Spinning Technique: Cabled Yarn

For me, spinning is a meditative process. The creek of the wheel turning, the feel of fiber slipping through my fingers; the rest of the world has a way of disappearing and I'm left with this amazing feeling of creating something special and unique. Spinning fiber into yarn can be a very organic process, and I often have the most fun when I just go for it and let the yarn happen without over-thinking it. One of my favorite ways to spin yarn is to have several types of fiber in a large variety of colors in baskets beside me, and I can then grab handfuls of fiber randomly. It's no secret that I love chunky, funky yarn because it's something that you really can't buy commercially.

Still, there are times when spinning techniques are important to understand. I've always believed that it's OK to break certain creative rules, but you need to know the rules before you should break them. So that's where this blog comes in: I'd like to talk about a few of the more interesting spinning techniques, and why I think they are awesome! For this post, I'm going to focus on cable spinning, AKA "Cabled Yarn".

A quick review: The simple S vs Z twist. These terms are common amongst spinners and represent the direction of the twist that you're putting into your yarn. Spinning to the left is known as the "S Twist" and spinning to the right (clockwise) is known as the "Z Twist". The easiest way to tell which is which is to just look at the letters and the direction they are going. The curve of the S points to the left, and the top of the Z is pointing to the right. I prefer to spin my yarn clockwise (Z twist). When I want to ply 2 z-twist yarns together, I do so by spinning to the left in an S twist. Whenever you're plying yarns, the general rule is that you ply in the opposite direction that you spun the yarn in. 

 

Cabled yarn is absolutely gorgeous, and it's very similar in appearance to a traditional round braid used in bracelet making and macrame. Although it looks intimidating, it's actually a fairly simple technique with endless possibilities.

Quick Overview/summary: Cabled yarn is created when you ply two 2-ply yarns together. Additionally, cables can be doubled as many times as you want to create some incredible looking yarns! 

How to:

1. Begin with 2 single spun yarns of the same thickness. 
2. Ply the two singles together in the opposite direction (so if you spun your singles to the right {z-twist}, ply them together to the left {s-twist}).
3. You now have a 2-ply yarn.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 so that you have two 2-ply yarns to work with.
5. Important: In order to cable the yarns so it has the desired look, you need to have twice as much twist in your plied yarn as you'd normally want. In other words, you want it to be over-plied. The easiest way to do it (thank you to Judith MacKenzie for this) so that you have even results is to run your 2-plied yarn back through once more, continuing to ply in the same direction as before. This may seem like it's not an important step, but it is!
6. After your two 2-ply yarns have been over-plied, it's time to make your gorgeous cabled yarn. For this step, I set my brake band tension so it feeds into the orifice as quickly as possible. It's recommended that you use the biggest whorl that you have for the same reason.
7. Take the two 2-plied yarns and ply them together with each other, spinning to the right (or in the original direction you spun your singles. There should be next to no effort needed for this - because of the over-plying from step #5, the two yarns will snap together easily. The result should be a balanced, beautiful yarn.

One of the most enjoyable parts to any spinning technique is experimenting and seeing what works for you. For me, my go-to spinning style is to spin a fat single with a thin single, creating my typical spiral yarns. Something interesting about these spiral yarns is that, in addition to being great by themselves, they also make an amazing palette for cable spinning. The cable adds more than an interesting pattern to yarn -- it also makes for stronger, more durable end product. Even soft fibers like merino and alpaca can be used for tough projects (such as socks) in this way since cabling adds so much strength.

Happy Spinning!

Holly 

                  

 

Spinning Mohair Locks

I am absolutely in love with mohair. There is such an amazing texture to it... it's so much smoother than any other fiber, and it's got an almost slippery feel to it. It also has a natural silky luster that makes it almost glow in the sunlight. I've recently gotten my hands on some raw mohair fleeces from a farmer who raises her own goats and sheep and they come from a very loving environment.

