That Explains It

You may remember me mentioning that I've been spinning up some merino/silk fiber and how long it was taking. By my account, it took me nearly a month to spin two bobbins of singles and ply them, which is really a lot of time considering that I've spun some three-ply yarns in much less time.

To refresh your memory, here's what the fiber looked like originally (4.1 oz. of 80% merino/20% silk from my favorite fiber pusher):

I'd been saving it until I felt I was worthy of it, because the silk content made this bump of fiber just a little more precious than my usual superwash merino. When the spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits arrived at my door, I saw the Fountain Pen Shawl and knew that it was what this fiber was meant to be.

I knew the singles would take a long time, as I was spinning for a two-ply laceweight, but I didn't have any idea that the plying would take as long as it did -- nearly a full week. I joked with The Mister that I had some magical bobbins that never ran out (and, in fact, I did finish plying before they were completely empty because the singles on one kept breaking and I was ready to be done). After about 40 minutes of skeining onto my niddy noddy, I realized just why the whole process had taken so long.

I finished with approximately 875 yards of two-ply laceweight. That's plenty for my shawl, and, more importantly, it's a yarn that I feel truly does justice to Kristin's amazing color sense.

I can't wait to cast on -- just as soon as my sweater is finished!