SKEIN MAKING

I am finally down to the actual work for the next crackle warp. Not mental calculations (though I am by no means done with these, unfortunately….). I have started to wind skins for dyeing.

LINKS INSTEAD OF IMAGES

Since my computer is still in the hospital, I cannot give you pictures of what is going on. Instead, you will find links to pictures on the web of some of these tools and procedures. I could, of course, simply copy those images into this blog, but that would be not only unethical but also illegal.

WINDING SKEINS

I am winding the skeins from cones of 20/2 silk from Treenway Silks. I used to wind from the large skeins Treenway sells but I had a lot of problems doing that. Even when things went relatively easily, it still took a long time. But winding from cones is virtually effortless. So, even if it costs money to have skeins put onto cones (Habu for example does charge), I find that it is definitely money well spent.

I put the purchased cone of silk yarn on my cone holder, thread the yarn through the eye at the top of the cone holder, run it through my yardage counter, and tie it onto an arm of the skein winder. Then I proceed to turn the skein winder and make the skein of yarn.

IMAGES OF THE TOOLS

For a picture of the skein winder, go here. The picture on the Leclerc site shows both their swift (top of page) and their skein winder (bottom). What I am using is the skein winder.

To see a picture of LeClerc’s 8-peg cone colder, go here and scroll down.

For a picture of the yardage counter, go here. Scroll to near the bottom of the page. Schacht designed this tool for sectional warping. It works beautifully, however, for measuring yardage of yarn going to a skein winder or a cone winder or a ball winder.