Ready for the Plying Party

I did a lot of spinning yesterday. It was a beautiful day here, so I got up and went for a run first thing (my first run of the season!). Then we walked to get some breakfast, and after that I took care of all chores around the house I needed to do -- cleaning, laundry, etc. The Mister took Rainbow to the park to meet a friend, so I didn't feel at all bad about spending the afternoon at my wheel.

First, I finished up the second bobbin of Pebble combed top singles (from my HipStrings Synergy Club shipment), which really didn't take very long.

The first bobbin had been resting for nearly a week, so I didn't want to ply right away, but I wasn't ready to get up from the wheel just yet. I figured I might as well get the carded version of Pebble out and start spinning that. I had forgotten just how quickly woolen spinning goes, and before I knew it, I had both bobbins of those singles done, too (I think it helps that it was only about 2.7 oz. of fiber total in the batts, too).

Spinning these two preps back to back really gives a good illustration of just how different your yarn can turn out given the method of fiber prep. These two batches of fiber had exactly the same fiber content, but look at how different they look spun up:

You can really see so much more of the colors of the sari silk (and the regular silk, for that matter) in the woolen-spun singles, though they're also much more inconsistent. I'll be doing my best to get these both plied up today, so soon I'll be able to compare the finished yarns.

I also had a little fun yesterday afternoon with my drum carder and the leftover fiber from my Boxy spin. I had 2 oz. each of the darkest and lightest colors (Mussels and Sky), so I thought I'd blend them up. I also threw in some silk, though that didn't blend so well and I ended up pulling most of it out. Rainbow helped with these battlings.

They're a bit darker in real life than they appear here; for some reason, my camera doesn't like to capture the color of Buoy accurately. These aren't great, but they're certainly spinable. I think I need to learn more about how to use my drum carder, as I have a feeling I'm doing something wrong or not optimally. If anyone knows of a good class or resource, I'd love to hear it!