Each time I go to The Spinnery in Frenchtown, NJ, I am amazaed at Betty's knowlege of spinning and fiber. Denise was the other student. She was in the 4 part spinning class in August. Betty helped each of us with individual questions and problems. She started me with help in plying. My plying was loose and she helped be optain an even and balanced ply.
We then played with drafting and art yarn techniques. She showed us how to long draft. The left hand holds the fiber close to the orifis to have something to draft against. Then with the right hand you draft the fiber as far back as you can go. The first finger and thumb draft the fiber. Then you wait for the twist to move up and let the yarn wind on to the bobbin. This creates a softer yarn.
I asked her about the striped fiber/yarn and does it require navajo plying. She said no. It requires navajo plying if you take the full braid (unbraided) and draft the fiber across the edge all the way through the fiber. This creats long sections of color. Then navajo plying is required to ply the colors to be self striping. The way she taught us to draft the fiber is to take a strip of the fiber along the braid (unbraided) and pull (draft) the fiber. Then spinning the fiber down the strip and repeating. When finishing bobbins, they should end at the same section of the striped fiber. Also, they should begin with the same (top) section of the braid. That way when doing 2 plys, the colors will match up for a striping effect.
We then explored art yarns. She showed us that as you are spining, you can touch the yarn with other fibers and they attach. This creates a multitude of affects depending on how much and what fiber is used. The important thing is to have the fiber you are adding on your lap. The yarn can easily be over spun if not set up properly to do this technique.
Another technique was to take to yarns and start to ply them. Then take one yarn and while plying, move it up and down the the other yarn. This creates a cool nubby effect. The section can be small or longer. It is really cool with a wool yarn and a bumby yarn. The colors chosen can create cool effects.
Also, while plying, you can stop and push one of the yarns up the length of the other yarn. This creates a boucle effect. Again, it is really cool if one of the yarns used is bumby.
For the last two techniques, you can use commercial yarn in your stash to create the artyarn. There are many artyarn techniques that can incorporate leftover yarn and ribbon. It can be added to fiber and using the carders blended for spinning.
Old sweaters that are natural fibers (not acrylic) can be carded into fiber for spinning. Strips of fabric (old clothes) can be used in spinning.
So many ideas...not enough time!
Spin, create, be happy!
Nancy
Oatmeal
Peanut butter
Chocolate Chip
Vinegar 
Spritz
Gingerbread 
Sugar Cookies
English Toffee
Fruit Cake
Yum!
