Ideas for using up the extra yarn on your bobbins

All the wool is a vlog  all about handspinning yarn, processing wool, knitting, owning a wool mill, farm life and everything in between.

We all end up with at some point with extra yarn on our bobbins after we are done plying. In this episode I share some of my favorite ways to use up those bits.

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Transcript

0:01

Hello everyone, and welcome. I am Kim Beagler, owner of Youthful Fiber Farm and Mill, and I am sitting here at home staring out the window at our rhododendron bush and some cloudy skies on the eve of my 50th birthday. And you know what we're gonna talk about what to do with those extra bits of yarn. On your babin after you apply.'cause there are always some there aren't there. So I, maybe next week I'll talk a little bit about turning 50. If you happen to be in the area, the mill shop is open tomorrow, Saturday, March 29th from noon to three. Operations is normal except that there will be some cake and hopefully there will be lots of smiling faces and a wonderful community to help usher in. There goes a truck to help usher in my 50th year. If you are new, welcome. I talk a lot about wool, sheep, yarn, all of those things, owning a wool mill. And if you're coming back, thank you. Okay, so tips for. What to do with those extra bits that happen to be on your bobbin after you've applied, assuming you're applying it, of course, because it's a rare occasion, right, where you, even if you weigh out the fiber perfectly in half and you spin that one half on a bobbin and you spin the other half on another bobbin or however you're doing it, there's always. Extra. And the main reason for this, in case you aren't sure is because it's just a little bit of inconsistency in hand spinning, right? Even the most perfect hand spinner will probably have some left less perfect hand spinner. You are the more that may be left on your bob. And if you do that perfect measurement and a lot of it just has to do with kind of those thick and thin spots, right? You're gonna have, they're just not going to even out when you apply. So. What do you do with them? Because I know if you're anything like me, you've got extra bobbins and they kind of just like pile up. And sometimes I just start the next project over them if there's not enough or they just get added to a collection of like, what am I gonna do with all this yarn? So here are my top tips for this, okay? The first and most obvious is to make mini schemes, right? And I have a couple ways that you could do that. So the first way, and by mini schemes, I mean you're just kind of making schemes that are maybe 25, 50 yards, whatever they may be. Mill ends is what I call the first option. And a lot of mills will do this. I used to do this when I spun at my mill and it's just taking all those extra bits, imp plying them together to make a mill end yarn. It's all the ends of your bob ends that you're then implying together to make this very one of a kind and special yarn and. I wouldn't overthink it. I wouldn't think too much about quantity or quality, quantity, even weight. Just throw it together and have fun with it. Okay, so there's your millets. Next up would be to do a two ply yarn out of a single bobbin. We're talking. So the easiest way to do this is called a D and plying. Obviously, I cannot show you here on an audio podcast, but you could go to YouTube or I'm sure somebody's got like a little mini course on Andy implying, and it's basically winding the yarn that is on one of those vains onto your hand, and then you apply it. On your wheel onto another robin, and you've got a two-ply urine. So Andy implying, give that a shot. Next up would be chain plying. And chain plying is when you are using a single bob and again, and you are making a three ply yarn basically by making a loop and stringing the third strand through there. It's a little hard to describe. Again, you can, if you're in my Patreon community, I believe I still have a workshop. On chain plying. If not, I should probably do a new one again'cause there's a lot of new subscribers in there. Chain flying, there's videos on YouTube, all of that. So that's a great way to use up and you'll end up with a three fly yarn. And then of course you could always use it as a single yarn. That one bobbin. If it has enough twist on it that you think it'll stay together as a single. So these are kind of going in order of efficiency, I suppose. Using it as a single would be most efficient maybe, but mill ends are gonna be efficient.'cause you're using two bobbins, potentially you can get more yardage out into that mini scheme. And the implying is a two ply. So you're gonna get further with those and then. Chain plying is a three ply. So if I have a bobin that has a fair amount of singles yarn on it, I might do a chain ply. Andy implying, I think depending on how claustrophobic you get with a lot of raw yarn wrapped around your fingers and you're kind of stuck in there for a while. Andy implying is another option. You could, of course, I suppose also hand wind. If you have a ton and you want a to fly, you could hand wind. Some of that onto a second bobbin and then apply it that way. I have done that when I'm working on bigger projects and I wanna make sure I have enough yardage of a yarn, so there's another option for you. Okay, so there's our mini schemes option. Okay. My next favorite way to use up ends, and this doesn't go as quickly but it still works well, is to use it for the leads on my bobbins, because you do have to, as you put those leads on your bobbins, which is where you start your yarn, right, you do tend