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Saturday 2 August 2014

TdF Finale

This year's Tour de Fleece ended last Sunday, and already I'm looking forward to next year's.  It's a time when we can challenge ourselves and try new things - things we wouldn't normally have time for.

The last little challenge I set myself was to try and perfect coreless core spinning.  Same principle as core spinning, but without a pre-spun core.  I still had some of the baby alpaca left that I dyed for the first attempt at core spinning, so I added a bit of lichen-dyed merino and carded it into batts ready for spinning.


There's a bit of sparkle in there too.

I started off a bit shaky, but soon found I actually like this method better than ordinary core spinning.


So, how do you core spin without a core?  Easy - create the core as you spin.  You just separate a small portion of your fleece and let some spin enter before wrapping the rest of the fleece around it.  Simples!!  Well, it took a bit of getting used to.  It's actually not as easy as people make it look on youtube videos.


By this point, I'd improved quite a lot.  The trick is not to put too much twist in the fibre - just enough to hold it together.  The finished yarn was still a bit twisty and energetic, but a whole lot better than the core spun.  Think this will be my favourite method in the future . . . and there will be more of this, I really want to get it right so need more practice.


Core spinning and coreless core spinning usually come under the umbrella of "art yarn" - don't think I'm quite there yet though, mine's more "scribble" than "art"!!

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