Sailboat batts

So here's my next batch of batts. I had trouble coming up with the right colour combination but I love how they turned out in the end. I think I have about 100g.

First of all I had a medium bright blue braid that was a bit dull. Also it was kind of compacted and dense so it was going to be hard to draft. The best solution for this is to divide the roving lengthwise a few times then pre-draft if you need to. But putting compacted fibre through a drum carder will fluff it right back up (you do have to pick it apart a bit).

So I turned that blue braid into the first batt. Then I had a pale minty green braid that I turned into the second batt. I had over-dyed some of the blue with dark brown but when I tried blending the three colours, the results were disappointing.

So I picked a small ball of yellow roving that I had on hand and blended that with the medium blue and pale minty blue batts. Adding yellow to the bright blue was a great way to make it harmonize with the minty (more turquoise) blue. It looks kind of white in the photo... it's just so pale the little tint of colour doesn't show up very well.

The fibre I used for these batts was all merino. I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between fibres. Corriedale  in a braid sometimes feels just as soft as merino. But after putting batches of each through the drum carder I can feel that the merino is softer, and also tends to "cling" a bit more. It's hard to describe but I think it's just that the fibres are more delicate. I find I have to be a bit gentler so as to prevent tangles - just turn the handle of the drum carder more slowly and put less fibre in at a time.

I'm calling this colourway Sailboat. I'm not sure why I keep naming my fibre when I'm planning to spin it myself but I just like to do it...

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Drum carding

the original hot pink spun on the left, the new blend on the right

I've now tried and instantly become addicted to drum carding. On Saturday I rented the Louet junior drum carder from Lettuce Knit and so far I've made lots of blended batts and reached the point where I am now rummaging around to find more things to card. It's like that.

Batts resulting from the hot pink blended with dark brown, and the hot pink blended with pale pink

So just to show you how it works, and how fun it is, I'll show you my main project. I had a 1/2 pound bag of very vibrant hot pink corriedale top that was languishing around since I didn't really like the colour anymore. It was just too bright. So I dyed some of it dark purple/brown, then blended that with the original hot pink to soften the colour. Then I blended some of the original hot pink with some very pale pink.

 Then I blended the resulting dark pink and medium pink with more of the pale pink while keeping the stripes fairly distinct.

I find I use the dog brush a lot while drum carding. I use it to remove the batts with gentle short strokes so that little strands aren't left behind. You can also turn it around and use it to burnish the batt as you would with a burnishing brush. It smooths the batt down and you can make a denser batt.

 The resulting batt - rolled up

The batts aren't too wide with the junior drum carder, so I've found the best way to handle the batts once they're done is to draft them out a little bit, then wind them up into a ball. Drafting out a bit helps straighten out any last little bits of fibre that aren't perfectly aligned and makes the batts easy to spin.

Now I have a big basket of rolled up batts ready to spin. And this is the resulting yarn:

I really like the look of it, I guess you would call it a marled yarn. I don't know what I'm going to make with it though. I should be spinning with a project in mind shouldn't I? Oh well I don't really mind having extra handspun around... although I will probably try to find a project so that I can decide the best way to ply the yarn to get the weight and yardage I'll need. But for now I just love carding. And spinning.

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