Welsh Black - true, undyed black wool By the and 50 similar items

Have you ever heard the term: "black sheep"? Most of us have. Originally, it meant exactly what it sounds like - a black lamb born in a white flock. Well, the Welsh Black is a breed of its own these days, developed by enterprising shepherds who crossed those black lambs until they had a stable gene pool. It's one of precious few reliable black-wool breeds. Doesn't bleach, and you don't have to worry about washing it with any other colors. Soft, pliable, and rich in color, this yarn is something I’m quite happy with. For technical people this was spun double drive instead of scotch tension - meaning it may handle a bit differently than something spun scotch. If you're buying for a project, you probably want to make sure you don't mix scotch tension and double drive yarn. Individually, my test audience doesn't notice a difference when using one at a time so you might be fine. Just stick to the same weight and ply count. This is sold by the yard. Purchase accordingly. I begin by pulling the roving from the bag - that's a fancy term for spinnable wool- and set up at my Ashford Traveler wheel. After a few hours, there's quite a bit of single spin up nicely. But the work doesn't stop there - I then have to wind it off onto another bobbin and get ready for the next step. Plying. Plying is the process of finishing the yarn so that it will be hard to unravel, and so that it will not twist anything kit or woven out of it into spiral shapes. To ply this I set up the three filled bobbins on the Lazy Kate next to my feet, and feed the ends into the wheel once more, just like when I sit to spin. But now the wheel is turning the opposite way, so the energy built up in the fibers will hook the three singles together. The step between spinning and plying, wind-off, is critical. Yarn plied in reverse - which is to say, from the end I stopped at - will misbehave more while plying, and as it's worked later. It may also have thick or thin spots. Wind-off is the process of transferring all that mass of yarn onto another bobbin, so that the end I began spinning it from will be the end on the outside, the one I feed into the wheel to begin the ply. In the process of winding off, over-energized spots relax and slack spots take up the extra, so the yarn is smoother all around. Once it’s plied, I transfer it into a skein, tie up that skein, and soak it in boiling water for ten minutes to set the twist in place. I then hang it somewhere with a weight at the bottom and let it dry. A few days later, I wind it into a ball, measure the yards, and consider it ready for sale or use. A whole day can be spent doing nothing but this and pausing to eat. With my yarn, you know you’ve got something professionally made, with care in every step.