spinning winterberry farm fibers

A few weeks ago, I went to the Wayland Farmers' Market for their fiber day. Before I tell you about the fiber I got there, I just want to say, that we had a great time looking at locally grown fibers, yarns, and locally made finished products. It reminded me of the farmers' markets I used to go to growing up in France.

There were a lot of choices, but my heart settled on fibers offered by Winterberry Farm.Winterberry Farm is a small farm in Colrain, MA. Jill and Jim raise sheep and  angora rabbits. Jill hand dyes beautiful carded fibers as well as locks and sells raw fleeces.

I fell in love with her beautiful carded rovings. The roving I picked was a blend of cormo and polwarth in a heathery blue colorway with little flecks of softly contrasted colors.

It took me a little bit of time to figure out how I wanted to spin the fiber. Being more of a worsted spinner, I first had to accept that the finished yarn would be textured. After sampling, my Roadbug wheel and I  settled on a short backward draw, with no smoothing of fibers, with intention of keeping the yarn as a lightly fulled singles. The short backward raw allowed to have a little more control over the diameter of the yarn.

After I was done spinning the singles, I really liked the yarn but felt it still had too much twist for a singles. I ran the yarn again through the wheel but in the opposite direction to take some of the twist away. Pleased with the result, I finished the yarn lightly fulling it.

Here is the result, about 450 yards of super soft dk singles with character!

I have started knitting the yarn. I am working on a simple, natural, button down vest for the tiniest man in my life.

Singles

Though I have been quiet in the blog world since my return from Paris, I have not been idle. I have been spinning a storm.

I have fallen in love with spinning worsted weight singles. I love that the colors retain their brilliant contrast.
Though I love plied yarn, I find that the colors are attenuated by the plying.
With singles I get to spin a usable yarn in a shorter amount of time, and the colors delight me. Imagine an hour and one half of relaxed spinning and a glorious skein to show for it.

Here is one of the many singles skeins I have spun. It is spun out of a Blue Face Leicester I hand-dyed a few months ago.

When spinnning singles you intend to use as singles, it is important to not overtwist. I set my wheel on the largest whorl in order for less twist to be put in the yarn. I also set the wheel so that it will have a fast uptake. I also make an effort to treadle slowly (I usually put apeaceful music on with a slow beat, somehow that helps remind me to go slowly.) I try not to hang on to the yarn too long, but rather let it slide quickly between my fingers.

The result is a beautiful, soft, yarn that holds together well. I do not full my worsted weight singles as there is enough fiber in them for them to hold well on their own.

I usually let the freshly spun singles sit on the bobbin for at least 24 hours, and then set them. To set them, after winding them into a skein, I soaked them in a lukewarm bath with a little soap. I let the skeins soak for about 30 minutes. I then rinse the skeins in cool water. I gently squeeze the water out, I thwack them, and then hang them with a weight at the bottom.

Et voila! Delicious yarn to be eyed, petted and knit up!