# Spinning: My Long Draw Skein



## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Here is a photo of the same fiber spun 2 different ways. The left skein was spun worsted like I've been spinning for many years. It is 3.95 ounces and 376 yards, so 95 yards to the ounce. The right skein is my long draw. 2.9 ounces, 224 yards, 77 yards to the ounce. 

I LOVED the long draw spinning method. I knew in my heart that fiber really wanted to be spun differently. And I am very happy with the long draw results. It is very soft, I have washed it. I have a gradient dye method in mind so I am anxious to see how it takes dye. I think it will do fabulous because the fibers are so lofty and open. 

Long draw is very peaceful as you watch the spin travel up the draw. Once I started it just felt natural. When it came time to ply it, I was so happy with the loftiness that I made sure I did not have my fingers travel up the yarn, but just seperated the 2 strands, allowing them to twist onto each other then stopping it with a pinch and allowing it to draw into the orifice. I was joking with myself as I did it saying "please don't squeeze the Charmin"(maybe you recognize the soft toilet paper commercial saying) Once again, the plying was instinctive as you can see by the photo it came out perfectly balanced. 

I love the method and will spin the rest of this fiber in this way but I do not think its the best method for all fibers. I have some luxury merino that I'll spin up as usual. 

I'm certainly not the expert, just my first go at it, but it was on my bucket list of things to learn. Again, I really enjoy it. I think it will prepare me for another bucket list item, which is to spin a Great Wheel. Then lastly, I want to dye indigo. The indigo blue is so beautiful. 

So here are some photos. 
What's on your bucket list?

Regards 
~Michelle


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## BirchPoint (Feb 12, 2016)

Beautiful yarn. Congratulations! !


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## wordancer (May 4, 2011)

Lovely, make me want to try again. Reading about your long draw experience was a joy. Thanks.


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## wordancer (May 4, 2011)

Oh the long draw is on my spinning bucket list too and spinning with silk, and making time to play with the Navaho spindle I got over a year ago. Must throw the drop spindles on the list, I can used them but not skillfully.


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

BirchPoint said:


> Beautiful yarn. Congratulations! !


Thank you BirchPoint!


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

wordancer said:


> Lovely, make me want to try again. Reading about your long draw experience was a joy. Thanks.


Thank you, I hope you give it a try. Once I dived in it was natural!


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## lindamarcella (Dec 14, 2016)

Probably wouldn't work well for socks but looks like it would make a lovely shawl or sweater. I love both colors. 

Since I spin mostly for socks, i haven't been able to really use the long draw. How did you learn to do it? I suppose like most things, it takes practice. Happy spinning.


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

lindamarcella said:


> Probably wouldn't work well for socks but looks like it would make a lovely shawl or sweater. I love both colors.
> 
> Since I spin mostly for socks, i haven't been able to really use the long draw. How did you learn to do it? I suppose like most things, it takes practice. Happy spinning.


Well I can't say for sure that it won't work for socks. I do think I'll be able to spin it very thin, actually I'm going to try it. I learned in numerous ways. I've watched videos and I posted yesterday about a Craftsy tutorial which was extremely helpful.


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## m.r.b. (Dec 12, 2011)

https://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/08/long-draw-spinning/

This is the method posted yesterday.


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## lindamarcella (Dec 14, 2016)

well, perhaps i did't say that right. You can knit socks with any yarn. The question is will they last and how will they feel? I find that yarn with little twist wears awfully quickly whether homespun or commercial. Every so often I knit a pair of worsted socks to wear in boots or in clogs but i find that a loose twist will have thin spots or holes way sooner than one with more twist. If you've found a technique to overcome that I'd love to know it. The best i have been able to do is to do the toes and heels in a needle a couple of sizes down. Good luck.


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## Cdambro (Dec 30, 2013)

Wow, Michelle....your spin is just beautiful! And, it is totally balanced. Just a beauty of a skein. That's one on my bucket list....the long draw. You have given me the push I need so I will be trying it tomorrow.


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Cdambro said:


> Wow, Michelle....your spin is just beautiful! And, it is totally balanced. Just a beauty of a skein. That's one on my bucket list....the long draw. You have given me the push I need so I will be trying it tomorrow.


Yeah Cheryl !! Have fun!


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

lindamarcella said:


> well, perhaps i did't say that right. You can knit socks with any yarn. The question is will they last and how will they feel? I find that yarn with little twist wears awfully quickly whether homespun or commercial. Every so often I knit a pair of worsted socks to wear in boots or in clogs but i find that a loose twist will have thin spots or holes way sooner than one with more twist. If you've found a technique to overcome that I'd love to know it. The best i have been able to do is to do the toes and heels in a needle a couple of sizes down. Good luck.


Oh thanks for clarifying. I tend to agree with you now, as I don't know that the yarn would hold up to wear. Good point!


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## nittineedles (Apr 14, 2011)

Lovely yarns.


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## desireeross (Jun 2, 2013)

That is lovely, something I need to try


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Thanks all. I'm glad that I've encouraged others to give it a try. The most difficult part was just deciding I was going to do it. Granted, the yarn got away from me a few times, but that should be expected when learning. Also, I liked me attitude as I just wasn't striving for perfection, just technique. I'm sure improvement will come along with practice.


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## Teardrop (Oct 23, 2011)

Congratulations on your success! Both skeins look lovely, but I do want to roll in the softness of the long draw skein. Long draw is on my bucket list also. I also have a drop spindle but am not very good at it and would like to get more accomplished at it.


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## lindamarcella (Dec 14, 2016)

Goodshepfarm said:


> Oh thanks for clarifying. I tend to agree with you now, as I don't know that the yarn would hold up to wear. Good point!


