Transcript for Episode 101:
Combination Drafting vs. Combination Spinning
When you hear another spinner say the word "combination," what do you think of? There are actually two different spinning techniques that are both described with this word, and that can be confusing, especially since both techniques are ways of managing color when spinning with multicolored braids. In this episode, I'll define both terms so you'll be crystal clear on the distinction. I'll also talk about a current project in which I'm actually combining both techniques, and explain why.
Hello there darling Sheepspotter! Welcome to episode 101 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and I'm on a mission to help you make more yarns you love. I'm so glad you're here!
I love multicolored braids. I love to make them, and I love to spin them. I sometimes leave spinning projects languishing for months when I'm using undyed fiber, but I'm much faster when working with dyed fiber. I think this is because I often get bogged down at the plying stage with naturally-colored projects, whereas when I'm working with multicolored braids I can't wait to ply, because I want to see what the colors do. Same thing with knitting projects: I can plan a project for undyed fiber, spin the fiber, manage to ply it, and then I just find the knitting really, really boring and it sits forever. But when I'm working with dyed fiber with lots of colors, I find the knitting fascinating. So I've learned that when I really want to get something done, I should probably start with multicolored braids.
But what if the thing I want to make is big, like a sweater, where I might need a couple of pounds of fiber. Here things get a little trickier. When I first started spinning I would buy a fleece when I wanted to knit something that required a lot of yardage. I love washing and prepping fleeces; I'm just less enthused when it gets to the plying and knitting parts. As a result I probably have 5 or 6 sweater quantities of naturally colored handspun yarn sitting in my stash—and they've been there for years.
I could buy large amounts of a single hand-dyed colorway, but I usually don't. I did this once and ended up not loving the colorway in person as much as I thought I would and then I had two pounds of it in my stash.
So what's a multicolored-braid-loving spinner to do? My favorite way to create a large quantity of yarns is by combining different colorways. Let's talk about the two ways to do this.
The distinction
The first way is called "combination drafting." In this technique, you choose two (or more, but I recommend starting with two) different colorways, strip them down into narrow strips, and spin them together, drafting from both colorways at the same time. The result is a barber pole effect in your singles; once you've mastered combination drafting every bit of your yarn will have at least two colors in it. A great resource for this is Felicia Lo's Craftsy class, Spinning Dyed Fiber.
The second way is called combination (or more usually, "combo") spinning, introduced to the spinning world by Tracy Lew of the PassioKnit Spinner Podcast. In this technique, you take multiple braids in different colorways (if I'm going for a sweater quantity I usually use 8 or 9 braids) and divide them up into an equal number of parts. Then you take one piece of each braid and bundle them together into a little bundle. You do this for however many parts you've divided your braids into, and then you spin each little bundle sequentially. So you're combining the colorways in such a way as to evenly distribute each colorway evenly through all parts of the yarn.
So: combination drafting = taking two or more colorways and drafting them together to create a barber pole yarn in which all colors are represented in each inch of the singles.
Combination or combo spinning = taking lots of different colorways, dividing them up, creating bundles with a piece of each colorway, and spinning the bundles sequentially.
I hope that clears up the confusion on each technique. If you're saying, "Wait a minute, Sasha, I need more information about exactly how to do this," it's coming right up. Next I'm going to describe how I prepare fiber for and execute each technique. Then I'm going to say a few words about how to select braids to combine. And I'm going to wrap up by talking about how I'm using them together right now and why.
Combo drafting tips
Combo drafting can be a little bit tricky to manage at first. You've got these two strips of fiber and it can be a challenge to keep both of them going into the draft at the same time. Here are a few tips that I've found have helped me get a nice even result when combo drafting:
Use a short draft. It will give the most control, and allow you to persuade the reluctant colorway to catch up with the more eager one so that you're drafting both colorways consistently.
Use thin strips. Combination drafting will absolutely keep you on your toes when it comes to managing your fiber supply, so make it easier on yourself by working with small amounts.
Use fiber with similar staple lengths (at least while you're learning). This will make drafting much, much easier.
Predraft. I find that I get much better results, and I enjoy the process more, when I prepare the fiber by predrafting the two strips of fiber together before spinning. This allows the fibers of the two colorway to start to snuggle up to each other and makes them more likely to stick together when you're drafting. If you're working with mill-prepped combed top, it also really helps if you make sure you're drafting both colorways from the easier-to-draft from end (I talked about this in episode 98).
