Ok so ! Some experimentation is afoot (pun intended). I've blended several potential fibers with southdown babydoll roving in an attempt to find a good thread to hold alongside the toe of the next sock.
Context for the newcomers--i wear through the toes/ball of the foot of my socks ridiculously quickly, and have been trying on and off to design a sock blend that is kolya-proof for the last several years (mostly to no avail. I do a lot of sock mending 😔). @swords-n-spindles suggested i hold a thread alongside. I want it to add some support to the rest of the yarn, but it also needs to be stretchy enough that it will still conform to the shape of my foot. So, im currently trying to find a good blend to spin into a thin singles (perhaps even a felted singles, in honor of the yarn design spin along since i still havent done february's).
I'm using southdown babydoll because thats what the socks im currently knitting are made of, but i also think it might have been a good choice anyway, since sdb is extremely elastic and fairly durable.
Everything was blended using combs and pulled off without dizzing, bc my elbow already hurts.
So, from top to bottom: plain southdown babydoll roving. Then sdb + firestar (aka nylon). There's a little sample of it so you can see. Then sdb + kid mohair combing waste. I chose waste specifically bc the staple length of the mohair is about double the staple length of the sdb, which does not lead to good top. So the waste was the much shorter bits, which integrate a lot better.
Then we've got sdb + bactrian camel hair. I have a bit of partially dehaired bactrian camel down floating around in my room, and i used my combs to skim the hair off, to reasonable success. The bit on top is just the partially dehaired camel down as i got it, the bottom is partially dehaired camel down that's been de-downed, if you will, so that it's mostly hair. Now, these are much shorter and finer hairs than what youd find if you got a totally intact piece of bactrian camel fleece, but i sadly don't have any. If this sample works out i may need to acquire a piece of intact fleece and see how that goes (i'll need to cut the hair to a suitable staple length, but still). Lastly, we have sdb + karakul fleece. The staple lengths were identical and it blended really nicely.
I plan to spin each sample on my supported spindle, as fine as i can reasonably manage, and see what looks most promising.
FIRESTAR: i'm a little wary of this bc i couldnt blend it effectively. The firestar is very slippery and the sdb is not, so it's not well integrated. I think this sample will end up uneven, with sections of entirely firestar and sections of entirely sdb. I may need to make another sample where i cut the staple of the firestar in half and see if that helps at all, at least when doffing the comb.
MOHAIR: i think it will look and behave almost identically to the 100% sdb. The problem with mohair for these kinds of things is that it is extremely inelastic, so a mohair blend needs to be very sparing with the mohair if you want to retain any elasticity. I could probably have added a little more, though, so if it is identical i will make another sample with more mohair, and see how it is.
BACTRIAN CAMEL HAIR: really excited about this one. Camel hair is very very durable, and of course, quite inelastic. I added as much as i thought i could get away with. I think it will be a little wiry, but very strong.
KARAKUL: also excited about this one. Karakul is extremely durable as well, tyoically used for rugs and such. I added a fair amount to the sdb. I think it will be smoother than the camel hair, but hopefully just as strong. The one caveat is that the micron count is pretty high (30 is average, but i think this might be on the thicker end), which limits how fine i can spin a singles from it. So it may end up a little too thick for this application, but we'll see.
I'm going to spin these either tonight or tomorrow, and perhaps take a stab at felting them. I'll report back when they're spun and all :)