When my adventure started, I was faced with some understandably dirty, sticky locks. Here's the before washing photo of the mohair:

It took a few washes and rinses, but I was able to get the mohair clean of lanolin and ready to pick through. A little bit of chert (goat dandruff, for lack of better words) is common with mohair, so I had to pick through and remove the stray hay (VM), dirt, and chert so that all I had was beautiful locks. This process takes several hours for every pound of mohair that I process, since it's done all by hand to ensure that the locks stay as intact as possible (doll makers love to use mohair for doll hair since the curls are so lovely, and fellow spinners like myself love the texture of curly locks in our yarn). After picking through the fiber, I was left with this:

 I love spinning fiber from the locks, and this was certainly a fun spinning session. I decided to take a small video to show how I did it. My goal with this yarn was to keep a little bit of the curly locks, but also have a fun, textured result.

And the final yarn is finished! I offer this yarn for $25/skein or 5 for $100 (a $25 savings!). Each skein of yarn is custom spun for my customers, and no two will be exactly the same.

                                           

Dying Tips and Firestar Trick

I have a secret about dying that I'd like to share with everyone. Traditional fiber, like wool and alpaca, requires a pretty elaborate dying method that many people find incredibly time consuming. I consider my own personal method to be much easier and less hassle, even more so when you consider how I dye firestar. Now before I get into that, let me give you a brief overview for how I dye everything else:

Dyes I use: Greener Shades, Jacquard, and Dharma Acid Dye. I also use some all natural dyes that are hand made, but for the sake of this post I'll leave it to the professional dyes.

To dye roving:

I saturate the fiber in hot water, then lay out a large clear lasagna pan. This is about the closest thing to cooking that i ever do. After the initial pre-soak (only really necessary for tough fibers like merino, which are slightly hydrophobic and require more battling to get submerged), I add just a hint of citric acid to the pan full of hot water, then lay the roving out in whatever way I want.

I take my dedicated dye tool (it used to be a spatula, I've since upgraded to a flat piece of plastic that works wonders) and dip it in the jars of powdered dye, taking out just a little bit of dye at a time. I sprinkle the dye in whatever place I want it to be (or just mix it in if I'm being "free") and let the colors blend themselves in the pan. It's pretty easy to get a feel for how much dye is enough and how much dye is too much -- there's a saturation point where the color simply won't take anymore and you don't want to waste your dye. Usually that's not an issue for me since I rarely go with super dark colors.If you are just starting out, just look at the color that you are creating. When it looks how you want it to be, stop adding dye. It's that simple.

That's it. I make sure all of the wool has color (you can lift it to get the under-side),  pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes on 225 F, and when I take it out the water is clear --- that's how you know it worked. If your water is still colored, then you either didn't put enough citric acid in (vinegar also works) or you put too much dye in. A little bit of color left is ok, a lot of color left is a problem.

I love this way of dying fiber because not only is it incredibly easy, but it's also highly effective and allows me to really "paint" on the colors wherever I want. As a life-long artist, this is very similar to watercolor painting, so I find myself enjoying it a lot.

Here's some photos to show the simple dying process of roving:

Pulling the roving back to make sure all of the color is out of the water.

The finished roving.

Something important about dying roving is that you need to lift up the roving to make sure the color has a chance to get under it and fully saturate it. Wool, alpaca, and most other animal fibers are naturally going to want to repel the water, so it sometimes takes a little convincing. Pre-soaking the wool in warm water helps with this a lot, as well as lifting the fleece to get the under-side. You can gently squeeze the wool while it's under the tap and it shouldn't felt if you are careful.

For firestar:  the "Dip & Rinse" method by Holly Madison:

Here's where the fun trick comes in!

If you don't know what Firestar is:
Firestar is often used to add sparkle and just a touch of glitz to fiber batts, rolags, and felting. A little goes a long way, and it's amazing how beautiful a little sparkle can be (unlike angelina fiber which is 1) scratchy 2) can't be dyed and 3) is a bit TOO in your face for some people's taste), firestar is simple and lovely (I still like angelina, it just has to be the right kind of project).

