It’s a howling gale outside tonight, so the place to be is by the fire doing a bit of mending. The subject is a pair of socks machine knitted from my hand spun yarn. These sticks are like , ‘Trigger’s broom’ from Only Fools and Horses.
I plied the yarn from singles of Alpaca and Texel fibre, but did not include any nylon. Consequently, but after a reasonable amount of wear they have begun to thin and finally the stitches have burst. First of all the big toes went, and now the heels.
I had a little of the yarn left, but now it’s onto improvised and colourful mending…
The toes that were mended a while agoTodays heel mending
I used one of those little mending looms for the toe repair, but the heels have been done ‘freehand’ using a technique from a 1970s mending book. I bought this useful book secondhand when a penniless student in the 80s, well before ‘slow textiles’ and ‘visible mending’ became a thing. Since then, useful book has helped me extend the life of many items for reasons of economy and necessity rather than fashion. Now my mending is on trend and it’s good to see the skill encouraged by a plethora of modern books on the subject.
Yesterday, a friend who I think has more spinning wheels than even I have, brought an older Louet wheel along to the monthly meeting of the Brighton Textile Arts Group. She didn’t know the model, and I still haven’t found it online, but that’s sort of irrelevant as it’s the Irish tension that caught my eye.
I have learned from many texts and posts online that ‘Scotch’ and ‘Irish’ don’t really relate to geographical origins. I also understand that ‘Scotch’ and double drive are both flyer-led and ‘Irish’ is bobbin-led (literal and more accurate descriptors), but the terms Scotch and Irish tension are in common use so I will stick to them here. In flyer led systems the wheel drives the flyer around the bobbin, and the bobbin is braked by either the brake band or the second loop of the double drive band. In bobbin led systems the bobbin is driven by the wheel so spins constantly, but the flyer, which feeds the yarn onto the bobbin is braked by either a leather band at the front (as on the Louet) or by using a brake band. In both systems, the spinner restrains the yarn from being pulled through the hooks/flyer and onto bobbin as twist is introduced in to the fibres and then releases their hold to allow the yarn to be drawn onto the bobbin. Both systems rely on some slippage of the bands, which is something I have not fully understood as yet, and am not sure is really necessary, but fascinating all the same. So far I am not sure how the difference in circumference of bobbin and flyer whorl affect each other in Irish tension as they do in double and Scotch tension systems. Another interesting thing to spend time testing out.
I learned to spin on a Westbury wheel, which was a gem of a wheel. My Mother bought it in Glastonbury as a kit – she was so excited, and my Dad built it for her and stained it dark walnut – not a fashionable option today, but it did look charming. The Westbury has both double drive and Scotch tensions, but I only used the Scotch option as we really didn’t understand the double drive. After this there was a gap in my spinning and Mum didn’t carry on with it for long, so that wheel has long gone, (something I really regret).
My interest in yarn design endured, but was industrially focused, so it was quite a few years later that I resumed hand spinning. I now prefer double drive but have several wheel which are switchable and value the flexibility this gives me. So that I can share with you, these are a Wee Peggy and a Schacht Matchless and an Ashford Traddie that I have converted to double drive but which still retains the option of Scotch tension. Of these the Matchless is a recent purchase, chosen after trying lots of wheels over longish periods of time, (hence my collection of wheels) and is my absolute favourite. It is a dream to spin on and has double treadles and a central orifice which is super ergonomic; I find single treadles can make me twist and lead to back and hip ache nowadays so can’t spin for too long on these.
So let’s get back to yesterday and the Louet wheel. Which is a sweetie I have to say. I like Louet wheels, (and of course own one) because they are so thoughtfully designed and this was no exception; sturdy with a central orifice and an onboard Lazy Kate, all made in lovely wood – very nice apart from the rather high treadle position. I’ve not used the Irish tension system before and so was keen to try it. I didn’t actually shove her out of the way, but hovered and green-eyed it and eventually asked if I could have a go. Generously she gave me fibre, and left me with it, saying she found it quite a challenge to be able to control what she was spinning, although I thought her samples were soft and pretty even. However, she was right!
