Transcript for

Episode 114:

Spinning Commercial Fiber Blends with Mixed Staple Lengths

You know those blends of wool (usually Merino), silk, and some short, downy fiber like cashmere or yak, in which the silk has a long staple, the undercoat fiber has a very short one, and the wool falls somewhere in between? I'm going to be honest: I kind of hate these blends. But mills and dyers love them. And they're very tempting because they are so lovely and soft. So in today's episode I want to talk about these commercial blends, why they can be challenging to spin, and suggest a few ways to approach spinning them.

Hello there darling Sheepspotter! Welcome to episode 114 of The Sheepspot Podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love.

Remember the one and only rule of fiber blending if you want your blend to be easy to spin? Let me hear you say it, because I've mentioned it in all of the last three episodes. That's right: staple length is everything! The closer the staple lengths of the different fibers in your blend, the easier that blend is going to be to spin.

When you're creating your own blends, you can manage this by cutting the longer fibers to match the length of the shorter ones. With commercial blends, though, you don't have that option. You're more or less at the mercy of the mill, where they blythely combined wildly different staple lengths into a single blend with nary a thought to your spinning experience.

Why do the different staple lengths matter? Two reasons. First, they make it difficult to figure out a distance of draft that is going to work well for all three staples. Second, fibers of different staple lengths require different amount of twist to hold together (I talk about why this is in episode 66).

The other thing about these blends that makes them challenging to spin, aside from the staple length, is that both the silk and the undercoat fibers in these blends are quite slippery. The fibers just don't want to grab onto each other, so maintaining control of your fiber supply and your drafting is tricky.

All these factors can make spinning these blends difficult. It's not you: these blends present challenges because of the characteristics of the fiber and the physics of spinning. In the rest of this episode I offer some suggestions that may help if you have some of these blends in your stash.

Lower Your Expectations

The first tip is a mindset shift: lower your expectations. Your yarn may not be as consistent as usual, you may have a harder time managing your fiber supply, and you may find that you have to concentrate more than you would if you were spinning something else. Remember, it's not you. It's the fiber!

So stop expecting it to be easy, give yourself some grace, and just let the yarn be what it wants to be. These blends feel delicious, so just enjoy the process.

Experiment and Sample Different Ways

Tip #2: sampling. These blends tend to be pretty pricey, given that most undercoat fibers are expensive. But hear me out. With any new-to-you fiber or blend, I truly believe that it's worth setting aside some fiber for sampling and experimentation. I detail the process I use when sampling a new fiber or blend in Episode 15, so if this topic interests you give that episode a listen.

Basically, when I'm doing this kind of sampling, I try a bunch of different drafting methods, distances of draft, and preps (about which more below), spinning small samples, plying them from a plying bracelet, labeling each sample with a Tyvek wristband, washing them, and seeing which ones I like most and most enjoyed spinning. That last bit is really important. I may get a lovely yarn with one method but if I hated every second of the spin I'm not going to consign myself to misery for the rest of the braid. So the sample that wins is going to be an acceptable yarn (YMMV) that was fun to make. 

Consider Changing the Prep

Finally, consider changing the fiber preparation. Just because this blend came to you as combed top doesn't mean you have to spin it that way. You may find that it's easier to work with carded into rolags or spin from the fold. It might be that you get the best results spinning this fiber from hand combs. Let yourself think outside the box a little bit, and commit to making your fiber work for you.

So, to sum up, get your head in the right place before you start, and then just keep experimenting with the spinning method and prep until you find something that works for you.

That is it for me this time. Thank you so much for listening!

This is our last episode for the month of July. I am off in August, so we'll be re-running some of our best episodes on spinning fundamentals next month. If you're a newer spinner, these episodes are for you! If you aren't a newer spinner but you know a newer spinner, I'd be eternally grateful if you could point them towards the podcast because I know these episodes will be useful to them.

As always, there is a discussion thread in The Flock, Sheepspot's free online community for inquisitive handspinners, where you can comment on and discuss this episode. I would love to know about your experience spinning the kinds of blends I've talked about today, and what's helped you spin them. You'll find a link to the thread, and everything else I've mentioned today, in the show notes for this episode, which you'll find right in your podcast app.

Real-time, current Sasha will see you in September. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy spending some time with past Sasha. I hope as well that you spend some of August spinning something, because I know it will do you good.