Are you nervous about blending fibers? Here is an easy exercise to get started. Hello there, darling Sheepspotter. Welcome to episode 112 of the Sheepspot podcast. I'm Sasha, and my job is to help you make more yarns you love. In this episode, I'm going to share my recipe for a special yarn for a special purpose. us. Since shortly after I began spinning, I've been knitting special chemo caps for friends with cancer.
As you know, I live in Canada, where hats are really not optional for much of the year, and I love making very simple but very luxurious toques for my chemo-undergoing friends in the the hopes that they will keep their heads warm and comfy while reminding them that I love them and I'm rooting for them. My priorities in creating the yarn for these hats are warmth and softness.
So I generally make a woolen spun yarn from a drum carded bat into which I put bits of all the warmest and softest naturally colored fibers in my collection. If you don't have a drum carder, you can absolutely use hand cards for this. I like to make bats that weigh around 150 grams in total for this project. That way I know I've I've got enough yarn for swatching if I need to, and I know that I'm not going to end up playing yarn chicken, which I don't enjoy.
So 150 grams for a hat is generous, but it works for me. You can use any combination of fine wools, alpaca, and other fine camelid fibers like camel down, and silk and undercoat fibers like kivyat, bison, yak, and cashmere. And really, you can just wing the proportions. You don't need a recipe for this, but in case you would like to start off with a recipe, I have created one for you.
And there will be a downloadable PDF with the recipe and and instructions, and that will be linked in the show notes. So here's the recipe. I like to start off with about 50 grams of the finest wool that I have. So consider ultra-fine merino, cormo would be a good choice. Some very fine rambouillet might work. So that's the first piece is 50 grams of wool. Then I will add to that 30 grams of very fine alpaca. And the reason for this is that alpaca fibers are actually hollow.
So alpaca yarns are really great at trapping air and very insulating. And I want my hat to be warm. Then I'll add about 30 grams of silk. and this adds yet more warmth and also a bit of luster, a bit of bling to the yarn. So I usually used combed tassa or one of the wild silks like eerie, mooga, or peduncle silk because they add some color variation. But you could also add some silk noil if you have it, or some silk hankies for texture.
Just be sure to cut up your hankies before you start trying to blend them. And then about 20 grams of undercoat fibers. So consider well-dehaired angora, camel, yak, kiviot, cashmere, or bison. And all of those fibers are the inner coats. That's why we call them undercoat fibers. They're the inner coats of the animal's coat. And in all cases, they have longer guard hairs.
And the job of the guard hairs, as it is in a multicolored, sorry, in a multicoded Shetland sheep or Icelandic sheep, the job of the guard hairs is to wick moisture away from the animal's body. But those guard hairs are usually quite a bit thicker than the undercoat fibers. And so you want to make sure all those guard hairs are out because they can produce a little bit of a prickle. And we want this yarn to be as comfortable next to the skin as it possibly can be. Okay.
So in designing and creating your mix, think about how much fiber you're working with total and what your drum cutter kind of likes in terms of the amount of fiber. So my drum cutter works really well with around 50 gram bats. So I would divide each of the fibers I was going to use into thirds before blending. And then I would make three bats. mats, and I would probably, I would try not to make too many passes because I don't want to blend the colors too much.
I want there to be some dark and light fibers in there just to move the eye around the cloth when we get to that stage. If you're using hand cards, you're obviously going going to need to use less fiber per roll leg. And so don't overload your prep tools. It is not going to make your prep go any faster and you won't get as good a result. So take your time. Remember to take breaks to protect your hands.
And if you are going to do this on hand cards, you might want to use fewer fibers just to make the process of making the roll legs a little bit simpler. So as I've said, I like to do these bats with a range of naturally colored fibers, and that's why when I'm collecting fibers, I am looking for a range.
It's particularly nice if you can incorporate some white, usually your wool is going to do that for you, and some black, alpaca is great for that, as the value shifts will just make your finished cloth more interesting visually. Now, if you're using a drum carter, you might want to listen to episode 60 on the various ways to spin bats. If you want the warmest possible yarn, you're going to want to use a long draw. And long draw is a great choice for spinning Rolex as well.
If you don't love long draw or you're not yet completely comfortable with it, episode 100 on the woolen drafts will give you some other options to try. eye. If you would like to take on the project of blending and spinning for a chemo hat, don't forget to download the freebie for this episode with the recipe and just some quick instructions. There will be a link to it in the show notes, which you will find right inside your podcast app.
And even if you don't know anyone currently undergoing chemotherapy, chances are or you will at some point. So grab the recipe now so you'll have it when you need it to send some handmade love to a friend or a family member who's going through a tough time. And if you do try this, please, please, please, pretty please share pictures in the flock or on Instagram with the hashtags sheepspotpodcast and chemohatrecipe.
As always, you can discuss and comment on this episode in a dedicated thread in the flock. You'll find a link to that as well in the show notes. That does it for me this time, dearest sheep spotter. Thank you so much for listening. I hope this has been useful. I will be back next week with some tips on blending wool and silk on a drum carter. Silk can misbehave a bit in the bat making process, so tune in next time and
I'll tell you some of the strategies I use to get nice, smooth wool-silk blends. ends. Until then, beloved, take the time to spin something. I'm willing to bet that it will do you good.