So many breeds, so little time

For the past 3 years I have been spinning every animal fiber I could get my hands on. I am always on the lookout for a new breed to try. I haven't found one yet that I didn't like - even Herdwick, which is rather like spinning steel wool. Some of my favorite wools to spin are Shetland (a double coated fleece with a fairly long staple, and enough crimp to make it easy to spin - it makes a strong thread); Jacob (not as soft as Shetland, but it has a nice feel); Blue Faced Leicester (fine, easy to spin, and a nice luster); and Wensleydale (a modern sheep, it's not particularly soft, but its fleece has a very long staple and a beautiful shine; there is a crispness to fabric made from this wool). And then of course there are the luxuries - cashmere, yak and camel down - who could resist! (These are all short staples.)

Mistress Thora gave me horsetail to play with. It is not the same as horse hair, and I can't spin it. It is too "plastic-y." I tried to make whipcord with it, but it was too brittle. The best I could do so far was a simple braid.

I'm currently spinning camel hair. This is not the same as camel down. The fibers are long and course. I imagine it would make good tent fabric.

I think it is time for me to branch out and learn to spin silk and flax.

A sampler of breeds I've spun.

The Mammen remnants

I am currently working on a project to reproduce the curious remnants found at Mammen parish, Denmark. For well over 100 years people have been speculating about what they could have been. I'm not completely comfortable with any of the ideas I've read, and I'm hoping that reproducing them will give me some clues to their original purpose.

I need to learn 2 skills to be able to duplicate these beautiful remnants. The center section of each piece is nalbound of silver and gold thread. This is the artifact that gave the Mammen stitch its name. The stitches are tiny. They cannot be made over the thumb as is the usual practice with nalbinding. I have been practicing with various threads and have found a gauge that I think will work.

What difference does it make?

I finished carving my spindle shaft to match the dimensions of the shaft found in Ribe, and I have been testing it against the shaft I carved to be similar to the shafts found in Greenland. Serendipitously, the Ribe shaft weighs the same as the Greenland shaft, and is the same length. Since I am using the same whorl on each shaft, the only difference between the two spindles is the distribution of mass along the shaft.

The Greenland style shaft is on the top, the Ribe style shaft on the bottom. The total weight of each spindle is 29 grams.

I spun with each spindle, first using Shetland wool, and again using Finn wool. I set the wool and let it dry without stretching it. When I spun, I did not add additional twist to the spindle until it had stopped spinning. Here are my results:

Greenland shaft/Shetland wool: 14 wraps per cm/63 degree angle of twist

Ribe shaft/Shetland wool: 14 wpc/66 degree angle of twist

Greenland shaft/Finn wool: 13 wpc/59 degree angle of twist

Ribe shaft/Finn wool: 12 wpc/61 degree angle of twist  

I am not completely confident in my angle measurements of the Finn thread. While I can see the twist in the white wool, it is difficult to measure it accurately. The Shetland wool has variation in the color of the fibers, making it much easier to measure.

As part of my spinning study in 2011 I tested the Greenland style shaft against an equally long straight shaft. Then I found that the Greenland shaft produced an angle of twist of 62 degrees, and the straight shaft produced an angle of twist of 53 degrees, both using Shetland wool.

So, was the shape of the spindle just a matter of personal preference, or did experience show people that a different shape could have a positive impact on the final product? Clearly this is not enough spinning to make an educated guess, but it does make me wonder.