Spinning Down the List

It took a lot of willpower for me not to share this skein earlier this week (though I did post it on Instagram, so my apologies if you're seeing it again -- I promise I'm not trying to spam you!). I'm absolutely in love with how this turned out and have been tempted to carry it around like my baby.

My chain-plied Southern Cross Fibre Rambouillet ended up about sport weight and 333-ish yards. What was most incredible to me is that despite how saturated these colors are, there was absolutely no run-off in the water when I washed the skein. The yarn is incredibly springy (in the sense of being elastic) and soft, and it would make something excellent to be worn around the neck. I haven't yet decided what that will be, but you can bet your buttons I'm keeping this one for myself.

I have been toying with the idea of spinning some newer SCF shipments, but I really do want to cross everything off my 20 in 2020 lists this year, and I'm getting awfully close on the fiber list. Next up, therefore, was a shipment from the HipStrings Synergy Club, which I was in a couple of years ago. I seem to have misplaced the insert explaining all the components, so I'm really just guessing at this point what I'm spinning. There were three bags total in the box, two with blended fiber (both composed of 37.5% BFL, 37.5% Shetland, 12.5% mulberry silk, and 12.5% tussah silk) and one with smaller portions of what I believe is all the components separate. The blended fiber bags held 4 oz. of what appeared to be combed top and 1 oz. of what may have been pulled roving. I'm honestly not sure, but it seems like a good guess. I decided to spin a crepe yarn with those two bags of fiber -- essentially a single (spun in the opposite direction compared to normal) plied with a two-ply yarn. I started with the combed top, which I'll wind off into a center-pull ball and ply back on itself for a two-ply yarn. Here's a look at the fiber:

I'm fairly certain the wool is all undyed and the red is all silk here. When spun into singles, it has a marled appearance:

I expect I'll be able to finish up these singles tomorrow and then will let them rest while I spin the single from the other bag of fiber.

In the meantime, once I finish up my fiber list, I have some interesting rare breed fiber to dig into! My Rhinebeck weekend fiber purchase from the Ross Farm arrived this week. I purchased from Amy specifically because I was missing her and being in the booth surrounded by the amazing breed-specific yarn and fiber. These two bags will be my first Shave 'Em to Save 'Em entries.

SE2SE is an effort by the Livestock Conservancy to bring awareness to (and, it's hoped, thereby save) rare and critically endangered sheep breeds. I picked up a "passport" at Maryland Sheep and Wool last year, but I hadn't yet gotten around to adding any entries just yet, and it seemed like the perfect time to do so. On the left in the photo above is CVM -- that stands for California Variegated Mutant -- which is on the Threatened breeds list. On the right is Florida Cracker, which is actually an extremely rare breed (it's on the Critical list, the most endangered) and not a derogatory name for some yahoo in the panhandle. I have spun CVM before and really enjoyed it, but this will be my first time spinning Florida Cracker, and one big reason I'm anxious to get through my 20 in 2020 fiber list is so I can play with these! Perhaps winter break this year will be a good time to let loose with some new sheep breeds -- provided I can tackle my lists before then.