I just wanted to say that I really love making rolags! As I finished my last spinning project this morning, it was time to select something new, which is always fun. I decided to spin the braid dyed by Passe-Partout that I recently won in the Lottery Swap in the Dutch Karma Group on Ravelry. The braid consisted of many shades of grey, pink, and purple, and is 70% merino/30% silk.
I decided to make rolags again because I enjoyed spinning the previous ones. Braids can sometimes become a bit too dense to spin from directly when they’ve been lying around for a while, and turning them into rolags adds fluff and volume. It also separates the fibres again. Carding will do the same thing.
So I started blending and rolling! I had to take care that I didn’t roll the rolags too tightly: the first one was really hard to take off the dowels. After that I allowed more space and they became more easy to handle.
To make a rolag, I just take the beginning of the braid and push it down at the top left of the blending board. I then gently pull down, leaving a fibre trail on the board. I repeat this motion from top left to top right, taking care that there are no empty spots, and then I take the brush that came with the board and I gently ease and brush the fibre I just added down along the pins.
I don’t make the layer too thick, just one go, to make it easier to pull the rolag off the board. If you make the layer thicker, you have to pull more fibre through the pins at a time, which is heavier on the hands and wrists. It can be fun to add a layer, though, because that layer will be hidden inside and provide a, hopefully nice, surprise to the spinner while spinning.
I then take the dowels and put one under and one on top of the bottom edge of the fibre. I start rolling a bit, and once I have a beginning, I start pulling the fibres, kind of drafting them a bit, then rolling the drafted bit, and so on, until I reach the top. This is the magical bit. I love the way the fibre looks while pulling them, because you can see all the small nuances in colour and texture of the fibres that you use.
Long story short, this is my new spinning project:
