The sun seems to be shining a little brighter here today! I don't know about you, but over the past 24 hours, I've felt a ton of tension leave my body. I'm so relieved that the election is now behind us, and I'm feeling more hopeful for the future!
I did a fair amount of spinning this week amidst all the anxiety, and I have a freshly plied skein of handspun to show for it. Showing you these photos is a bit like showing you a finished lace shawl before it's been blocked; it's soaking in a warm bath right now and will likely change a bit, so keep that in mind. This skein was spun from 4 oz. of mini batts containing merino, bamboo, silk, and sparkle. Usually multicolored fiber gets more homogenized when you spin it, but this managed to keep all the lovely pops of so many colors -- it was a bit like spinning a rainbow.
 |
| I especially love that hot pink! |
I spun the batts semi-worsted, meaning I used a short forward draw in combination with a carded (woolen) prep. So the yarn isn't terribly consistent, but that's not what I was really going for anyway. I wanted some of the texture in there that the batts had, so I really only pulled things out when they were really obviously inconsistent.
I spun all the singles for this skein onto one bobbin, then wound them off on my ball winder so I could ply from both ends of a center-pull ball and use up every bit. The finished yarn is a two ply, and straight off the bobbin it looks like a heavy lace weight/light fingering weight, but it might pouf up a bit from washing.
The batts had just the right amount of sparkle in them for my taste, and combined with the shine of the silk and bamboo content, the effect is quite luminous. I'm really pleased with this skein!
Up next, I'm going deep into the stash for one of my early Southern Cross Fibre club shipments -- this is from September 2015.
I thought briefly about playing with the colors here, but I just decided not to make things any more complicated than they need to be, so I'm just going to spin the strip of fiber from end to end and chain-ply the singles. Easy peasy. This colorway is called Land Under Wave, and I really love it. I suspect that's why I hadn't spun it; when I first got into the club, every shipment seemed so precious that I didn't want to risk ruining it somehow. But 2020 is all about enjoying the precious stash -- we need to find all the joy we can!
That is a properly celebratory skein of yarn! I've been meditating at least 2x/day to help relieve stress, but when I meditated last night I fell asleep in the middle because my tension had also been greatly relieved. Now the hard work begins, but it will be with someone at the helm that cares and trusts science, and that people can trust.
ReplyDeleteThat is a wonderfully spun skein of yarn. I love the colors. Yes, after listening to Biden and Harris speak last night I felt considerably lighter in spirit. The next few months and years are not going to be easy but it so wonderful to have leaders who believe in science and in the promise of America.
ReplyDeleteYour spinning! :) It is so wonderful! (I am working on braid #2, and I also need to run my plied yarn through again... it needs a bit more twist in spots.)
ReplyDeleteCouldn't help but notice a lot of BLUE in today's post!
ReplyDeleteIt fits the theme! But it's also my favorite color, so it's not unusual to see a lot of it in my stash.
DeleteI love how confident you've become about your spinning ... clearly well-founded :-) and now I even understand what you'll be doing next - still, will be fun to see how the colors turn out as yarn!
ReplyDelete