Something about spinning

I suspect you are getting bored of seeing the same project every week, the problem with spinning thin yarn is that is takes a long time, so there is nothing new and exciting to share. Anyway, last week I showed you the finished singles on my drop spindle.

Having learnt my lesson from the hideous tangle I got into wiyth the first half of this I made a plying ball. To keep it under control I popped it into a mug and looped the single through the handle.

Up to the wheel, because I am never plying on my spindle ever again, ever! And after a little navajo plying we have this:

It has yet to be washed, but I will count it as done since the photo will not look any different after. The next time you see this is will be being knitted up, or maybe even as a finished object! It feels a little smaller than the first skein, so if I make socks they will be toe up to use as much as possible.

That also means next week there will be a new project to share, I have four to choose from, I feel somewhat spoilt for choice.

Something about spinning

Over the weekend I navajo plied the orange single from last week. Having the single wound into a ball made this much easier than the previous tangled version, so I will be doing that again when I am wheel plying spindle spun singles (btw that is really hard to say!).

Here is the finished three ply:

I have to say I love it, a lot. The colours are gorgeous, which I can't take credit for since I bought this one. It has also come out suprisngly soft and squishy considering a lot of the singles were very tightly spun by my new to spinning self.

There is a little difference in the weight along the length, the most recent parts are similar to a commercial 4 ply, the older stuff is a little thinner, but not so much that it does not work. I now have an idea how thin to spin to achieve sock weight, which with my sock obsession is the holy grail of my spinning.

The thing that dissappoints me slightly it that I don't seem to get very good mileage with my spinning. I was told by an experienced spinner that handspun gave a better weight:length ratio than commercial yarn but that does not seem to be the case with my spinning. This skein weighs 68g and I have estimated the length as 170m, for the thickness of the yarn this is not a great ratio. It also means I have no idea what to make with it. I had hoped to get enough for a small shawl but now I am thinking I might combine it with a commercial 4 ply to make a hat. I have too many neck warmer items anyway!

Something about spinning

Last week for my spinning post I showed you this:

Fortunately it was not as tangled as it looked. Apart from a few places which had to be picked apart with the end of a dpn it just needed to be very slowly unrolled by hand. About four hours later I had this: 

A happy ending after all!

It has come out pastelly, why does all my spinning seem to end up as pastels?! Actually, I know this is because of the mix of colours and undyed bits especially when it is spun super thin, but still I think I need to dye up some bright fibre.

It has come out a little thinner than intended, sock weight eludes me yet again. However, I think I can use it for socks, either on 2.25mm needles or I might have to buy some 2.0mm. They will be worked toe up until I run out of yarn, but first I need to spin the rest of the fibre to make sure I have yarn for the other foot.

It seems quite well balanced, in that it hangs neatly in the skein (when it is not twisted up to keep it tidy) but it is not a squishy as it could be so I think it is a little overspun in parts. This is quite handy for socks as it should make them a little tougher but soft and squishy yarn is still something I need to aim for.

Tour de fleece day 9

Today has been another busy day, I had hoped to get loads of spinning done this weekend, but it has not turned out that way. However, I have managed to navajo ply the alpaca and baby alpaca from the last few days.

I used my wheel to navajo ply the singles. Today's learning experience was taking the single off the spindle shaft to make a singles sausage rather than trying to ply off the spindle or having to widn a plying ball; and the fact that sliding it on to a knitting needle is much easier and ends up with less tangles.

There's about 26g of alpaca (the chocolate brown) and 32g of baby alpaca. The baby alpaca is much softer than the alpaca, after the tour de fleece I might buy enough to make a decent sized project.

Tour de fleece day 5

Today was another plying day. I navajo plied the BFL spingle from yesterday to get about 30m. It is a similar weight to the alpaca from the start of the tour so I might combine the two.

Close up shot

I have learnt some more with this project, in an attempt to avoid overspinning and get a soft squishy yarn some bits were underspun. This caused a few problems with the plying as navajo plying needs a little extra robustness in the single so that it can cope with being pulled through itself. There were a few breaks in the single because of this but it all held together ok in the end.

I did some other plying too, but since the singles were spun ages ago I am not counting them as part of the tour, they will get a photo later on.

Getting my spin on

It has taken about five months, but I finally have some yarn made from raw sheep fleece. The processing takes longer than I could have ever imagined, but I now have enough to make a Christmas present for my Mum (they are her sheep).
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The lazy kate type arrangement on my wheel is not really any good for plying, to be honest it is really just a bobbin holder, and only takes two bobbins anyway. I converted a sturdy shoe box into a nice alternative- finally a use for those bamboo straights that have not had a look in since I learnt about circulars! It also serves nicely to store my spare bobbins now I have emptied them.
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I managed to delete the photo of the singles, and obviously can't take another one as I spent a significant chunk of yesterday plying the lot. The two spindles on the right are filled with three ply (70g and 60g), the one on the left is the tail ends of the singles Navajo plied once one of the singles ran out (9g).
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I am really quite ridiculously excited about these, they are not overtwisted or anything (this is a big achievement for me). Not quite as smooth as a commercial top/roving, but still reasonable.
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The photos were taken presoaking, it is all now sat in a big pot of water.

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The next step will be to dye it as it looks a kind of grubby grey and who wants a hat that looks dirty? I am obviously somewhat nervous about the dying step (non superwash is new territory for me), and to add to it I have a huge dilemma over what colour to go for. It needs to be a single, fairly plain colour. Currently I am toying with black or dark red, maybe with an undyed stripe. Annoyingly I have the perfect blue, but I have already used that on my brother in law's hat and I am not making them matching hats, would be odd.

Spinning Sunday- Finished yarn

The singles from last week have been plied (plyed? neither looks right). Navajo plying was a lot more straightforward than I thought it was going to be, although I seem to work with my hands in the opposite position to the online videos. Since it works ok I am not going to try and change it :D.

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This is my first wheel spun yarn, there's about 70g in two skeins, not sure what it will be yet as there is not really enough to make socks.

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It is quite badly over twisted in places, I still have a lot of learning to do. It has been named noodles because thanks to the overtwisted bits it looked a lot like noodles as it was soaking to set the twist (not as tasty though I imagine).
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On with the next project- must remember to try and avoid overtwisting!
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