At long last, I’ve finished spinning the carbonized bamboo I started talking about several months ago. My motivation was the Tour de Fleece, the spinning event that coincides with the Tour de France.

One of the ‘rules’ of the Tour de Fleece is that you should spin every day that the Tour de France riders are riding, which I am pleased to say that I actually did. Some of the days I didn’t spin much, but I did manage at least 10 minutes a day or so. That’s about the only guideline I followed, but I’m glad I participated because it got me back to spinning regularly.

But I digress. Back to the yarn.

The three large skeins on the left of the photo above are composed of one ply of carbonized bamboo and one of black merino wool. The final result is probably a heavy worsted weight yarn, very soft and bouncy. The two smaller skeins on the right also have one ply of carbonized bamboo, and I think each has one ply of superwash merino, although I’m not quite sure. Because I had a bit of bamboo leftover after I finished the black merino, I wanted to use up the bamboo so I just plied it with leftover singles I had from previous projects.

Here’s a close-up of a carbonized bamboo/black merino skein:

I don’t have a project in mind for this yet, it was just one of those yarns I spun just for the fun of spinning. I do have a bit over 700 yards though, so I should be able to get a couple of hats and a couple pairs of mittens or gloves out of it.

This is what’s currently on my spinning wheel–it’s carbonized bamboo!

After reading a bit on how to spin it, I tried a couple of techniques. What I finally settled on was to spin it long-draw. The fiber is a bit slippery, kind of like silk, but is not too difficult to work with once you get the hang of it. I spun from the end of the top rather than from the fold, but those of you that like spinning silk from the fold might find that technique a bit easier.

One thing I noticed about the carbonized bamboo is that the end you spin from makes a huge difference. Spinning from one end was a bit of a struggle; the fibers drafted out much easier once I reversed ends!

According to Louet, one of the suppliers of this fiber:

Bamboo carbon fiber, called Black Gold or Black Diamond by those in the industry, is resistant to ultra violet rays and possesses anti-odor properties. It also adjusts well to both humidity and dryness.

A rich grey, with a matte finish but a deep luster, this extremely fine fiber produces a stunning, unique and instantly recognizable yarn.

My plan for this is to spin some singles from some black merino I have in my stash, then ply those with the bamboo. I think the silkiness of the bamboo and the softness and bounce of the merino will make for some lovely yarn!

If you’d like to try out some carbonized bamboo (also know as ‘Black Diamond’), and you can’t find it locally, Paradise Fibers carries it.

This yarn is the product of another of my attempts to make a three-ply fingering weight yarn. Depending on what yarn weight chart you use, this is either on the heavier side of fingering weight or sport weight at 14 wraps per inch. To my eye and hand, it’s pretty close to Blue Moon’s Socks that Rock® medium weight, which they call a sport weight, and I think it will knit up similarly to that since it does seem to have the same sort of bounce to it.

I do like the colors; they seem sort of spring-like to me. That’s due to the beautiful roving I used. It’s a hand-dyed merino superwash I bought from Zarzuela Fibers‘ Etsy shop. The colorway is “Jackson Pollock” which she seems to be out of right now, but she does have quite a selection of beautiful colorways, so you should definitely take a look at her shop next time you’re in the market for hand-dyed fiber.

On a related subject, I just bought the book The Intentional Spinner: A Holistic Approach to Making Yarn which seems to have a lot of good information about creating exactly the yarn you want. I’m going to work my way through this book and then take another shot at spinning a true three-ply fingering weight yarn.

I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but after hearing Brenda Dayne talk about Jacey Boggs’ new DVD, Sit and Spin, I’ve become obsessed with wanting to learn how to spin art yarns. I’ve always been more in the camp of people that thinks “what do you do with those kind of yarns”, but after seeing the trailer for Sit and Spin and reading reviews for books like Lexi Boeger’s Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinning (Handspun Revolution), I moving over to the camp of people that thinks these yarns can be used to make some beautiful, unique handknits.

In case you haven’t heard about Jacey’s DVD, here’s a trailer from Sit and Spin to tempt you:

I haven’t ordered this DVD yet, just because I think I should revisit the books I already have first, but I do intend to pick it up. Good music, an opportunity to learn some really cool, creative spinning techniques–what’s not to like?

