More Struggles with the Puppies Blend

Pam and I are having an ongoing discussion about the black baby suri in the Naughty Puppies blend. I say it needs to be carded more to make a uniform preparation or I'll never be able to spin it. Pam has serious concerns that the fiber is so fine that I'm breaking fiber and making things worse every time I card it.

I understand Pam's concern. I have this tendency to view finesse as something to be tried only after brute force has failed.

There is no question in my mind that carding breaks fibers. The question is a matter of degree and what is happening with this particular fleece. I honestly don't think I'm breaking enough fibers with the carder that it matters. I have a hand-cranked drum carder with flexible teeth. When fiber jams in the carder, I can muscle the clump through at the risk of damaging the carder. It's better -- and faster -- to back the fiber out, tease the clump apart, and feed it through more slowly.

So the question is, to card, or not to card -- and what to do with the Naughty Puppies Blend.

I decided to test some small samples.

Yesterday when I was spinning, I accumulated quite the handful of short pieces of yarn. Since it's raining and I only use my drum carder outside, I started today's fiber adventures by carding those with my hand cards. In an eloquent testament to poor spinning, I was able to card these short pieces of yarn to a nice, uniform, rolag in about thirty seconds.

I tried spinning the rolag. Getting started was hard, but once I got a yarn going, I was able to spin quite easily, with decent uniformity and I think good integrity. I had a problem with joins, but this fiber may always be hard to join. I was able to draft much more evenly than yesterday. Spinning was still hard, but it was possible.

After spinning the carded yarn, I grabbed a handful of pure black baby suri and carded that with my hand cards. This also spun much better after additional carding. Joins continued to be a problem, but once I was going, I could spin.

Next, I tried hand-carding some of the blended fiber. Once again, joins were hard, but once joined, the fiber spun without much trouble.

I managed to pull about 50 yards of test yarn off the bobbin onto my niddy-noddy with only one break -- and that at a join. This compares to multiple breaks in less yardage yesterday. The improvement is substantial. The question now becomes, is that acceptable.

Am I willing to sell this roving for spinning if I can't spin fifty yards of it without a weak spot?

Am I willing to spin and sell yarn if I can't make 50 yards of yarn without a weak spot?

Can I figure out how to spin more than 50 yards between joins or can I learn to make better joins with this fiber?

I'm still trying to decide what to do with this fiber. It's just too soft and too beautiful not to use. I've never had a fiber I couldn't spin before. Felt might be the best end use. I'll have to think about it.