# I have bobbin envy!



## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

I noticed other ladies at the local fiber shop have bigger bobbins than me! Theoretically I should only fill a bobbin half full so I can ply it all on to one bobbin. My bobbins are so stinkin small! The jumbo flyer for the ashford traditional is $165! I only gave $50 for the whole darn spinning wheel!

Now I have to go to the yarn shop tomorrow so I can ply over onto a louet bobbin....................

So here I am sitting at home with a huge case of bobbin envy! Stewing in it actually!

Caren


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Caren, 

Its not the SIZE of the bobbin that matters, its how you USE it.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Every knitter has to get good at joining yarns.
A sweater will take many skeins.
I cannot imagine trying to have the whole sweater composed of one single long piece of yarn. 
That would be a huge skein. 

I dont have any problem plying onto many bobbins.
It is just the nature of spinning. 
Also, I am not real interested in treadling 2 pounds of singles around and around.
Seems unnecessary to me. :shrug:


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

GAM size matters!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

A certain size is necessary, but there are other ways to compensate. 

:grin:


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

In this case, bigger IS better! I've just ordered a bulky plyer/flyer for my Schacht Ladybug. It's supposed to get to the yarn shop sometime this week! whooo hooooo!

I sell my handspun and the customers prefer a larger skein. BUT, I've had my eye on an Ashford Trad...just in case I want to get into the reinactment scene....hehehehehee

I'm a fiber-a-holic....and I don't want to be cured! wahaahhahaahhha


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Caren it is worth the money to get the jumbo if that is what you want. That's the beauty of your (and all Ashfords) wheel, they are so expandable and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get what you want.

I have never only spun half a bobbin full so I could play it but then again. Usually over fill my bobbins  you could also learn to ply from the inside and outside of the ball, no waste, and you only need one bobbin full to get a 2-ply of your yarn.


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Oh, my, I have been spinning for 8-9 years on a small bobbin on a little Ashford Joy. I like the machine a lot, so don't get all that concerned about the size. I make do. I don't have room for those big wheels and I can do everything they can do. I usually fill a bobbin, then wind it off to a center pull ball, ply from the inside and the outside for a 2-ply yarn. No big deal---let them have their big balls (eh, of yarn).


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Hmmmm. 


I see that the big bobbin lovers are winning the debate, by a smidgen.
Here's my vote for the bigger versions. 

GAM.....it's not that there's any clowns around who would knit a sweater off one 20 pound bobbin of yarn. That's just silly. It's all about the time that it takes to switch one little bitty bobbin after another, stopping for coffee and a check of the fiber arts portion of HT each and every time......that really starts to cut into the day.

It's time to stop goofing around like that and start taking your spinning seriously. :nono:


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Oh yes.

*I* am the one who needs to quit goofing off and get serious about my spinning. :bored:

Actually, I am sitting here w/ my coffee and reading the boards while I wait for the dew to dry so I can shear that littlest goat.

I will be thinking of new ways to show my sincerity towards the fiber arts the whole time. :whistlin:


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Well, good for you.

I'm glad we were able to have this little talk.

I worry about you, that's all. :shrug:


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Hey FR did you get all your sheep sheared yet? What are you doing with their fleeces?


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

ok so I spent 4 hours at the fiber shop learning to to put my itty bitty bobbin on a skein winder and then plying from that and then I sat down to the louet and it was loooovvvvveee! that great big bobbin.......................................Oh yeah!


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Caren said:


> ok so I spent 4 hours at the fiber shop learning to to put my itty bitty bobbin on a skein winder and then plying from that and then I sat down to the louet and it was loooovvvvveee! that great big bobbin.......................................Oh yeah!


I have a Louet S10 (yea, it's oooold) but, I can put over 8 oz on that puppy...


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Did you trade in your Ashford?


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

Marchwind said:


> Hey FR did you get all your sheep sheared yet? What are you doing with their fleeces?


It is getting to be that time, again, isn't it.

They'll likely get coldstashed for the winter and then when it warms up, in the suint bath they'll go!!! :hobbyhors


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

nope I got my ashford! It is up and running..... but it has a teeny tiny little bitty bobbin! I shortened the leather strap and it seems to treadel so much easier! wow what a difference!


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I think I've finally clued into the basis for your bobbin envy problem.

Someone told you that you have to fill your singles bobbins only halfway full, in order to fill the third bobbin with your yarn. 

Well, yes, that would be annoying. But (as I mentioned in the other thread) it's not true - unless you have some philosophical objection to unwinding finished yarn from a bobbin, which makes no sense, because otherwise how will you use it? 

Just ply onto the bobbin until it's full, wind off that yarn, and ply the rest of the singles onto the bobbin again. Repeat until you run out of singles to ply.

1/2 bobbin of singles + 1/2 bobbin of singles = 1 bobbin full of yarn

is the same as 

1 bobbin of singles + 1 bobbin of singles = 2 bobbins full of yarn


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## Forerunner (Mar 23, 2007)

frazzlehead said:


> - unless you have some philosophical objection to unwinding finished yarn from a bobbin, which makes no sense, because otherwise how will you use it?


I don't know about philosophical......but I keenly remember thinking how cool it would have been to dip both my first two bobbins of freshly spun homegrown fleece into shellac and hang them from the rearview mirror of my tractor for mementos...... :shrug:


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I get it! The jumbo flyer assembly is totally worth it, Caren.

My Ashford Traveller is my plying & bulky yarn wheel.


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