Friday Night Spinning FO!
Fiber: 100% Superwash Merino, Bonkers Fibers, Emerald Forest
Source: Estes Park Wool Market, 2005
Weight: 3.7 oz
Yardage: 260 yds
Ply: Traditional 3-Ply
WPI: ~14 (sport weight)
TPI: ~5 (assuming I’m counting correctly for 3-ply)
On Friday I plied the superwash merino that has been in process for a while. This fiber was such a pleasure to spin! I think it would have been done much faster if I hadn’t sidetracked myself with the silk briefly (though it was for a good cause, DH and I are working on a video). Once I picked it back up, it only took me two days to finish up the singles.
This is by far my best handspun to date. I was still a bit thicker and shorter on yardage than I was aiming for. It is registering as a sport weight according to the average WPI I was getting. But, it bloomed beautifully when I washed it up and it was perfectly balanced. It is also super elastic which makes me so happy I want to shout it from the roof! My wheel-spun has really been lacking in elasticity. I think perhaps I had been underplying, but not so much that the hank screamed that it wasn’t balanced. I love the color, the elasticity and the softness. It was met quite favorably at SnB last night too! It has been really hard to keep myself from casting it on immediately :-) DH has even found me holding and petting it with a big grin on my face, LOL! I can’t keep myself from taking more and more pictures of it either.
(Click to go to Flickr and see links to the individual photos.)
I am also happy with the semi-solid result of the three ply yarn. I split the total length of roving into three equal parts (by length, not weight) and each of those thirds went onto their own bobbin. But, before I spun a bobbin full I split the roving for that third lengthwise in fourths. I randomly chose an end to spin from in hopes of reducing matching of shades in the final plied yarn. I think I’ll get some subtle striping when I knit this, but it should be much subtler than a 2-ply would create and should be just enough to make it interesting to work with. I also think due to my frequent use of the reference card I ended up with the least amount of singles left over - 35 yds total.
What will it grow up to be? Quite likely socks. But I really need to put it away out of sight so I’m not distracted from projects that are higher up in the knitting queue…
I will definitely be making my way to the Bonkers booth at Estes this year. I by-passed it last year and am quite sad I do not have more of this fiber to work with right NOW! :-) Maybe the birthday fairy is reading… LOL! Really, mom let’s me do my own birthday shopping so I might be smarter to try some of the other sources that are not at EPWM…
What is up next? I’m thinking the remaining BFL from the dyeing day that birthed the Queen of Diamond socks… I’m thinking I’ll try Navajo plying with that one…