So what do you think: do you spin art yarns or do you want to learn how?

This is some yarn I just finished in another attempt to create a fingering weight three-ply yarn. It’s two plies of some merino/silk from a top preparation and one of a ‘mystery fiber’ I got a while back for free from the Copper Moose when I purchased a drum carder from them. The latter fiber is really soft, and I’m assuming it’s some type of wool, but I’m really not quite sure.

Again, I didn’t quite get this as fine as I wanted. It is about 13 wraps per inch, about the same as my last attempt at a fingering weight yarn, but it’s definitely an improvement in that it’s more consistently plied. I think the problem this time was that although the merino/silk plies were about the right thickness, the ‘mystery fiber’ ply was a bit too thick.

I’ll make another attempt at spinning a fingering weight three-ply soon. Third try’s a charm, right?

After being inspired by the latest issue of Spindilicity, I bought myself this beauty–a Russian spindle.

A Russian spindle is a type of support spindle that is typically used for making lace weight yarn. I wish I could give you some tips on using it, but I haven’t quite figured it out myself yet. The best I can do is point you too this video from Spindilicity.

I found this video via the recent issue of Spindilicity – another excellent issue, packed with good information, by the way. Janel Laidmain demonstrates how to spin down fibers, either from a roving or a cloud preparation (she’s working with cashmere and yak in this case). As she explains, down fibers, especially the extremely fine fibers she’s working with here, are best spun long draw with a lot of twist.

Her explanations dovetail nicely with my thoughts after my recent experience spinning bison fiber.

Last time I blogged, I talked about the ‘Sheep to Shoe’ kit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that I was spinning – and as you can see, now I’m done. After spinning the singles, I plied them into a three-ply yarn. It ended up quite a bit thicker than I would have liked, about 13 wraps per inch, or sport weight. I ended up with about 360 yards.

While I wouldn’t call this a complete success since I really wanted something much closer to fingering weight, I do like some things about it: I think the colors are great, and the yarn has a nice, bouncy texture. It’s probably going to turn into a heavy weight pair of socks for my husband.

Next time I try to spin sock yarn, I’ll do a couple of things differently: spin the singles slightly thinner, and ply with a bit more twist. I think if I can do those two things, I’ll end up with something much closer to fingering weight.

This is what’s currently on my wheel – it’s the singles I’ve spun so far from my Sheep 2 Shoe kit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The Sheep 2 Shoe kit consists of a bit over 8 ounces of superwash merino wool roving with instructions on how to spin it to Blue Moon’s specifications for sock yarn.

Following their directions, I’ve split the roving lengthwise into three approximately equal sections and am spinning it using the short draw method to create a semi-worsted singles yarn. After I’ve spun the three sections onto three separate bobbins, I’ll be plying them together into a three-ply yarn. With any luck, I’ll end up with the beautiful, bouncy yarn something like the Socks that Rock® yarn that Blue Moon is so well known for.

I think this is my first time spinning superwash Merino, although I’ve spun non-superwash Merino before. It is just ever-so-slightly to spin; it just seems a little more ‘grabby’ than Merino roving that hasn’t been treated. That said, it really is pretty easy to spin after making the mental adjustment to account for the grabbiness.

This is another bit of yarn I recently spun – it’s one ply of alpaca and one ply of buffalo (bison). I didn’t end up with much yarn – only about 120 yards or so – but it should be enough to make a little something.

This was my first attempt at spinning bison fiber. I got it at my LYS. The brand is ‘Buffalo Gals’.

The instructions that came with the fiber were interesting:

• Use a small whorl and set the tension on your wheel a little looser than for regular wool
• Hold it in your hand lightly – just as you would hold a baby bird! (my emphasis)
• Bison has lots of crimp! It needs only a moderate amount of twist to hold together.

. . .

I did find the bison a bit tricky to spin. It came in a ‘cloud’ rather than in a roving, and had a few guard hairs that had to be picked out. Also, the staple length is pretty short, and the instructions were spot-on about it requiring a light touch. However, once I got the take-up on my wheel set up correctly, which took a little fiddling, I enjoyed spinning it.

If you have any pattern suggestions for this small amount of yarn, I’d love hearing them. I’m thinking along the lines of a cowl.