to, I tie knots in them with the fiber I'm about to start, and so, you know, eventually you're like cutting away at that. Lead. So mill ends or not mill ends. Your bob and ends and extras are a great way to use up that. And I just will pull a nice, big, long strand off. I fold it in half so that it will apply back on itself a little bit and just be a little bit stronger. So that's how I use it for that. I would recommend using a nice wool if you're spinning a. In my community. I think less people are spinning super wash. But super wash is gonna be slicker. So it may not be the best yarn to use for a lead or maybe an alpaca or something like that. I mean, you want it to be a single that's gonna stay together.'cause that would be really frustrating if you have it as the lead in your bob. And it does. It keeps breaking. So there you go. Leads on bobbins. Okay, third one. I'm not gonna say I do this because this to me, it drives me a little bit. Bonker doodles. But this is totally personal choice and I know lots of people do it and it does not drive them bonker doodles. So using it to make ties for future yarn schemes. And by that I mean, you know, you'll, so you applied your yarn, you put it on a nitty knotty, now you tie the end to itself, right? And then a lot of times we will tie extra ties throughout the yarn as. Especially, especially if you're gonna die, you will tie extra loops in your yarns to keep it from getting totally disorganized in the scheme. And these extra yarns on your bobbin can do that. I would do the same thing, pull a nice amount off, fold it in half so that there's a little ply back on it. It makes it a little bit of a stronger yarn. Of course, two flies stronger than single ply in most cases. And then tie your little figure eights with that. The reason I don't love this is because I'm a little OCD about the ties on my yarn should be the same yarn. That the, I'm tying, does that make sense? So I don't like to have a skiing of gray yarn, say maybe. And then it has a different color for those figure eight ties. It's just one of my things. I would rather compromise a little bit of the yardage to use the same ties. Now, some people would be like, heck no. I'm not gonna compromise a single bit of that. But that's just where we land. So there's an option for you. It ties on your yarns. Okay, the next one. Would be for embroidery. Lots of, you know, I've gotten a little more into embroidery and you could certainly use singles yarn to embroider with I. The only caution I would say is make sure it has enough twists that it's not gonna break on you while you're using it. Or once you have it into the embroidery, I mean, if you get it into the embroidery, I would imagine it's probably gonna stay pretty strong, but just something, depending on if it's gonna be a high wear or high use thing. But you certainly can use yarns in embroidery, so there's a great option for that. Okay, here's my last one, and it is. When all else fails, you could cut up those singles, like pull it off your bobbin, maybe make a nice, you could even like pull it off on a nitty naughty or however you want to, and then cut it up into little snippets and recard it into some other fiber. So it'll work either as a texture in another fiber that you're going to spin, or if it was dyed up, it could be pops of color. If you have like a white fiber, you could throw in some dyed yarns or even some natural colored other yarns. And those little bits will just add some texture and some pops into the next germ. Okay, I'm gonna throw one more out and it's gonna be a little controversial. So here it is though. And I have done it myself. Just yank it off the bobbin and throw it away. And I know that is hard to think of, but. It is one lesser stress way to do it. You know, if you just don't feel like doing any of these other things or there's not enough, or you know what, you're just having a day, just empty the bobbin gently, place it into the garbage can and never look back. I know, I know. Hand spun is sacred, but okay, you all, that's what I've got for you for today. Some tips on what to do with those extras, and I would be remiss if I did not mention that there are lots of places you can find me, including my website, which is youthful fiber farm.com. You can go to my blog, which is being youthful.com. Please make sure to get all my newsletter wherever you do go. Okay, you can join the youthful Patreon community because that is a fabulous way to meet other makers from around the world, around the country and be inspired. There's lots of fun going on there, including workshops. You get early access to shop updates, which basically means you get the shop update because most of the time nothing makes it to the website. So there's lots of great things in the community and you're just helping contribute to this podcast and to. My last place you can find me, which is YouTube, and I do spend every week, I'm over on YouTube and you can check out those videos over there. I will have all the links in the show notes, and I think that's what I've got for you for the day. So everybody please take care. Track me down somewhere if you have another great idea to use with those extra. Bobin ends, please. There's a Google form. You can fill it out and it'll send it directly to me, and that's in the show notes. Or you can email me and gimme your ideas. I would love to hear them and I always love to hear from listeners because audio podcast, that's very hard to kind of know what's going on out there or who's listening, so I always love to hear from you. Okay, thank you all so much for listening, everybody take care and I will talk to you very soon.