Fiber Fool

Fiber: Shetland Roving
Source: Snow
Weight: 0.5 oz
Drafting Method: Supported Long Draw (Woolen)
Wheel: Cathy’s Schacht Matchless Single Treadle in Double Drive Configuration
Ratio Singles/Plying: 11:1/7.5:1(? the smallest whorl on the “plying whorl?”)
Yardage: ~40 yds
WPI/Yarn Classification: 13 wpi/Sport
TPI: 3.5

I’ve been with the Schacht Matchless that Cathy so kindly lent me last weekend when my wheel became incapacitated (no, my wheel is not yet functioning) for a bit over a week now. I have learned a ton working with this wheel, but we had a bit of a sketchy start.

When I took possession of the wheel I was hoping my wheel wasn’t going to be out of commission too long so I didn’t want to dive into a project. I knew Cathy had some specific things she wanted my opinion on so I just grabbed about 2 oz of Shetland roving that I’ve had forever. Snow had kindly gathered together a bit of a fiber sampler when I first got my wheel (almost 2 years ago now). I just did a quick run of spinning and plying about a half ounce of roving. The above was the result.

Now, I must admit to laziness on this one. I did not prep a reference card or even take some of the fiber and let it twist back on itself. That means part of the underplying can likely be attributed to me. And, it wasn’t too drastically underplied. I had about a half turn to the right in the hank post-washing, but just laying it straight while drying took out that twist. Just handling it though I still feel it is underplied. So I admit to being partially at fault. But, I also found that as the plied yarn was fed onto the bobbin it lost some of the plying twist. I have noticed this to a certain extent on my Majacraft and asked another Majacraft owner if they noticed the same thing and they said yet. That said, it seems much more drastic on the Schacht.

Can anyone ring in on this phenomenon of loosing plying twist as the yarn is fed onto the bobbin? Have you noticed it? What kind of a wheel do you usually ply on? Double drive or scotch tension or bobbin lead?

I decided not to run this 40 yards back through to put more plying twist in it because I wanted it as an example, but it is easy to run it back through.

Fiber: Shetland Roving
Source: Snow
Weight: 1.6 oz
Drafting Method: Supported Long Draw (Woolen)
Wheel: Cathy’s Schacht Matchless Single Treadle in Double Drive Configuration
Ratio Singles/Plying: 15.5:1 for both
Yardage: ~120 yds
WPI/Yarn Classification: 16 wpi/Fingering
TPI: 6

I switched the fastest standard whorl and spun the remaining roving at 15.5:1 ratio. By this point I was doing very well spinning on the Schacht and I went through about an ounce at a fairly fine weight in just over an hour! I decided that on the Majacraft I rarely switch to a different ratio than I spun the singles at so I stayed at the same ratio when I plied. This time I did have a reference and I plied with a good .5 to 1 tpi higher than the sample (prior to letting the yarn feed onto the bobbin) to come out with a nicely balanced final yarn that matches the sample in tpi. That seems a rather drastic change. But I seemed to have made drastic moves along the learning curve for this wheel.

Either way, I’m quite happy with this skein of yarn. It is kind of itchy given the Shetland and woolen spinning. In fact, DH asked if it is always that itchy. I think perhaps there has been a bit too much spinning of merino around these parts. I’m pretty happy with the Schacht otherwise. I like the single treadle (which I had been afraid of when I was wheel shopping 2 years ago) except how it comes to rest at the bottom all of the time. The double drive is kind of nice as it automatically reduce the uptake when you are putting in less twist, though ultimately I think I prefer the greater control of the Scotch tension. I’m not sure why, but I feel as though I spin much faster on the Schacht. That is likely just an illusion since I spun a bit larger singles than I have been and I was spinning woolen rather than worsted. I think I’ll be trying some worsted on the Schacht next. Though spinning some other Shetland from the lock that Cathy gave me is tempting as well as I could maybe have enough yarn for a nice Shetland sampler of some variety. Stay tuned to see what I decide I guess…