Not Sure How to Spin Your Braid? Start Here!

When you discover a new dyer with irresistible braids, do you grab a fresh bobbin and start spinning right away, or do you spend a lot of time with that braid to figure out how you’ll combine and recombine the colors to get exactly what you want?

Indie dyers spend so much time and thought coming up with color combinations that it can feel rude to tear apart and recombine their creations. But as someone who used to make and sell hand-dyed braids myself, I can say with all honesty that dyers are happiest when we see spinners using and enjoying our dyed braids—no matter which path you choose!

Still, deciding to open up a braid and start spinning is one thing, and deciding how to do it is another matter entirely!

Luckily, in her 12 Ways to Spin Handpainted Top, Jillian Moreno walks you through some of the obvious and not-so-obvious ways to spin handpainted top. After some encouraging tips and tricks, Jillian walks us through all her tried-and-true techniques.

Two Ways to Change the Sequence

If you’re looking to try something new and want to modify your braid’s original sequence, Jillian offers five methods, including the ever-popular fractal spin. But one of my favorite methods Jillian shares is to create a gradient by separating all the colors in the braid and reorganizing them. This can then be combined with any number of spinning strategies, such as spinning singles, two-ply yarns, chain-ply, or corespinning.

While the dyed repeats in this braid were fairly long, by dividing them up and grouping each one by color, I ended up with a two-ply yarn that has long color runs. Each new color flows gently into the next for a pleasing self-striping yarn, perfect for a sweater yoke.

Get a closer look! Click on any image below to view in full-screen mode.