Easy Jack Rabbit wool drop spinning

I purchased this Jack Rabbit wool as part of my learning to drop spin various fleeces. A jack rabbit is a large Hare, with very long straight up ears. The World of Wool sent me 100g in a self seal bag. This blog is going to be about drop spinning this 100g of jack rabbit wool into a 2ply yard.

Table of Contents

About the Jack Rabbit wool.

It has been carded and feels very soft when it comes out of the bag, squiggy.
There seem to be dark fibres as well as caramel coloured fibres.
The staple length when I pull it out of the batt/roving is about 4cm long.
It separates very easily into manageable lengths for spinning.

What size whorl did I use for spinning Jack Rabbit wool?

I am lucky I have a husband who makes whorls. I just use any light to medium weight whorl for the single ply , mine weighed 35g. When I ply two single strands into a 2ply, I use a heavier larger spindle that has a long shaft.

How to start the spinning on a drop spindle

Everyone has their own way of doing this step, Measure a piece of yarn to at least twice as long as the whorl and shaft. Tie the end together so you have a loop. place the knotted side under and around the shaft making a loop. Thread the other side through the loop, pull to tighten. Sometimes to prevent it coming loose while you are getting started people tie this yarn around the shaft twice. Pull the yarn up through the slot and wrap it around the hook a few times to hold it ready.

Attaching the Jack Rabbit wool to the spindle

Open up the carded Jack Rabbit wool, and unwind a bit of it.

Tear a piece about the length of your forearm off.

Pull a section of not more than 3 cm long till fine fibres. The staple length is about 4cm so stay safe.
Put the pulled section through the loop made by the starting yarn. Pinch it together and hold whilst you do your first spins.

Best way to spin Jack Rabbit wool on a spindle – single ply.

Typically I will spin a single ply yarn, and then ply it together into a two-ply yarn.
You must spin your singles in one direction. I spin my spindle clockwise for single plying.
Once i have a good amount of twist in the starter yarn, place the spindle between your knees to hold it steady.

I pull (draft) out some more fibres, whilst still holding the Jack Rabbit wool on the starter
I pinch the top of what I have drafted out, and let the pinch where I had the wool wrapped in the starter yarn loop go.
When spinning the spindle make sure the Jack Rabbit wool is out of the spindles was as it can catch and wrap itself around the spindle. I place it over my arm.
The fibre will take the spin clockwise which has till now been saved in the starter yarn from my first clockwise spins.
Spin the spindle again while still holding the pinch. Place spindle between your knees , draft out some fibre, hold the top let the bottom go.
When you have a long length of spun yarn, wind it onto the shaft of the whorl.
Leave some yarn to thread through the slot and around the hook again to repeat the above.
To put it down without it all unravelling, wrap the wool around the hook a number of times.

How to fix your wool roving breaks during spinning.

This is very common and happens a lot when you first start out.

Joining needs to be done when the wool roving breaks during spinning and when the roving you are busy spinning comes to an end.
Simply gently break apart the fibres on your whorl roving. Pull some fibres from the roving and lay them over the whorl fibres, rub them gently and then spin them into the yard.

Having a heap of whorls full of single ply Jack Rabbit Wool.

The single ply Jack rabbit was spun in the clockwise twist. It now needed to be plied in the anti clockwise twist.
Match the whorls by eye balling the amount of thread on the whorls. When plying we need two whorls at any one time.
I spun 6 whorls of single ply from my 100g of Jack Rabbit wool.

How to ply the Jack Rabbit Wool from the full whorls.

For this process you need an empty heavier whorl and something to hold the spindles in place as you unwind them. If you had a spinning wheel you could use a lazy Kate. The lazy Kate is to hold the already full spindles. You need two full spindles to ply together onto one spindle.

What I use for my top spinning whorl plying.

I use a cardboard box which has to holes through either side on the length way side.
I put my two whorls through these holes with the full section opposite each other.
Secure the shafts with an elastic band, this prevents them falling out when you are pulling on them.
Keep the yarn from each spindle separate when plying as they can get tangled up.

Plying my Jack Rabbit Wool single ply yarn.

Set up your heavier top whorl with a good leader.
Take the ends from both single ply whorls and attach them to the leader.
Spin ANTI- CLOCKWISE and start plying the two separate single ply strands into one thicker strand on the heavier whorl.
Keep each single strand separate before reaching the twist. I put one over my right leg and the other over the left.
Continue to do this until all the single yarn in now double. I use multiple plying spindles.

What does it look like when it is plied?

The two single strands are twisted as evenly as possible to create a thicker two ply yarn. Depending on how your single yard spun up, the thickness will always be different to another persons. If you are well practiced in drop spinning then you will be able to spin fairly even thin singles. This will result in even thick double ply. I have lumps and all sorts in my single ply but I ended up with a fair double ply. I ended up with three whorls full of plied Jack Rabbit Wool.

What do you do after you have plied the single yarn.

For the next step in the process you need a Niddy Noddy. This is used to wind the plied Jack Rabbit Wool into a skein. Once on the Niddy Noddy secure the strand by tying some wool around at intervals to secure it when you remove it from the Niddy Noddy.

Remove the secured Jack Rabbit Wool from the Niddy Noddy and wash it in hand warm water with a bit of soap. Lightly rub it and then leave it for about half an hour. Remove from the soapy water and rinse thoroughly before hanging out to dry.

Finishing process for my Jack Rabbit Wool.

Once the yarn is nice an dry it can be rolled up for use.
I have a homemade wool winder made by Stephen from mywoodenshed.co.uk, it works well and holds the wool nice and firmly.
Once it is wound it will be ready for knitting.
The actual thickness of your 2 ply will tell you what pattern you require for the yarn.
from my 100g Jack Rabbit Wool roving, I spun it all up, losing bits due to breakage and tangles. I ended up with 87g of processed 2 ply yarn.

A long process which was very relaxing and enjoyable. I shall be trying something very different next so keep checking back.