I don't thing the drafting is the issue. You might be able to do long draw as long as you can get enough twist into the yarn. It's great that you can comfortably do both long and short draw. It's difficult for me to do long draw because I most often spin for sock yarn and I typically use a shorter staple fibre. I've always wanted to spin some long wool fibre thinking I would have better success with long draw. Since spinning yarn isn't all I do I think it comes back to habit.


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## lovey (Nov 11, 2011)

:sm24:


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## Spooly (Oct 22, 2011)

The yarn is absolutely beautiful. Someday I will try to do long draw. I really enjoyed reading about your experience and thanks so much for the great pictures.


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## Spinningmary (Feb 18, 2014)

Out of curiosity, what sort of staple length was your fibre? Any idea what breed of sheep?


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## Alpaca Farmer (Jan 19, 2011)

I love the long draw yarn. Something I have intended to try but the arthritis in my shoulder makes it difficult.


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

Spinningmary said:


> Out of curiosity, what sort of staple length was your fibre? Any idea what breed of sheep?


Hi Spinningmary! 
The staple length is 7 to 9 inches. This fiber came from one of my ewes, 100% Romney.


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## bakeknitsew (Jun 26, 2013)

My bucket List: learn to dye speckled yarn, spin the long draw, try a large variety of the various sheep breeds for spinning. I have been reading up on all of these things to educate myself and get the gumption up to do it!


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

bakeknitsew said:


> My bucket List: learn to dye speckled yarn, spin the long draw, try a large variety of the various sheep breeds for spinning. I have been reading up on all of these things to educate myself and get the gumption up to do it!


OH I do hope you have the Finn sheep breed on your list, what a glorious find, as it is so soft.


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## amoamarone (Feb 21, 2015)

Thanks for sharing your lovely yarn.


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## hillman (Sep 29, 2011)

I'm a new spinner and have been spinning some corriedale which I will 3ply for socks. While spinning the singles it occurred to me that maybe this fiber is not hard wearing enough for socks.
Seeing that you spin for socks, I thought you could put me straight. Should I knit a nice shawl instead?
Thanks,
Elaine


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## Goodshepfarm (Jul 20, 2014)

hillman said:


> I'm a new spinner and have been spinning some corriedale which I will 3ply for socks. While spinning the singles it occurred to me that maybe this fiber is not hard wearing enough for socks.
> Seeing that you spin for socks, I thought you could put me straight. Should I knit a nice shawl instead?
> Thanks,
> Elaine


Hi! 
First let me start by saying it was actually Lindamarcella who mentioned that she was the sock knitter, but, I have spun Corriedale and do have an opinion to offer.

I consider the Corriedale fiber that I spun luxury, it was wonderfully soft, and I would not dream of using it for socks. So, that's my first thought. But, more importantly your instincts are telling you that! I always listen to my instincts and let the yarn tell me what it wants to be, so good job for listening to it!

I plyed only 2 Corriedale singles together into a fingering weight yarn and used about a size 10 1/2 needle and made a shawl with beautiful drape.

Perhaps others on the forum who read this reply will offer advice. Or, you could send Linda a private message.

Good luck and I hope you do show us what you make.

Regards,
~Michelle


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## hillman (Sep 29, 2011)

Thanks Michelle for writing back to me and also for your input. I have been spinning worsted and was going to ply along with some wooly nylon.
It's so good to be able to get info. from people who know. I'm still very much at the trial and error stage, but love spinning.
Thanks,
Elaine


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## lindamarcella (Dec 14, 2016)

hillman said:


> I'm still very much at the trial and error stage, but love spinning.
> Thanks,
> Elaine


I'm no expert and I'm ALWAYS in the trial and error stage for many reasons: I seldom follow a recipe exactly and use a pattern only occasionally; my fibre comes from many different sources and it depends on who I got it from and how much I could afford to pay at a time. Read, read, read and watch all the videos you can. After a while you will develop a feel for what you like. There are numerous books and videos on how to spin the yarn you want. I have never spun Corriedale (sp?) but will look for some since it sounds wonderful. Personally I think the twist is most important for socks because of the strain on the fibre. One of the hardest wearing pair I ever made was made from some Jacob wool I received for free in a spinning class that I dyed with grape kool aid (so they were purple and black because Jacob sheep have a lot of black and gray.) I spun it with a drop spindle made from a toy wheel, a cup hook and a dowel sanded and rubbed down with a piece of waxed paper. As you can imagine there has to be a decent amount of twist in the yarn to stay together on a drop spindle so it was perfect to two-ply and knit directly into socks. You certainly can use sock yarn for anything else. You would most likely switch to a larger needle to give you the drape you want. My point is you don't have to be awfully experienced or spend a ton of money to learn to spin a yarn that you like the looks and feel of and to make an item you are happy to wear. I also suggest that you find a spinning group to join. You'll make new friends, most will have animals to share or sell fibre from and there will be a wealth of knowledge there, and it's so nice to spend time with others who appreciate your hobby. Everyone will be happy to share what they know. Good luck, enjoy it and it will be a lifelong hobby. (And you'll always have nice items to wear, socks or otherwise.)


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## mama879 (Jan 27, 2011)

I find the best fiber for socks are wool - (merino) cotton, silk and nylon if you can mix all that is the best but, if you just want 2 wool and nylon would be the best. $ has a lot to do with it to. Long lasting and the stretch you would need. I made my first pair of socks (tube socks) out of wool nylon mix and love them took some patience and a lot of practice to spin yarn thin enough for my first pair of socks I did use a lot of my spun yarn (ops not thin enough) for other projects till I got it right so no failure her just practice. Have fun and enjoy your spinning. In time you will have socks on your needles.


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## ptober (Mar 24, 2011)

Beautiful spinning.


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