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Sunday, May 26, 2019

Millefiori

This weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I've been needing: long and relaxing. It's not over yet, of course, but Sunday afternoon is when I typically sit down and put together a post, and just because I have another day off tomorrow doesn't mean I can't stick to a schedule.

One of my main objectives this weekend was to finish up my current spinning project. I was able to leave work a little early on Friday afternoon, so I came home and had a bonus hour or so at my wheel. Then I spent more time at it on Friday evening and a bit yesterday morning, and last night I finally finished the singles. I spent several hours, on and off, at my wheel today (in between errands and chores around the house) chain-plying the entire bobbin of singles. The skein is still soaking in its bath, so I don't yet know the final yardage, but I'm quite pleased with it. Here are some photos, pre-bath:




As this was spun from 100% Polwarth, I'm expecting it to plump up a bit in the finishing; that's the famous Polwarth poof. I think it will still be fingering, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it poofs up to sport.

I'm not starting it just yet, but here is my next spinning project, which I alluded to last week. At the time I didn't want to show some of the fiber because I had sent half of it off to my swap partner and it hadn't yet arrived. It seems her package decided to take a slow tour of the Midwest on its way and ended up taking nearly a week to get to her in Oregon. But she did receive it, so now I can show you the entirety of the fiber that will be going into the next spin.


On the left is the fiber my partner sent to me -- Polwarth/silk in a Pacific Northwest-inspired colorway. On the right is what I had picked out to send to her, before my package arrived, mind you -- I guess we just have very similar tastes! My fiber is Targhee/silk/bamboo from Gwen Erin Natural Fibers. Because the colors coordinate so well, I'm going to combine them in one yarn. I'm still contemplating the exact way to do it, but I'm thinking I'll either spin each separately and then do an alternating chain ply (so you get a mock four-ply yarn in the end) or spin them separately, ply them together, and then ply the resulting yarn back on itself for a cable ply. Either way, I should get some really interesting texture, and I think it will be a very fun spin!

3 comments:

  1. Millefiori is quite appropriately named and just lovely. Have fun with your next spin!

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  2. Millefiori is really striking! And I think your thought process on how to combine those two beautiful fibers together are very interesting. I do think they will play very well together however you combine them.

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  3. your millefiori is magnificent .... and it looks like your next project is going to be beautiful too. you are on a real ROLL with the spinning!

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