Firestar has an awesome advantage over roving though! Instead of needing to go through the acid process, and either microwaving or baking it, you can do what I do and get wonderful results.

I start by keeping my firestar dry and making small bowls of the colors I want to use. You can still do the sprinkle method, but since the dye sets so fast, it's better to be prepared.

No acid  or heat is required to set the color in firestar as long as you're using Acid Dyes.

Just dip the fiber in the color that you want, and move on to the next color. If you don't want the colors to blend, you can rinse in between dips. You can also blend colors -- for  example, I was making a batch of bright rainbow firestar for a custom order along with a pastel rainbow batch. For the pastel rainbow, I dipped the firestar in the red for just a second, then dipped part of the red and some undyed firestar into the yellow bowl, creating an orange color where they mixed. A few seconds in each color is all it takes for permanent, beautiful colors.If you want darker colors, you can add a tiny bit of vinegar or citric acid and it will speed up the dying process, making it only take 1 dip for a dark or bright color instead of several dips.

I discovered this trick in a happy accident when I dyed some firestar  the wrong color a long time ago, and tried to wash it out. It didn't work... in fact, nothing I did got the color out! I realized at that moment that this could be a fantastic advantage since it makes dying take literally seconds instead of a half an hour!

If you want darker colors, you can add just a pinch of citric acid or vinegar to the dye bath. I sometimes do multiple dips as well to get super vibrant colors, but it only takes a few seconds in each color.

If you are using only a tiny bit of dye, your water will run clear after a second or two, and that's when you know the dye has set in. The other way of testing is to run your firestar under the tap and let the water get clear. You will be able to see how well the dye has taken at that point, and whether or not you think you will need a second dip in the dye bath.

And that's it! Let me know if you have any questions.

How we started

Blue Barn Fiber started out as a dream, and it has slowly evolved into a beautiful reality.

I always knew that I wanted to someday have my own farm. I have surrounded myself with animals my entire life and often feel that I identify with animals better than most humans.

When I was 10 years old, I volunteered at a petting zoo in Sonoma, California. When I was 13 years old, my family moved to North Idaho and rented a house on a 22 acre horse ranch. At 15 years old, I volunteered at a local Big Cats rescue in Rathdrum, Idaho.  And as an adult, I fell in love with a man who was just as much of an animal lover as I am, and I married him.

Dan dreamed of becoming a veterinarian someday, while I majored in Environmental Science. During my studies, I learned a great deal about the cruelty involved in factory farming and the negative impact that factory-grown foods and goods have on the earth. I spent a great deal of time focusing my studies on ways to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle, which included growing my own food and fiber.

My studies of alternatives to synthetic and imported fiber took me to a whole new world, and brought me back in touch with my love for animals. Specifically, sheep, goats, rabbits, yaks, and other fiber-growing creatures. 

Dan and I quickly realized that our shared love for animals and the earth could pair together to create an amazing, artistic business and family farm. And we have been working towards that dream ever since.

We started out by using every last penny we had to buy 200lbs of raw alpaca fiber from a local farmer who was moving back to Seattle. This was a terrifying risk and a giant leap of faith - but it quickly paid off. After picking through all of that fiber by hand and learning how to grade and skirt it, we moved on to sheep wool and goat fiber, then expanded our inventory to include more exotic fibers such as camel, qiviut, and yak. We also started growing some of our own cotton and investing in eco-friendly bamboo fibers and hemp. It soon became apparent that the fiber world is full of endless possibilities and we were just starting to scratch the surface. 

We have a long way to go. Currently, we buy fiber from local farmers and shepherds and we clean it and resell it to other fiber artists. We strive to only purchase cruelty free fiber and we purchase locally whenever possible.


We are pinching pennies and working every day towards buying our own farm where we can raise animals of our own. Even when that happens, I am sure that we will continue to support other small farmers by buying their fiber to dye and resell. The fiber community is small and tightly knit, and each and every customer that we meet is incredibly gifted and special to us.

We invite our customers to share their beautiful creations with us and show off what you can do! Thank you for reading our story.