Slowly and steadily, the Evergreen batts are being spun. I now have five spun (and rewound) bobbins, and the sixth and final bobbin is currently on the wheel. I’m hoping to have all the singles spun this week, and maybe, just maybe, have a go at the plying.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the final results.

I’m still working on the lovely blue-green Evergreen batts, and they pretty much look the same as last time , except I’m up to 4 bobbins worth of singles. That means 2 more bobbins to go before I’m ready to ply.

Speaking of plying, on large projects I really like to rewind my bobbins. Sometimes I’ll store singles on toilet rolls, and sometimes I have enough bobbins that storage isn’t necessary, however, I do really prefer plying from rewound bobbins. Other than the fact that they look really pretty, my plying also comes out better due to the fact that the yarn is nicely distributed and does not have to follow the hills and valleys (and thus speed up or slow down) like they would if I hadn’t rewound my bobbins. If I had a Woolee Winder, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue. I don’t. I rewind.

Here is what my bobbins look like after I’ve completed the single:

To set up for rewinding, I make a few adjustments on my wheel. After putting on an empty bobbin I hook both loops of my drive band over my bobbin, adjusting tension as necessary, then hook and elastic band over the tension screw and flyer. This keeps the flyer from moving whilst I’m rewinding.

I place my full bobbin on my lazy kate, and place that on the floor beside my wheel. I attach the single to my bobbin’s leader without threading the leader through the orifice. I’m only rewinding. I don’t want to add any extra twist. I start treadling the wheel and control the distribution of the singles with my left hand. Basically, I’m a human Woolee Winder.

And here is how my bobbins look after being rewound. No hills, no valleys, and gosh darn pretty, too.

There are many options when it comes to rewinding your singles, and this is what works for me on my Kromski Symphony. I don’t know if this will work on a non-double drive wheel as I’ve not tried it. I always ply on my Symphony. Your mileage (and technique) may vary depending on your wheel.

New stash arrived this week in the form of the Wildcraft Fibre club. The November 2011 edition is the colourway ‘Last of the Sunflowers’ which was dyed on some lovely coloured Shetland. For the first time in the 3 years that I’ve been in Karen’s club my husband has claimed the fibre. It is so perfect for him.

These lovely shades of browns and burnt yellows and oranges are going to be turned into the yoke portion of a garter yoke cardigan or pullover. The main body colour and yarn is still to be determined, but I think it is going to be a great addition to his wardrobe.

I have a total of 200g of this fibre and will be making it into a traditional 3ply. It will also likely be the next item on my big wheel… once I get through all those lovely blue batts.

We’ve had a bit of progress on the Evergreens batts this week. I’ve finished off the first bobbin and started and finished the second. I’m quite chuffed, especially as I’m not sure much spinning is going to get done this weekend.

Most of my spinning is happening first thing in the morning after my husband leaves for work and before the children wake. Sometimes I can get through an entire 25g bump before they get up. It’s great. Other than being dark at 7am, that is. I find it a very relaxing way to start my day.

When I received the Evergreen braids as part of the Wildcraft fibre club in January of this year, I knew I wanted to do something special. A few months later, that something special required an additional 4 braids, to total 600g.

I carded the lot up on my friend Sophie’s drumcarder. A lovely mountain of fluffy batts, with subtle colours and shadings thanks to starting with the hand dyed braids.

I finished them up just before they all had to be packed away in preparation for the move. Boy, did they take up a lot of room once they were in batt form!

The other day, when my knitting took a bad turn, I decided to start spinning them up. I stole the only comfy chair in the house out of the baby’s room and started spinning. I always forget just how much I love spinning from batts. They are so easy to spin. And I’m really happy with how they’ve spun up thus far.

I’m planning for this to become a 3ply yarn and it is destined for either a cardigan or jumper. I’ll decide on the final pattern once I’m holding the yarn in my hands.

With a move abroad, I’ve decided to revive the blog. I’ll be talking about all aspects of craft and creativity that are happening at Chez Sheepspace.

Let’s start with what I’ve been spinning.

Here is my September 2011 Wildcraft fibre and spindle (the latter being a gift from Karen for help with this year’s Tour de Fleece).

I love the colours. I love the spindle. As soon as I received it it got packed away as we were moving. Once our stuff caught up with us, I decided to start spinning it as I figured that spindling was the only activity I could do in a dark room. The spindling got much easier once the lights were installed in the lounge.

The first third on the Studland Beach spindle against the second braid:

I’ve since started on my second spindle’s worth, this time on my Forget-me-not and Pink Lace spindle, also Wildcraft. How I do love her spindles, especially now that the extra long shaft comes as standard.

The singles for the jumper are complete! This is what I’ve spun so far on the Tour:

and here is the entire lot of singles destined to be plied:

I’m stoked. I’ll start plying them up tomorrow. In the meantime I’ve started working on my silk laceweight for my Aeolian shawl. Photos to follow, likely tomorrow. :)

My contribution for the day, all spun before tea time:

I have to say, I’m certainly getting faster at longdraw spinning. I think I should be able to do it in my sleep by the time I’m finished the jumper.

By 2:30pm BST:

On the Hedgerow spindle is Wildcraft English Wool blend tops in the Trudge colourway.

By 10:00pm (in a darkened room by street lamplight, no less… I love my camera):

There may have been some spinning happening. ;)

I have made some more progress.

In fact, I’m more than a quarter of the way through my 900g of fibre. Yay! :)

I’ll find something more colourful to photograph tomorrow, but in the meantime I’m finishing off my handspun BSJ. It still needs buttons, though. Hoping to find some soon so we can have some new FO photos.