Karaoke Dyed Soy Silk Spinning Fiber
SOYSILK® brand fiber is made from the residue of soybeans from tofu manufacturing.
This process is 100-percent natural and free of any petrochemicals, making it
an extremely environmentally friendly product. Soy is a completely renewable
resource - coming from the earth and being wholly biodegradable. As early as
the 1940s, textile experts dreamed of a fiber made from soy. (In fact, Henry
Ford had a suit made of soy as an early prototype.) SOYSILK® brand fiber
offers superior moisture absorption and ventilation properties along with beautiful
draping, softness and warmth.
If you enjoy spinning silk or Tencel, you will find the same
pleasure spinning this new fiber. With a staple length between three and four
inches, a fine fiber diameter and surface that allows the fibers to slide past
each other, drafting this material to the thickness you want is easy.
Split the roving to a pencil thickness and spin from this.
Keep your hands at least four inches apart due to the fiber length. Draft the
fibers to the thickness you want before allowing any twist into the fibers which
will lock them together. Ply to produce a balanced yarn.
Skein up your finished yarn. To set the twist, soak in warm
water, gently squeeze out the water by hand or by rolling in a towel, snap the
skein between your hands to realign the strands and hang to dry.
Do not be alarmed if at this point your skein looks a little
bedraggled. Just wait until it is completely dry and snap the skein between your
hands. If it still seems a little stiff, wad the skein into a ball and restraighten.
I have spun a low twist, 2-ply sportweight and two fine, high
twist, 2-ply yarns. The sportweight (14wpi, 4 tpi in ply) has a fuzzy halo and
will knit a cuddly sweater with the feel of a well aged t-shirt. The fine yarns
were equivalent to a 10/2 (36 wpi, 12 tpi in ply) and a 3/2 (24 wpi, 11 tpi in
ply) cotton and had no halo.
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