Mashup

Last week I showed you my leftovers bobbin, a Lendrum bobbin that I've been using for the past several years to hold little bits of singles leftover from other projects. Occasionally I've spun some singles directly onto it when I've gotten a small sample of fiber with a fiber purchase or something. After finishing my last Tour de Fleece spin, I couldn't decide what to spin next, so I pulled out that bobbin and some small fiber samples from a fiber "tasting" I went to a number of years ago and decided to add onto it until it couldn't hold any more. This is what it looked like when it reached that point:

I spent two evenings chain-plying all these singles earlier in the week, and the resulting skein was positively humongous. I was hoping for somewhere between 400 and 500 yards; I ended up with a bit more than 600.

The skein is a little messy (that's the problem with winding huge skeins -- there's a difference in skein diameter between the earlier-wound-on strands and those wound on toward the end), so I'll have to reskein it, but I'm quite impressed with myself. I'd been gathering leftovers so long that I genuinely have no recollection what most of these fiber bits are. All I know for sure is that there's wool throughout, but there's also likely some alpaca, some silk, some bamboo and/or tencel, and some sparkle. This skein would make a great stockinette or garter shawl, one where you want the yarn to do the work for you. Once I reskein and take some decent photos, this will likely be going up in my FiberCrafty shop.

Did I mention that I now have a FiberCrafty shop? I can't remember. I closed my Etsy store when they raised the fees and moved my handspun skeins over. I'll be adding to my inventory there as I have time to photograph skeins and put up listings, so if you're interested in getting your hands on some of my yarn, that's where you'll find it now.

I still couldn't make up my mind about my next spinning project, so I let Rainbow make the choice for me. She'd picked out some superwash Targhee at the HipStrings studio when we went for their Small Business Saturday sale last year, and she pulled it out and asked me to spin it before she left for camp. Originally she wanted me to spin for fingerless mitts, but when I told her I'd have enough yarn leftover from the pair I just made to knit her some, she decided on socks. The fiber was a lovely gradient that looked very much like a sunset, so I split it in half lengthwise to do two chain-plied skeins.

I've just started into the coral color on the first bobbin. I've switched over to my standard Lendrum flyer and Akerworks bobbin to change things up a bit. It's actually quite a bit quieter than my WooLee Winder, which is nice, but I've gotten so used to spinning on that flyer that it's been a challenge to remember to stop every now and then and move the yarn guide. I suppose in terms of ergonomics it's a good thing, as it's keeping me from sitting in one position for too long, but it also feels a bit slower. Fortunately I haven't set any sort of deadline for this spin, so I'm taking my time with it and savoring it. Targhee is one of my favorite wools to spin, and I'm glad that when this one is done I have several more braids in my stash that I can spin!