Like many spinners, I have a “default yarn”, the one I can spin without thinking. Same fibre, same hands, same rhythm. I just sit at my usual spinning wheel, and I just spin without thinking about it.
So when I sat down at a new-to-me wheel and suddenly everything felt off, I knew it wasn’t the fibre… and it wasn’t me either.
This week I’ve been spinning on a new-to-me, Louet S90, and my usual muscle memory for my default yarn isn’t working so well. So I thought I’d share where I’m going wrong and how to fix it.
My “New to me” Louet S90 spinning wheel: quite different from my other wheels, I’m still learning her nuances
The Louet S90 is an Irish tension wheel, so even with the tension turned as low as it will go, it still pulls harder on the yarn than I’m used to with my other wheels that use Scotch Tension. As a result:
- I’m holding on to the yarn tighter than usual
- That pull makes me instinctively hold the fibre longer to make sure I get enough twist, and if I’m drafting a bit lazy, (which tends to happen on my default yarn), I can get twist locked fibre
- This is exaggerated by the fact that I keep forgetting that this is a higher speed wheel than my usual.
What have I changed to deal with these issues?
- I’ve switched to the slowest whorl on the wheel, and slowed down my rate of spinning. This wheel isn’t in my muscle memory yet so I do have to pay more attention to what I’m doing, but this will help decrease the likelihood of too much twist too quickly.
- I can’t decrease the tension on the wheel anymore, so I tried cross lacing the flyer. Cross lacing will decrease the pull you feel on your yarn, even if you can’t decrease the tension any more. It worked beautifully, even though the hook system on this wheel is a bit unusual. Perhaps the funny loop on the other arm of the flyer was actually made for this purpose? I don’t know. The S90 wasn’t produced for long and it is no longer in production so some aspects of it are a bit of a mystery.
- I have switched drafts. Instead of a short forward draft, I’ve switched to spinning the combed top from the fold using a supported long draw. It is really difficult to twist lock your fibre when you are spinning from the fold, so when I end up not focusing on my drafting, I am less likely to get twist locked as easily.
Spinning from the fold give more control over your fibre, with less chance of having your fibre get twist locked
This is how I have cross laced the flyer on the Louet S90 spinning wheel. No idea if this is what the ring was meant for, but it works!
So if your yarn suddenly isn’t behaving the way you expect, don’t assume you’ve lost your touch. More often than not, it’s a mismatch between your muscle memory and your wheel’s mechanics.
Slow down, change one variable at a time, and let the wheel teach / remind you how it wants to spin. That’s where real versatility as a spinner begins.
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