After a while I managed to set the leather band so that the fibre wasn’t ripped from my fingers, and could start to spin. I found that very little tension was needed, which I am not sure is normal. We inspected the tension band, orifice and brass bearing and whilst the band didn’t look worn at all, the orifice outer was a bit sticky and the brass bearing seemed a bit rough. We cleaned these as best we could with what we had to hand which helped a little, but probably a gentle swab of alcohol on the orifice outer and brass would be a good idea.
Once it was going I was really surprised how different the Irish tension felt to the two other systems, and can see why it is good for thicker yarns because of its pretty intense pull-in. Plus I imagine it is great for plying. However I managed a reasonably even singles that was indeed thicker than I usually spin double drive, so that sort of proved it to me.
Being an equipment squirrel I immediately wanted an Irish tension wheel. So imagine my joy when I found that my Matchless would convert to Irish tension! In my excitement of first owning the Matchless I tried both double and Scotch tensions and have been using these both since then, but I clearly forgot that it has three tension modes. I’m not sure it tells you in the manual, but you simply swap the drive bands over. The wheel drive band goes on the bobbin, and the Scotch brake band on the flyer whorl. I have set mine with the larger bobbin whorl to the back with the medium flyer whorl, there may be better arrangements but I have yet to try these out.
The result felt very similar to the Louet, with the brake band needing hardly any tension, so maybe that is normal after all. I found starting needed care so that the fibre doesn’t pull away too rapidly, but once going it went well. It might be me, but most times after I moved hooks the pull-in became stronger, then settled down again. This must be because the smaller circumference of the bobbin to start with pulls the yarn in faster. Because of this I can see why a Woollee Winder type system might be useful with this tension system, but I am not tempted due to price. The hooks will do me just fine and I really don’t like the sliding hooks on any make so far.
As you will see in the photos, the singles I spun are nothing to write home about, but its early days for the Irish tension set-up. The fibre is onion-skin dyed Lleyn blended, (rather poorly because I was in a hurry) with rust coloured Alpaca, then taken as tops off the drum-carder.
The Irish tension set up on my Matchless. The drive band is the one I use for Scotch tension – I have a cotton one for double drive. They both stay on the wheel tucked underneath. I am wondering what will happen if I put the brake band on the smaller flyer whorl? The Lleyn was deliberately left with nepps to create a textured fibre, and the way the onion-skin dye has taken differently on the nepps enhances the texture. Roughly blended with the Alpaca – ‘do what I say not what I do’ is the underlying message here! I think I will ply with a finer singles made from undyed Lleyn for a tweedy final yarn.
I’ve just spent about an hour fiddling with the battery pack that came with my E-Spinner. The E-spinner was secondhand and was still unassembled and the battery never been used – the battery pack is not an Ashford one. I thought the details of the battery pack might be useful for anyone looking to buy one of these for their E-Spinner 3.
Super Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, YSN-N12V
Input: 12.5VDC
Output: 12VDC 3800mAh, (this is the DCin/out outlet, a round plug that leads to the E SPinner power plug when being run on battery).
Other output is: 5VDC 6800mAh – (the usb outlet).
Super Rechargeable Li-ion Battery, YSN-N12V
In my excitement I charged it rather haphazardly, but it has been working fine with the spinner. When I came to recharge it I found that it was not indicating charging as explained in the manual. However, a useful review on YouTube enabled me to understand what was going on. There is another lead with the battery, a round pin on one end (that is the same size as the outlet, and a much thinner pin on the other end – no idea what that is for). The lead from the battery to the E-spinner has the same sized pin on each end. It may have been purchased separately from the battery pack?
Basically the instructions were confusing about the charging process. The led on the plug the goes into the wall outlet is supposed to be red when the unit is plugged in to charge, and turn green when it is charged. The unit also must be switched on at its own on/off switch whilst charging, (if you leave it switched on when not in use it will discharge). The battery pack has five green lights on the top, one to show the pack is charged and four others labelled 100%, 75%, 50% and 25%. Nothing is said in the instructions about these, but trial and error showed that pressing the unlabelled button on the left side of the unit indicates the amount of power remaining in the unit using these lights.
I couldn’t find the battery pack on eBay or Amazon but did find it on AliExpress.
I have used the battery for about 4-5 hours spinning before it needs recharging, so am really pleased with the unit. I have also bought the cigarette lighter plug connection so that I can use it on the 12v in our caravan. May be overkill as the battery is working well so far. The battery takes about 8 hours to charge.
