Yarn Go Poof

One of the joys of working with finer fibers in spinning is the transformation they can undergo in the finishing process. One of the characteristics of many fine fibers is a fine crimp in the locks of the wool. Usually the finer the fiber, the finer the crimp. A benefit of this crimp is that yarn spun from crimpy fiber often puffs up when it's washed, in large part because the water allows the memory to return to the fiber -- the fiber, in other words, tries to go back to its original form, and the result can be a lovely squishy yarn.

That was certainly the case with the skein that came off the wheel yesterday. After allowing the singles to sit for several days, I finally chain plied my Hungry Horace Targhee. It came off the wheel as a thin fingering, perhaps even laceweight in some places. But after it got its bath, it poofed up to this sproingy stuff:

I am completely thrilled with this skein. The colors are obviously gorgeous -- I never doubt Ginny's color sense. But the squoosh factor on this skein is pretty amazing. I actually made the Mister squeeze it when I grabbed it from the upstairs bathroom where it was drying this morning.

This 2.5 oz. skein ended up being approximately 251 yards after washing (it did shrink quite a bit, as you would expect). I plied up its sister skein, Pepperspark, this afternoon and washed it, and it looks like I should have that much yardage or better, meaning I'll get more than 500 yards out of my 5 oz., exactly what I was aiming for.

I could have kept plying, as I finished up the first bobbin of After the Fire/New Growth combination singles on Friday night:

I decided to spin the second bobbin of singles, though, so I can have another marathon plying session when both bobbins are done.

When the current bobbin is finished, I will have officially spun up all the Fat Cat Knits fiber in my stash -- but not for long. The Tour de Fleece is coming in a little more than a month, and as I've signed up for the FCK team, I thought it was appropriate to order a little bit of fiber to work on. There's some pretty stuff coming, but you'll have to wait until it gets here to see it.