Color and Sparkle

Ever since I got back from MDSW, I've felt more like spinning than knitting. And that hasn't really been a problem, because there is plenty of fiber to be spun. This past week I finished up two skeins. The first was the other half of the fiber from the first batch of my Fat Cat Knits club shipment. This colorway is called Pepperspark, and like the first skein, I spun it into a two-ply fractal. I spun my singles a bit thicker this time around, so the skein is more of a sport to DK weight.

As with the first skein, I seem to have put a bit too much plying twist into this one, so it's not as neat and tidy as I'd like, but I do love the colors.

This skein is roughly 139 yards, which is a bit less than I was hoping for. Rainbow has requested that I make her fingerless mitts, however, so this might be enough. It will be a while until she needs them, of course, but I think it's a good plan.

As soon as that skein was finished, I sat down to ply the singles I'd finished on my spindle just before leaving for the festival. They were spun from an ounce of punis I'd bought from Gourmet Stash at the festival last year; this batch was a blend of superfine merino, merino, Seacell, cashmere, silk, milk fiber, and just a touch of angelina. Here's what they looked like before:

I spun very fine singles that plied into a laceweight, albeit an uneven one.

This skein may be tiny, but it's really luscious and soft. Seriously, I wish you could pet it through the screen. It ended up being pretty close in yardage to the other Gourmet Stash skein I spun -- 169.5 yards this time compared to 165 yards in the other.

Today the Mister let me have a day to myself, for the most part (after he hosted the family and made us all a scrumptious lunch). He and Rainbow went out to do stuff, and I spent the afternoon spinning. I am working on the second batch of FCK fiber (the batch for me), and I'm spinning fine singles from Hungry Horace. The plan is to chain ply to keep the color progression.

I actually put quite a bit more on the bobbin since I took this picture, and I'm planning on spending a bit more time on it this evening, so it's very likely that it'll be a finished skein the next time you see it!

Spin So Fine

While I've been more successful in the last year or two in spinning slightly thicker yarns, my default is still very thin singles. Case in point: my two current spinning projects.

I started spinning up my Southern Cross Fibre shipment (75% Bond wool, 25% mulberry silk) a week ago and am maybe one-half to two-thirds of the way done with the first bobbin.

I am utterly smitten with this fiber blend and the colors. I know this is not going to be a fast spin (looks like it will end up a two-ply laceweight to very light fingering), but I am enjoying every moment of it.

Then there's my spindling of the Gourmet Stash punis. I finished up the first half this week and wound the singles onto a "storage bobbin" today.

I must admit that this is my least favorite part of spindling. I always have issues getting the singles off the spindle easily and neatly. Fortunately, this is only about half an ounce of fiber, so it didn't take too long. One of these days I'll have to rig something up to hold my spindle while I wind off; for now, I just sit it down next to me on its side.

There is more in the spinning pipeline. I received this beautiful braid of fiber from Fat Cat Knits for part of a giant spinalong on Ravelry that starts at the beginning of April. This braid is an 80% superwash merino/20% nylon sparkle blend in a colorway called Noble Dragon.

As if that's not enough, my FCK club shipment should be here in the next day or two, and my March SCF club shipment is in transit. Actually, now that I think about it, I should be spinning right now -- time to hit publish!