Fractal Rainbow

by Ashley Weber

Fractal Rainbow

by Ashley Weber

I came across these rainbow merino braids at a farmers market in North Carolina while visiting friends for the weekend. I loved how vibrant they were, and I knew I wanted to get two braids so I’d have enough for a generous woven shawl. I decided to go with a fractal technique because I love the variety and rhythm it creates in the color repeats.

Specs

DK weight

What You'll Need

Materials and Equipment

8 ounces of merino: two 4 ounce rainbow braids dyed by Chatham Fibers
Schacht Matchless, set up in double drive tension system
Medium speed whorl—I used the smallest groove
Schacht Tensioned Lazy Kate
4 bobbins total, 2 for singles and 2 for plying

Directions

To prepare my fiber, I split the first braid in half lengthwise, into two 2 ounce lengths that maintained all the rainbow color changes. The second braid, I split into lengthwise into four 1 ounce lengths. One bobbin was spun with the two 2 ounce portions and the second bobbin was spun with the four 1 ounce portions. I maintained the same order of rainbow colors for both bobbins.
My spinning technique with merino tends to be continuous backward worsted draw. The movement keeps me from locking my body too tightly so I can spin for longer periods, and I find it gives me a good balance of consistency and speed in my spinning.
After spinning both braids as singles, I plied them so that each skein has one full rainbow repeat from the first bobbin, and two full rainbow repeats of the second bobbin. Both were wet-finished to set the twist.