Plying Buffalo yarn

This week I took the plunge and began to ply my spindle spun buffalo yarn.  As you know I am plying the single of buffalo fiber with a commercial wool crepe yarn, these fibers have been combined onto a Russian plying spindle.  Yes it did take me about 2 hours to combine the 2 yarns together but mostly because my plying spindle is so heavy I had to give my wrist a break from holding it.  A lighter weight plying spindle has been ordered so I can move through this process quicker.  Once I had the fibers combined the next step was to create the plying disc.  I finally found some cardboard which suited my needs and made a somewhat round circle and began the process of plying the fibers.

My current spindle does work well as a supported spindle and is aiding in the plying process rather well.  Somehow I seem to have more yak yarn than wool and keep getting gaps in the drafting area as the 2 yarns are not in sync.  Since this is my first time with this process I’m trying not to be to critical and treating things as a learning experience.  After all I have another 1/2 ounce of buffalo fiber plus cashmere, yak and paco-vicuna fibers to work with.

This weekend a met another lace knitter who happens to be a cashmere fanatic.  She has asked that I attempt to make a 2 ply cobweb weight yarn from paco-vicuna for her use in her knitting business.  My only hiccup at the moment is that I don’t know where I put my paco-vicuna fiber so that I can start on this process.  The last time I spun PV fiber was a few years back and on my Louet wheel and it turned out a Sports weight single.  Now that I can spin a fine yarn on the Russian spindles I am hoping to each cobweb status – time will tell.

Spindle spun Buffalo yarn

Very excited to be coming to the end of the process of making my newest buffalo yarn.   The first half ounce of buffalo fiber was spun into a single on the Russian spindle.  I then found a dark purple wool crepe yarn from Habu to ply with the buffalo a few weeks ago.  I spent part of my Sunday combining the two yarns onto a plying spindle and just need to make a plying disc this week to ply the two yarns together.   Buffalo Fiber    Habu wool yarn

I have learned from this process that my “plying” spindle is very heavy and I might want to get something a bit smaller.  My hand/wrist ached a bit from combining the threads onto the spindle.  I found myself taking lots of breaks from the project just to give my wrist a break.  Not sure of the yardage as of yet but there is quite a bit of yarn on the plying spindle.  It is nice to see the pieces of the project coming together and know that I am creating something special.

               yarns ready to be plied.