Cousins, Not Twins

Some time at my wheel on Friday night and yesterday was enough to finish up my FatCatKnits combed top/batt combo spin, and today I have two lovely poofy skeins to share.

I spun both skeins more or less the same way (short forward draw) and chain plied them both. Obviously there's a bit more variation in the skein spun from the batt, as the fiber was more textured. I will say that I ended up pulling out and throwing away a lot of white shiny stuff -- I think it was tencel -- as I was spinning the batt because it just got tangled up and would not draft. Rather than spend the time to fight with it, I just yanked it out, and that made the process of spinning much more pleasurable.

You can really see the similarities and the differences in the skeins when you look at them close up. The same colors are all there, but the batt skein reads very green overall, whereas the top skein looks more blue/purple. The skein spun from the batt is also slightly thicker, on average. While both skeins poofed up nicely in the finishing (thank you, Polwarth!), I'd say the skein spun from combed top is a heavy fingering and the skein spun from the batt is more of a sport.

My plan for these is to use them together in some sort of colorwork, either stranded or perhaps mosaic. I think that although they're close in color and value, the fact that the batt skein is a bit thicker and more textured will help it to stand out a bit.

Meanwhile, I have technically started a new spinning project, although it's technically nothing formal, as Spinzilla starts a week from tomorrow. I decided to pull out the remainders of the batts from the class I took with Jillian Moreno at SSK and just spin them up. I'll fill up a bobbin and chain ply. I started with the one that was mostly blue and smooth.

Speaking of Spinzilla, I have my fiber all ready to spin, thanks to a package that arrived from HipStrings earlier this week. When Jill posted this sampler set on Instagram, I just knew I had to have it.

These are all unicorn-themed blended tops, all different fiber combinations, and I'm planning to spin each one up separately to perhaps be combined in one project. I haven't weighed the fiber yet, nor is the weight marked on the packaging, but I'm guessing I have about half a ounce of each color. I think if I spin each one fine and chain ply (just to keep things easy), I should have a nice collection of mini skeins at the end of the week.