Winding Great Lengths of String.

Didn't get any weaving done yesterday, or prep for the loom to receive the next warp, but I did spend a great amount of time winding skeins onto spools.  The wonderful green and the rich red will be used in the next project, which will be the table scarf for my sister.

 

 





 

 

 

I also started winding off the cochineal-dyed tussah organzine I had dyed last fall.  I'm still not quite sure what I will do with this, other than for certainly weaving it in combination with the undyed version of this wonderful yarn, which is a soft lustrous cream color.  Something cream and crimson.  And this particular organzine has quite a strong twist, and makes for a crepe-like feel in the finished fabric.  It is best in tabby, but I am itchy to explore a more complex weave with the organzine.  I do also have quite a number of nicely-dyed trams, which can work as weft, so I may use those too once I figure out the scope of the project.

 

 

Above is my Reeves clock reel with some of the crimson cochineal-dyed tussah organzine wound onto it.  Having been burned by trying to wind off dyed skeins too fast, and causing breakage and augmenting tangles, I have been winding this one quite slowly.  It's still tangling, and there have been three breaks so far (with doubtlessly more to come; this is silk...) but so far so good.  At a certain point last night I had to just stop winding and go to bed; when I am winding off fine silk, I sort of hover at a level of internal tension and sharp, narrow focus of concentration.  I spent about two hours winding off the silk above...below is a photo of the skein on Rosemary's squirrel-cage swift.  It's basically impossible to not tangle reeled fine silk at least a bit when unwinding from a dyed skein, but tangles are not necessarily the end of the skein.  I've learned a lot about patience when winding off fine silks!!

 

Interestingly, while I was winding off last night, a prominent little thought popped into my mind: "Use a spray bottle because it will help with the static and minimize the breakage when you're winding off in a dry environment!".  It could have been just plain deduction on my part, but sometimes I like to think that assistance comes to me as I do this work, assistance from the unseen. 

 

It worked, for sure - a couple of shpritzes every fifteen minutes or so in the area around the rotating swift (but not directly aimed at the yarn) seemed to really help with the tangles!