Updated September 2025
Having been browsing I have found several posts about the battery for the E Spinner 3. Because mine does run out sometimes, I decided to purchase a second one and found this TalentCell one recommended on FB at a reasonable price so have taken the plunge.
The details of the battery are : TalentCell Rechargeable 12V 6000mAh/5V 12000mAh DC Output Lithium ion Battery Pack – Portable Li-ion Power Bank with 12.6V Charger, Black.
I can give no guarantees that it will work, and have no affiliation to any of the companies named here.
Its a mix of rain and sun this afternoon, and we are in our caravan so I decided to do some spinning on my Ashford Espinner. I’ve brought four Frankenstein batts I carded from a mixture of old cream Jacobs and two pink and orange poorly dyed batches of Dorset fleece. Plus a small amount of a pretty olive green. The poorly dyed had nepps from the partial felting, and I kept some of these when carding to add texture.
These were all carded on the electric from carder in stripes. I ended up with four largish batts which I split and spun as rolags.
Below you can see how I split the batts and I worked out the TPI of the singles on the espinner.
Author’s not: I originally intended to upload this as a ‘story’ post, but after the uploads gobbled up my mobile data and it still didn’t work properly I decided to make it a normal post.
Cream Jacobs, pink and orange Dorset (a bit felted during dyeing) and a small amount of olive green Dorset fleece drum carded into several Frankenstein battsFor once I remembered to divide the rolags evenly between two bobbins for easy plying later on.
I split the large batt horizontally into smaller sections.
The smaller sections were then hand-rolled into individual rolags. Because the batt had been double carded and divided between each carding, the colours ran from side to side. I like to work with small rolags, so halved each one, but worked with through the rolags in a zig zage way so that the ends met to keep consistency to the colour grading.
Spinning singles on my Ashford Espinner in the caravan awning
Achieving the desired TPI on an espinner is based on knowing the number of flyer rotations per minute, which is controlled by the speed dial.
For this singles I wanted around 8 TPI, and I had already measured my drafting of 2″ lengths at about 40 which equals me 80″ per minute. So I multiplied the TPI x draft length per minute
8 x 80 = 640.
So I set my speed dial to where I know I get about 640rpm. Its not exact, but neither is it on a wheel, but it gave a pretty good average of 8TPI.
I plan to ply this with a plain colour, otherwise the colours become overwhelmed by each other. Maybe a rust or cream, or even a black?
Update. I eventually plied it with a Dorset singles from my stash. Made 70g of very useable yarn or approximately 7 TPI, 8 WPI and 20 degree angle of twist.
A bit like outdoor anything – providing its not raining or freezing – spinning is enhanced by the open-air. I took my little Louet wheel with me whilst on holiday on the Pembroke coast recently. We were being careful and avoiding towns etc in our caravan sitting on a farm, so there was plenty of opportunity to spin in the lovely sunshine. It seems ages ago now, but was so refreshing.
Victoria beside the caravan, enjoying the view.
I took a bag full of mixed colour Jacob’s fleece and sorted it into dark and light before hand carding it. Ifirst of all spun a skein of cream to test the tpi and grist I was aiming at and on a rainy day decided to dye it with the onion skins from our soup.
All very earthy!
I can’t resist a marl yarn, so plied the colours into variations on this.
From left: knot or knop marl, slubby marl, onion dyed 2 ply, chain plied random carded colours
Having been eating loads of avocados last summer I dried the skins and stones for dye material later on in the year. I want sure if the colour outcome would be effected by drying so decided to try some out recently.
I took 60g dried avocado skins and two skeins of yarn; one 14g hand spun 50/50 cream wool and alpaca and 12g commercially spun 2/9nm will and nylon (sock yarn). I reckoned half yarn to dye material, but being dried may have made a difference.
I cold mordanted the yarns overnight and soaked and cooked up the skins. Stained the liquid and made up the due bath. Then gently simmered the yarn for about 60 minutes, with the skins in a muslin bag in the bath as well. After that I left the whole pot to cool overnight.
I was surprised that the hand spun did not take much colour whereas the wool and nylon took loads. Both had had same pretreatment.
