Monday, February 16, 2009

Oops...my batt....

OK, I confess. I've heard too much over the last few days about Harlot Batts. It's actually Judith McKenizie McCuin's technique, but I'm afraid I'll be stuck thinking about it as Harlot Batts, because that's where I read about it first. Unfortunate that, once again, I cannot get my camera to represent this color as it really is, but what can I say? I'm struggling to figure out what degrees of "flash" to use, or not.

My point is, I felt so compelled to try this business of throwing fiber into the drumcarder sideways that I abandoned the chapter I was writing and grabbed some fiber. I lik the way the batts look, but have yet to try spinning them. However, I can't imagine that it would be difficult, or come out weird. Roving from Zeilinger's, after all, does not come back as "top," and it spins like a dream. Why should this not spin like a dream as well?

I'll get back to y'all about it when I know.

What I like about this technique is it seems to turn out a really nice batt in just two passes. What I still don't like about drumcarding is that my Louet carder, which I thought was supposed to accept 4 ounces of fiber, does not produce batts that satisfy me if I card more than 1 ounce at a time. Go figure! However, I can't complain too much, because the processing goes pretty quickly whn I am only doing up an ounce at a time.

Anyone else jumped on the Harlot's bandwagon for this adventure? I'm curious abut other people's opinions. Do you like spinning from batts done this way? Why, or why not?

I'm not sure now, if I want to write a little more or go running for the spinning wheel...

2 comments:

Iris said...

Yes, several members of the Spinners Guild did on Saturday at the carding party. The consensus was very good - they all liked the results. Some amazing batts resulted.

Alison said...

I've wanted to. The idea of lifting my carder out of its box right now is laughable--later, later. So I'm dying to hear how yours comes out.