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.
Comments
Oh, no, something else for me to obsess over!!! ;)
On my Sonata, I can twist the hooks from side to side to make 18 positions to fill the bobbin from instead of six, so my bobbins do come out fairly even so long as I concentrate (sometimes I do go as far as putting a mirror on the coffee table angled so I can see the bobbin filling up, I must admit…) but I can see me wanting to try your trick.
I don’t think it would work with a single drive though (well, not the Sonata, anyway, which is the only one I can see from here) as you couldn’t put the drive band round the bobbin. But now I’ve got my new Mazurka… Hmmm.