Left is hand spun 50/50 wool alpaca yarn, right is wool and nylon
I will be using the will nylon in machine knit socks, so pleased with the colour. It’s not as warm as the undried skins I’ve used in the past, more like onion skin colour.
UPDATE On reflection I think the Alpaca may have influenced the way the dye was taken up by the hand spun yarn
I’ve had a number of different colour hand dyed carded batts sitting waiting for me to find inspiration. They are all from fleece I have scored and carder myself, so are a mix of Shetland, Suffolk and Texel, with maybe a little Alpaca blended into some of them. Some are in 200g amounts, some less. I’d got a bit stuck about how to use them until I saw a useful tip by Anna from my spinning group that she has put on YouTube.
Before you start, select a group of colours that work together. After a designing session during which I wrapped different colours together, I chose five: orange, pale green, mid blue, pale blue and lilac.
Anna used a combination of hand dyed and commercial roving, but the principle is the same with your own carded batts.
1. First of all split the roving/batt into the required lengths, (I just used the whole length of the batt of my drum carder).
2. Then split each length lengthwise into 4, (or more, depending on the thickness of the roving/batt).
3. Next, lay out the colours lengthwise, next to each other in the order you want to spin them into yarn. Test this beforehand to see how they mix throughout one repeat of a yarn, and if this works for your chosen outcome, such as knitting.
4. Repeat the colour sequence three more times so you have a table full of ‘stripes’ of fibre. If you have more than four lengths let colour, carry on until all are used up.
5. Now this is the clever part. I have hand spun colour changing yarns before and got the sequence wrong because I put it all away in a box between spinning sessions. To keep the sequence do the following.
6. Take a metre + long length off ribbon and tie a pencil or empty pen across one end. This is your fibre-stopper. Tie a hand-sized loop on the other end. This is your distaff.
7. Starting at one end of the ‘stripes’, wind each length off fibre into a loose roll and slip the looped end of the ribbon through the centre hole. Carry on doing this, working methodically through the fibre lengths, keeping the colour order as mapped out in your ‘stripes’.
8. You will end up with a ‘necklace’ of colour ordered fibre rolls on the ribbon. Tie the ends together to stop the fibre sliding off.
The dyed fibre arranged on the ribbon distaff before spinning
Now to can put them in a box and they won’t get muddled. To start spinning, simply lift the necklace out, untie the ends, and slip the loop over your hand. It acts as a distaff and will hold your fibre nicely as you spin each colour.
Spinning the lengths into singles
What a great tip!
I plied the colour changing yarn with a single spun made from navy blue Corriedale. This made a lovely marl yarn that to me resembles stained glass windows. I can’t wait to see what it looks like knitted.
Is it risque? It’s certainly liberating. Given the restrictions on meeting up indoors, going to the park seemed the the perfect way to meet up when we can’t go to our normal groups.
This is the second one I’ve organised and it was lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon. I took my portable Louet wheel and others brought wheels, drop spindles, knitting and crochet. And a picnic lunch!
Shade was mandatory as it was so hot, and we found a generous tree that have us a shady space big enough for plenty of social distancing.
I’m taking the photo…So someone kindly took one of me
I took along a sack of stove-top rainbow dyed fleece as described on my Dyeing Wool page. It’s a little coarse, but in nicely formed locks, so I am flick carding it and spinning it quite thick for use in a rug, (maybe)?
Last week a few of us got together (safely distanced and masked), to take our textiles into the park. I enjoyed myself so much I forgot to take a photo!
The thought of spinning outside in the sunshine encouraged me to use bright colours. So I took along some Shetland fleece I dyed a while ago using acid dyes, (I have written more about dyeing fleece with acid dye here).
I’d spun up a bobbin of Suffolk fleece that is not very exciting, so I planned to use that as the core for a bright, irregular spun, core-spun yarn to which I would add a charcoal wrapping yarn. All 100%wool. I took my folding Louet Victoria S95 wheel which is a joy to use.
The core yarn was Z twisted quite tight. The wrapping colours were also put on Z twist, and the final charcoal, commercial yarn was S spun over the others.
Photo taken at might, so the colours are not accurate.
After washing and drying the twist the colours hardly muted and it’s come out as lovely yarn.
Vikki Haffenden 