Friday, May 16, 2014

Today's Experiment....

....in making rolags on my drum carder. I tend to get sidetracked quite a bit, especially when I read about a technique that I've never done before. I'll start by either reading or hearing about it. Then I might look at a photo tutorial...or two. If it really interests me I will watch a video.....or two....or three. Anything after two videos you know I've been sucked down the rabbit hole.   :)   I was definitely sucked down the rabbit hole this time. Good thing we had stormy skies for most of the day. It allowed me to practice making rolags from my drum carder. Wish I had a pretty basket to display them in....



Boy, did I have fun!!!! I ended up making about 33 rolags.....3 1/2 ounces in all. I used some Shetland top I had laying around. I used black and white. Ran it through the drum carder twice before making rolags with it. It was just enough to blend the two colors while still retaining a bit of color striation. I even made a mini rolag from the carder waste and spun up a sample skein on my drop spindle. Since my spinning wheel is in use (spinning for a sweater) I will be spinning the rolags using my Navajo spindle. I wonder how quick of a spin it will be watching all those rolags disappear?  :)

P.S. Watching videos on making rolags using the drum carder gave me a real bad case of new drum carder lust. So much so that I'm now saving up for one.  :)


2 comments:

  1. I have a drop spindle but never really got any good at it so I had to put all my roving I bought away as Id really would like to learn on a wheel - when I can afford the wheel :). Until then I read about or watch others.

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  2. Kellie, you may want to pull your drop spindle out again. It's a great way to learn the basics (like drafting and twist)...not to mention being very portable. I learned and spun on a drop spindle for years before getting my first wheel. All the skills I learned in my drop spindle transferred over to the wheel making it that much easier for me to learn....imho

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