charkhafiberbook.com Blog

Okay, I just looked at my stats and I know that somebody besides me is reading this.  Just so I can check my ability to get and moderate comments, could somebody please post a comment?  I’m hoping that eventually I can stir up some discussions on my blog and I want to know that this works!

I am still organizing some thoughts for classes so this post is again for my working with color class.  Sometimes when you work with fiber you get a striped/color blended roving or batt where there are definite stripes of color that run the length of the roving or batt (think vertical, not horizontal).  There are a few ways you can deal with this that will result in different effects in your finished yarn.

1.  Predraft the roving or batt by pulling on the end, and pulling relatively straight.  What this does is blend the colors more throughout the length of your yarn.  It does not create a solid yarn, but it blends the colors so the color variations have short runs and are somewhat muted.  This also will create more random changes in color because you are not trying to control where your color changes occur.

2.  Predraft the roving by pulling at an angle and/or picking up strategic colors as you draft.  This creates longer lengths of color in the final yarn and also creates more distinct patches of color with more blended transitions between the colors.  You also have more control of the order of the colors and amount of variegation in your yarn.  This creates more of a variegated yarn but still maintains the blending of colors that pulling the roving straight does.

3.  Strip the roving along color bands.  This allows even more definition between colors and gives the spinner even more control over the variegation.  There is not the blended transitions like in the other two methods (unless you do strips that contain more than one color).  By breaking these strips into pieces and mixing the pieces up, the spinner can create their own unique color way or completly randomize the variegation of the yarn. 

All three methods work to create different effects.  A good experiment might be getting a color blended or striped roving or batt and sample all three methods to see which one you like the best.

Okay, It’s been awhile, but I’ve been putting together some information for some classes.  I have yet to link to this blog from my main site (which I desperately need to do), but I think it is now linked from Ravelry.   Anyway, here is a short article

Blending Fiber on Hand Carders
Glenna Chumbley
 

One of my favorite techniques for getting a variegated color way is by using hand carders to blend the colors.  This gives the fiber a painted look that can create really interesting yarn colorways.  The important thing to remember with this is that you need to look at your hand carders symmetrically because fiber will blend symmetrically from the center out.

Divide your hand carders into 3-6 color zones where you will put color, such as the following (using more than 6 zones becomes difficult to manage):

Three Zones