Fiber Fool

If you missed part one, I went over the properties of the re-engineered fibers of Soy Silk, Silk Latte and Bamboo, showing staple length and discussing visible crimp almost a month ago. My wheel promptly broke so I couldn’t finish the plying of the samples until last week. I have to apologize in advance for having to use flash photography here for part two, but I think they are okay.

From left to right: Soy silk, white bamboo, silk latte, and carbon bamboo.

I spun all of these on the second highest ratio on my Majacraft Suzie Pro which is 12:1 with a short forward worsted draw. I did not use a reference card to spin the singles to a certain thickness or twist. Instead I decided to just spin the fiber how it would easily spin for me. Seeing as how I spin pretty fine in order to get sock weight yarns in 2 or 3 plies they all were quite fine. The soy silk sample did not get much twist in it, however.

I found both of the bamboo fibers to be the easiest to spin. There was just enough grab, but it still drafted smoothly. The soy silk and silk latte were trickier to spin. The fiber came apart very easily, but at the same time didn’t draft as smoothly as the bamboo. If you pre-drafted it spun smoother, but it was easy to break the fiber source. I found just the slightest pre-drafting worked best. And when I say slight, I mean it almost shouldn’t be called pre-drafting! With both of those I also ended with a lot of waste sticking to me rather than making it onto the bobbin. Using a piece of satin fabric on my lap lessened the waste and kept my clothes clean. I have since run across suggestions to spin the soy silk and silk latte from the fold…

With the angled shot above you can see the ply twist as well as the sheen of the final 2-ply yarns. My favorite in overall hand was also the bamboo fibers. Though part of that could just be a result of the spinning. Since the bamboo spun easier the final yarn was more consistent. I am intrigued to go back and give the soy silk and silk latte another go since they were the first two samples I spun up. I’m wondering if the success with the bamboo fibers wouldn’t have helped me develop better drafting techniques for slick fibers. I think the bamboo is always going to be somewhat easier to spin than the others, but I am wondering if the soy and milk fibers wouldn’t spin a bit easier for me now that I have had some more practice.

Since I have under an ounce of the bamboos and the silk latte now that I made these samples I think those will ultimately either get blended in with some fiber for socks or become one ply in a three ply yarn for socks.