me is a combination of two main challenges: the weight of the spindle plus cop and the speed of the spindle. So, even though supported spindle is giving me really good fine singles, I don't ply as fast as I like on the ones I have, so I'm still using a bigger drop spindle (and one with a metal tip) for the plying (which, in the end, needs to be supported anyway so I don't break the yarn). On the other hand, I find it makes no sense for me to chase for bigger cops of singles at this gauge - inevitably there will be a snarl and later, waste. Which is why I've turned to chain-plying - I get to do manageably sized cops, and I get to join the singles by more spinning rather than splicing or spit-splicing.

I thought I share because I feel like I'm not exactly doing something commonly shared. :) what's your respective processes?

anyway, yarn porn:

updated photo of my current plying spindle. and you know, the more i look at it, the more i'm tempted to call it 'sweetcorn'.

over in my meatspace blog, i also wrote a small post on weaving traditions thanks to my visit to my country's national textile museum, if you're interested.