Lace Your Flyer: Interview w/ NaturallyKnitty

Have you heard that lacing the flyer on your spinning wheel will let you spin a more delicate/finer single? I have never done this myself but I have seen various people try it in different spinning groups with varied results.. our own NaturallyKnitty did however! She spun her very first 3ply sock yarn! She ended up with 473 yards out of 5.2oz, appox. 16wpi. Look how delicious it is! Read all about it in our little sit and spin.



1.) Where did you first learn about lacing your flier?
I heard about it from Polcamilla in the Spinners End thread…“Yup. Lace that puppy up like a corset!” I was intrigued about spinning finer… i couldn’t quite get the thinness i wanted. Then in lion chat one day our lovely fiber enabler CherrySprinkle mentioned that she had seen a thread in a different group and linked me to it the next day. HERE is the post… and it’s how i figured out how to lace up my Kromski… It wouldn’t be as difficult on my Schacht because the flyer has hooks right across from each other and on the same side… but i’ve been favoring my Kromski lately!

2.) What made you decide to try it?
I decided to try it because i could never get my spinning fine enough to do a 3 ply sock yarn… I can spin fairly fine, but it was never super consistent. I thought, Why not?

3.) How did you do it?
I looked at the picture in that post and figured out how to lace it… and just went with it. I took out my Superwash merino roving in the colorway Butterbeer (from Younger Yarn, Pacasha’s etsy shop) and started! I was at my Grandmas house with no internet and visiting with Allena and her family… good times!

4.) Why did you choose this yarn to start with?
I wanted sock yarn… and had been wanting to spin up this roving for a while. These are not my normal colors but when i saw it i had to have it… So i thought it appropriate to use it for the first time lacing up the bobbin… first time spinning yummy butterbeer!

5.) Do you feel as if this method helped you achieve thinner, more consistent singles?
Yes!

6.) Did you encounter any trouble when using this spinning method or anything making your spinning more difficult?
Only remembering how to lace it up… i kept having to refer back to that post or the picture i took of my own lacing ;) Actually it let me pack on the fiber super tight too… not a bad thing but good. I always had bumps on my bobbins from changing hooks and with this method i found that there were less bumps and it was much tighter than my bobbins normally were.

7.) Would you recommend it for someone who naturally spins fine? and what about those who spin bulky?
I think so. I know there are those out there who can spin quite fine on their own… but it really helped me. and i don’t think that i ever spun bulky… so I think it helped me stay more consistent. I think it would also help those who spin bulky naturally too… At least it’s worth a try! for all interested!

8.) Will you be trying it again? Soon?
Yes i will. I’ll be using this technique for one of my OWLs. I’m spinning up some superwash in Gryffindor colors to represent harry for my HoM… and i plan on lacing up the bobbin and then doing an Nply to get fun stripes! I am going to try and not go as fine as i did with the Butterbeer roving though, i want a bit thicker and squishier sock. This Butterbeer yarn is a bit hard, maybe i over spun it a bit when plying it (my first true 3 ply) but i think it will make for hard wearing socks, so i’m ok with it!

Congratulations NaturallyKnitty! It sure is beautiful!! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us and your delicious yarn!