Spinning for a Weight

     2 days ago, I finished a 2 ply yarn out of Malabrigo Nube Fiber in the Persia colorway. It's a merino roving and it was fun to spin. After this, I had some more of a single that I Navajo Plied on my RoadBug which I will upload later.

     This was a nice bit of yarn that will likely become a hat or perhaps some finger-less mitts. However, I have only ever done 2 ply and I really wanted to get into Navajo plying even though I had tried and failed several times. So...

 With the help of some awesome friends, I watched a tutorial and did my first Navajo ply on my medium-sized Turkish drop spindle. The bit of red yarn here is some Malabrigo Nube fiber as well in a different colorway (I don't remember the name). It was very fun and a lot easier on the spindle than trying to do it on the wheel first thing. I learned how to draft fiber well through my drop spindle, so I think it is safe to say a drop spindle is a great way to learn new techniques! I am so excited that I can Navajo ply yarn now and it's so much easier than the tutorials make it look.
I can't wait to upload the yarn I plied on my wheel later today!

I wanted to briefly give some pointers if you are a newer spinner and you want fine yarn but don't really know how to get it. The first picture is my very first fingering weight yarn, which I was excited about.

1. Understand your wheel. Most wheels (depending on the type) have different size whorls on it. Mine comes with three, and each gives a different ratio. The smaller whorls are better for spinning a worsted single and other larger-sized yarns. The bigger whorls are great for spinning fine yarn because they allow more twists to be put into your fiber for every time your wheel spins. (i.e. my whorl that I spun these on was a 13:1 whorl, the largest one I have). Understand the not-to-complicated system of your whorls and experiment with them. It'll get you farther down the road to spinning fine yarn.
2. Practice drafting. When you get good at drafting, you'll know exactly how much to draft and you'll be able to stop before your fiber gets to thin. To spin fine, you have to be able to draft fine. So I recommend either practicing drafting finely while treadling your spinning wheel very slowly so you can get the process down. OR, get a lightweight drop-spindle like this Turk here (I think it only weighs like 5 ounces) a lightweight spindle will allow for finer spinning because it's not as heavy as other spindles like top-whorl spindles. Practice on this if the wheel seems to fast at first and you'll be much happier with all yarn that you spin, whether wheel-or-spindle-spun.

3. Know, that to achieve points 1 and 2... it takes practice and spinning lace weight yarn won't come overnight. For every minute that you spend spinning, you are learning more about the process and understanding what needs to happen for you to achieve the goals that you set for yourself.

Thanks for reading,
And happy crafting!