Last night, as the rest of the household was getting ready for bed, I stood at the stove, cooking up a concoction. The recipe is from Alden Amos' book, The Big Book of Handspinning and what I made is sizing.
Sizing is like a glue that you apply to your warp threads to make them stronger. At least, that's what books tell me.
For some reason, my Shetland singles that I'm spinning for the Tour de Fleece, don't feel as strong after they have been washed as they did before. I don't know why this is.
However, yesterday I took a bit of this yarn and wound a sample warp. Then, in what may be an act of folly, I made the sizing and dipped the warp in it.
I'm not entirely certain if I'm happy about this. It came out looking like a drowned cat. Worse. Like a cat drowned in wet plaster. I hung it to dry outside, and it looks just as bad this morning. I hope it will be dry by lunch so I can get going on this sample. But maybe it will be wonderful once it's on the loom... maybe... it's worth a try, I suppose. And that is why I'm sampling the method and the yarn rather than jumping in and winding a warp for the 4 yards of fabric I want.
Next time, if I choose to do this again, I'll add more water to the final stage and turn this concoction from a paste to more of a dipping sauce.
2 comments:
I hope your sampling will give you good results. My guess would be that your yarn will be as pretty as it was before sizing as soon as you'll wash the woven fabric. That's what I hope, anyways! *crossing fingers*
that seems like a lot of work... Great job and good luck!!!
have a great weekend!
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