Accept that it will be slower to spin this way. At any point in the spinning process, you'll have one colorway that's eager to get drafted and one that's reluctant. You may even find that they switch roles! So you likely will have to stop now and then to rearrange things. Which is fine. Let's normalize stopping periodically when necessary to manage our fiber supply. We're the boss of our fiber supply. It is not the boss of us. Be the boss.
Now let's talk about combination spinning.
Combo spinning tips
Combo spins are all about the preparation. Here's the process I follow to set up a combination spin for a two-ply yarn using 8 braids. First, I make sure I have a nice big surface to work on.
Then I unbraid or unchain all of the braids and lay them out on the table. I like to work on one ply at a time, so I first fold each of the braids in half and divide them horizontally, so I have two long strips that are the full width of the braid, but half the length. I set one half of each colorway aside. Working now with half of each braid, I fold it in half and again divide it horizontally. So at this point I have two full-width pieces of each colorway.
I like to keep my color runs quite short in a combo spin, for reasons I'll discuss, so at this point I strip each piece down into four strips. I now have 8 thin strips of each colorway.
I create my bundles: I take one strip of each colorway, make it into a little bundle and put it into a big bag. I repeat until I have 8 bundles, each of which contains a bit of each colorway.
To make it easier to keep my plies straight, I usually don't divide up and strip the fiber for the second ply until I've finished spinning for the first one. As I spin I try to mix up the order of the pieces so it's not the same each time. Then I just repeat the process above for the second ply and I'm ready to go.
Choosing colorways
When I'm choosing braids to combine, I always make sure that they all have at least one color in common, but I prefer my results when the braids share a couple of colors, because I'm usually going for a quieter final fabric. And that brings me to the effects these techniques create in cloth, and why I've chosen to combine them.
Combination drafted yarns will blend the colors in the colorways you've chosen a lot. That's because most of the singles you spin by combination drafting will have two colors in it. When you ply your combination-drafted singles, you'll have up to four colors in any one spot. When we see small amounts of color right next to each other, our brain does something called "optical mixing." Rather than seeing four distinct colors, your brain kind of smushes them together and you'll perceive them as a blend of the colors. The smaller the bits of color, the more your brain does this and the "blendier" your fabric looks.
This means that combination-drafted yarns create a fabric that gives an overall blended effect.
Two-ply combo-spun yarns work like any other two-ply, where you can have at most two colors plied together at any point in the yarn for a marbled effect, and there will be places where the two plies are the same color. This often creates a fabric with a pronounced striped effect. You can mix up the colors more and minimize this striping by stripping down your fiber so you have shorter lengths of color in your yarn. In general, I want to minimize striping and maximize blending in the yarn I'm going to use for garments, which is why I strip down my fiber when combo spinning.
In the combo spin project I'm working on now, I was getting more striping than I wanted in my initial sample swatch (I'll put a picture of the singles for the first ply and the swatch in the show notes). So I stripped down the fiber even more throughout the first ply. But because I want the blendiest (technical term) fabric possible, I decided to combo draft the second ply. This means that at any point in the yarn I may have as many as three colors, rather than two. So from the point of view of color management, I'll get the blending you would normally see in a three-ply. I'm about mid-way through the second ply right now, and I'm very excited to see what happens, and if I get the blended effect I'm going for. I'll keep you posted!
I would love to know about your experience with either of these two techniques. Have you tried them? If so, I would love to see pictures of your yarns and projects! You can post them in the thread dedicated to this episode in The Flock, Sheepspot's free online community for inquisitive hand spinners. Here's how. Three steps; easy peasy.
Go to the show notes for this episode at sheepspot.com/podcast/episode101.
Click on the link to the Flock thread for this episode. If you haven't joined The Flock, you'll need to set up a free account before going to the thread.
Go to the thread and post your pictures!
Thank you so much for listening, dear Sheepspotter. That's it for me this week. I'll be back next week with a new episode and a new monthly theme. We'll be focusing on plying and yarn structure during the month of May and you don't want to miss it. In the meantime, carve out some time to spin something. You know it will do you good.