Although it seems to take a while to spin yarn, this week I found a new way to think about the time. I’m eagerly watching Cookie & Joan in their challenge to knit from handspun in 2011. I saw Cookie’s handknit handspun socks earlier in the week, and it just hit me. This week I’ve spun up enough yarn for a pair of socks. If I was hugely ambitious and spent a lot of time I just might be able to knit a pair of socks in a week. And there’s no way it would make me as happy as spinning this week’s yarn did.
So perhaps spinning doesn’t take as much time as I previously thought. Of course I’m getting faster too. What used to take about 2.5 hours to spin is now closer to 1.5, so that helps. In the end, this week, I’ve spun about 118g of fingering weight yarn this week. The length is about 430 yards.
I was determined to play a bit more with colour. I have seen lots of lovely barber-pole handspun and I wanted to try to make my own 2 ply yarn. I started with 2 batches of Fleece Artist BFL sliver in similar colours. They both had a bunch of teal and purple, and then they differed. Here’s what I started with:
I started with one lot & split it into 4 roughly even bits, spun it up, and spliced it together as I went to have a large 50g ball. Then I did the same with with the second lot. Then came the plying. I was enthralled as I went by the changing colours. I could hardly wait to finish and skein it up and see what it looked like all together. More patience is needed (and that include Louise).
Here’s my end result:
I’m happy as usual! I think I’m settling in on a typical weight of yarn that I spin on my little Golding and the result is quite even. Perhaps I’ll even make enough yarn that I’ll be willing to knit some of this up.
Now that I’ve done this, I’ve no idea what fiber or technique I’ll attack next, but I’m thinking that it might be time to go back to my other bit of 50/50 merino/silk from Fleece Artist now that I’m going a little more consistently & I’m adding more twist in plying.
You are so good at this spinning thing! I think socks would be a great challenge for you. Not to mention a great way to knit up what you’ve spun. I’ve found that knitting with my handspun lets me figure out what I like about my yarn and what I can do better.
Oh! Beautiful job on the Fleece Artist. You’ve inspired me to dust off my wheel and get back to spinning. Thank you.
Wow, thank you! And I’ll have you know that it’s your fault that I’ve got “Unless” on hold at the library. I’m #6 in the list, but it’ll get there eventually.