Spinning for Lace

My first class at Black Sheep Gathering was with Cynthia Herron from Hokulani Farms.  I was really excited to learn from a master lace spinner on how I can improve my lace spinning.


She walked us through wheel mechanics and first thing she handed out was paper towels to wipe off all the moving parts from our wheel.  Since I brought my HansenCrafts mSpinner, there were not too many moving parts, but on a regular treadle wheel, her recommendation is cleaning and oiling every 20 to 30 minutes. She even set a timer in class to remind us to do so.


She then gave a great tip on how to tie our leader to the bobbins.  To attach, loop the leader for a hitch, then take each single thread and half hitch in the opposite direction.


The next tip was to separate the fiber into small strips and draft like crazy while your wheel is spinning fast.  She also recommends very light tension so the fiber is not pulled out of your hands.  I fiddled with my settings and proceeded to produce consistent lace weight singles.


To see how your two-ply yarn would look, Cynthia directed us to pull a strand directly from the bobbin instead of my usual pulling a little bit from the orifice.  More twist is going into the yarn between the orifice and the bobbin so you get truer look at what your yarn will do.  You can take off some of this yarn and use it as your guide when you are plying.


Here are the samples that she provided.

Cynthia even provided an idea to use all these samples for - ply with another lace weight single and use the resulting yarn to knit a scarf.  I think I'm going to do that and have it as a memorial of my lace class and Black Sheep Gathering.