Notes on spinning dyed roving
Last night, I started to spin up the roving I dyed. It was late, and I probably should have started earlier, but I was busy pretending I was going to do actual work instead of puttering around with sheep hair.
I noticed a couple of things. First, it seems to have shrunk up a bit from the hot water in the dye bath. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since if the fibers have already shrunk then there's that much less shrinkage that can happen after it's spun and knitted into something. However, the fibers themselves seem shorter than before, so my thread is more inconsistent when I spin because I'm not anticipating accurately.
Second, and probably related to the first observation, the fibers seem a bit more reluctant to draft; that is, to be pulled forward from the roving to be spun. Maybe they're more jammed together from shrinking. So, I guess a lot more pre-drafting instead of just drafting and spinning all in one operation.
Third, the fibers, once I get them going, are a lot more *slick* than before. I think this must be due to the vinegar I used to help the dye stick to the fiber and prevent future color bleed. Vinegar also smoothes down the scales on the individual fibers so the whole feels softer, but then the fibers don't cling to each other as well as before. Thus, I had a lot more thread breakage than normal because the fibers were shorter and more slippery.
I noticed a couple of things. First, it seems to have shrunk up a bit from the hot water in the dye bath. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since if the fibers have already shrunk then there's that much less shrinkage that can happen after it's spun and knitted into something. However, the fibers themselves seem shorter than before, so my thread is more inconsistent when I spin because I'm not anticipating accurately.
Second, and probably related to the first observation, the fibers seem a bit more reluctant to draft; that is, to be pulled forward from the roving to be spun. Maybe they're more jammed together from shrinking. So, I guess a lot more pre-drafting instead of just drafting and spinning all in one operation.
Third, the fibers, once I get them going, are a lot more *slick* than before. I think this must be due to the vinegar I used to help the dye stick to the fiber and prevent future color bleed. Vinegar also smoothes down the scales on the individual fibers so the whole feels softer, but then the fibers don't cling to each other as well as before. Thus, I had a lot more thread breakage than normal because the fibers were shorter and more slippery.