Skein Coordination

Don't you love it when something turns out even better than you were expecting? That's the case for the most recently finished skein of handspun off my wheel, the skein that coordinates with the one you saw last week. As a reminder, it all started out with a total of 5 oz. of Polwarth (my most favorite fiber to spin) from Fat Cat Knits in colorways called Vintage and Retro Chic:

I spun each braid up from dark end to light end and then chain plied. Both came off the wheel as laceweight and poofed up nicely to fingering. You saw Vintage last week; this week's skein is Retro Chic (if I have to be honest, it's my favorite of the two):

This skein ended up approximately 275.5 yards, so about a dozen or so yards longer than the first skein. Still, they're pretty well matched, which is good, as I'm planning to use them together. Here's what they look like side by side:

You can definitely see the autumn/spring-like color difference. My thought at this point is to do a two-color brioche cowl, though I'm still undecided as to whether I'll match up dark end to dark end or dark to light. I doubt I'd actually start knitting until the fall, so I have a while to ponder. Any opinions will be happily entertained, however.

I'm itching to start spinning something else, but the Tour de Fleece starts in less than a week and I feel like I should wait to start something new. Here's what I'm planning to have on the wheel for the Tour (all are Fat Cat Knits):

Falkland (left) in Gentiane and superwash merino/nylon in Boogaloo, both to be spun into three-ply sock yarn

Polwarth in Mon Ami, to be spun into a two-ply fractal lace or light fingering