I use storage bobbins when I spin. Using storage bobbins gives you a much more even yarn at every step of the yarn production. So this means that while I usually only have 3-4 bobbins for most of my wheels, I have (literally) hundreds of storage bobbins. I spin a bobbin of yarn and then wind it off onto a storage bobbin. I use the same wheel bobbin for all of the spinning for a project.
Using storage bobbins gives you a much more even yarn at every step of the yarn production. It's an extra step but well worthwhile. No matter how compulsive you are about changing hooks, you tend to end up with ridges of built-up fiber on the bobbin. When you ply from one of these bobbins, the rate of feed varies.
Even more important than this, is the fact that winding the storage bobbin evens out your twist. A lot of factors affects the amount of twist that goes into your yarn. It is affected by the type of drive mechanism your wheel uses and how you spin. It is even affected by your personal stress level. Winding a storage bobbin that's a good 6' (or more) from your wheel will give the twist a chance to move along the yarn and even itself out. The same is true in the ply (or cable) stage.
After I have spun all of my singles, then I start in on my plying. If you spin two (or three or whatever) bobbins of singles and then ply them up, you are more likely to see larger variations in your finished yarn. It's like when you're taking part in a sheep-to-shawl contest. If each individual plys up their own yarn, the finished skeins are wildly different. If you ply up yarn from different people, it all kind of averages out. Well, the same is true for even dealing with with the singles for an individual spinner. Perhaps you had a really bad week due to problems at work or you had an absolutely glorious weekend with your dear spouse off with the kids to visit grandparents (now that's a good spouse). In any case, your singles will vary a bit. (Unless you've really bought into the program of counting treadles for each amount of yarn you're spinning.)
However you get there, spinning up all your singles first and then plying will lead to a much more even yarn.
Another advantage of storage bobbins is that they can be quite cheap. Certainly cheap relative to wheel bobbins. You can use the plastic styrene spools from LeClerc. They hold 250 grams of yarn -- which is more than enough for most spinners. At ~$3.00 apiece, a much better option for spinners than bobbins for your wheel. A double-end bobbin winder like the one from Schacht will work with almost any storage you can think of. I also have the splint-shank bobbin winder made by Harrisville. If you have a bobbin that's a bit too wide for it, you put the tip of screwdriver into the split and widen it. And if it's a bit too tight, a pair of pliers makes it fit.
I'm sure that Alden Amos covers the advantages of storage bobbins in better detail in his The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning.
If you have comments, please send email to: Rosemary Brock.
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