Spinning Season Opens

Lately I've been feeling the bug to spin all the things, which tells me that spring may finally be upon us. After all, I tend to do a lot of spinning in the warmer weather, so perhaps this urge is an indication that my spinning season has begun.

I am still working on my Southern Cross Fibre club shipment for February (which of course did not arrive until March), but the good news is that I'm on the second bobbin.

A friend came over today to have lunch and spin a bit, though we did a bit more talking and less spinning than I was anticipating. Still, I've made a good start on this bobbin and hope to have it finished before the week is out, especially because I'm itching to start some new projects.

One of those is for a Ravelry spinalong that starts April 1. I doubt I'll actually start on April 1 (it's a Wednesday, so I'll be at work during the day and then out at knit night that evening), but Rainbow's spring break is this Thursday and Friday and I'll be home with her, so I'm hoping to find at least a little time to spin. I will be spinning this braid of superwash merino/nylon sparkle in Noble Dragon from Fat Cat Knits.

My plan is to spin this braid from end to end and then chain ply to preserve the colors. I'm hoping to spin up what remains of my Romney fleece from years ago to match and knit both yarns into a Sea Dragon Shawl.

As if that weren't enough, my Fat Cat Knits Mixed Blessings club shipment showed up this week. The theme for this go-round is "transformations," and that's certainly evident in this pairing.

The colorways are named Hungry Horace (a caterpillar) and Pepperspark (a butterfly). Here's what the fiber looks like out of the wrapper.

I chose Targhee for my fiber base for this shipment, and I'm glad I did because it's a breed I haven't spun in a while. Targhee is pretty soft, but it's a bit spongier than merino. Like merino and Polwarth, it has a tendency to poof up a lot when it's finished. I was absolutely enchanted with this pairing, and so was Rainbow, who asked me (while stroking her face with the fiber) if I could use it to make something for her. I find it hard to say no to her, but I also was really hoping to keep this fiber for myself. Luckily, another member of the club didn't love it and put hers up for destash, so I bought them from her. This way, everyone wins. I'm still deciding how to spin up the two batches (perhaps a quick-and-dirty two ply for Rainbow and something finer and more nuanced for me), but I won't allow myself to start until I finish what's in progress first!

Deep-stash Spinning

While a general goal for my spinning this year has been to spin up more of my stash, a more specific goal has been to spin up the fiber that I've been saving because it seemed too precious to spin. Some of that has been fiber from my favorite dyer, who stepped away from dyeing for a time (and, though she's technically returned, hasn't put up much in her shop in several months). During the period where it was unclear whether she'd ever start dyeing again, I'll admit that I was hoarding the fiber I already had from her in my stash. I was saving it for who knows what; I guess it seemed like as long as it was there in the stash, I'd always have some. It's a bit ridiculous, I know, but there you have it.

During that period when Kristin wasn't dyeing, she also wasn't on Ravelry anymore, so I became a moderator of her group, along with a couple of other spinners. At some point, we decided that we should have a knitalong in the group to encourage people to spin their All Spun Up stash, and we're currently in the middle of another one. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to spin some of those precious braids.

This skein was finished last weekend, and you already saw it on the bobbin, but here it is, all skeined and finished.

I'm very pleased that I got what I was aiming for -- a three-ply worsted weight. The skein is approximately 210 yards in length, so it should be plenty to knit Rainbow another hat.

Inspired by this project, I decided to pull out another precious braid from the stash -- this one was bought back in March 2010 (or at least that's when I entered it in my stash).

This one is 4.2 oz. of merino, one of two color block braids I bought during one of the updates that went quickly. Originally, I'd planned to spin it fine from end to end and chain ply, but buoyed but the nearly instant gratification of spinning a thicker yarn, I changed that plan. I split the fiber in half vertically, and I'll attempt to get the two plies to match up when I ply.

This is the result of about an hour and a half of spinning last night. I estimate I'm about halfway through this bobbin. If I can find some time later today, I'll try to finish it up.

Pump Up the Purple

After all the brown of my last spinning project, I was excited to get to some color, so it's perhaps no wonder that I've already finished it. I didn't spin much during the week, but this weekend I've been doing little else, or so it seems. I finished the first bobbin and started the second on Friday night, finished up the second and started the third yesterday afternoon, and then finished up the rest last night after I got Rainbow to sleep.

Today, thanks to the speed of my miniSpinner, I plied it all. This is not the best of shots (my camera, it seems, did not feel much like focusing today), but here it is on one of my great big WooLee Winder bobbins:

I skeined and washed it this afternoon, and it's currently hanging to dry in the upstairs shower. It looks to be a worsted weight, as I was intending, and provided it doesn't shrink up too drastically, I should have a bit more than 200 yards.

Now I have to figure out what to spin next. There are a couple of contenders, including a batt set that I bought about a year and a half ago that's been sitting next to my spinning area ever since it arrived. I could also spin up another All Spun Up braid that's been marinating in my stash as part of the spinalong. Too many choices!

Sheepy Rope

If you've followed my spinning at all, then you know I like to spin thin yarns. My default yarn is a three-ply fingering weight. So then you'll understand why the most recent skein off my wheel is such a big accomplishment -- I spun bulky yarn!

 

This was 8 oz. of Manx Loaghtan from Louet, and I used all but the last little bit of it in plying to end up with approximately 206 yards. The fiber was a pleasure to spin, beautifully prepped and with only a small amount of VM and hardly any nepps. I spun it into a traditional three ply.

If I'm being honest, I was aiming for a bit thinner (worsted, to be exact), but I'm still pretty happy with how this skein turned out. Only once before have I spun anything bulky; spinning yarn this thick is not something that comes easily to me. I'm so used to spinning thin yarns, in fact, that I kind of feel like I spun rope!

I got a bit of a surprise (not entirely unpleasant) when I washed the finished yarn to set the twist. I guess I'm used to spinning dyed fiber, as I did not expect such a strong sheepy smell when the yarn hit the water. I know the fiber was clean because the water was clear, but the skein still smells a bit like a sheep farm. It's a good thing I like that smell!

Now on the wheel is some superwash merino from All Spun Up for a spinalong in the ASU Ravelry group:

The braid was 6.3 oz., so I'm trying to spin up a worsted weight with the hopes that I'll have enough for a hat and some mittens for Rainbow. The first bobbin is in progress:

After what just happened, I'm spinning my singles just a touch finer. This fiber is reminding me how much I love spinning superwash merino. I know some people hate it and find it lifeless and slippery, but I adore it. I find it drafts so effortlessly. And of course I'm completely enamored with the dye job and how the colors are blending. I predict a finished skein soon!

From Deep in the Stash

About five and a half years ago, not long after I started spinning, I discovered All Spun Up on Etsy, and she soon became my fiber pusher. My first order from her contained two braids of fiber. One got spun up rather quickly (shortly after we moved into our house, actually). The other one sat in my stash to marinate for a long time. After Kristin stepped away from her dyeing business and it was thought that there would be no more fiber from her, I hoarded what I had left. But, after she came back in the last month, I decided it was high time I spin that braid, especially given that I was participating in an All Spun Up spinalong.

Here's what it looked like when I got it (photographed on plants in my parents' backyard when we were living with them temporarily):

I split the top in half and did a simple two ply, which looked about fingering when it came off the wheel but poofed up incredibly in the wash.

The twist on this yarn is tight, as I like, but even tighter than I anticipated. As a result, this skein is super bouncy and elastic. It's now about sport weight (with some thinner spots), and I ended up with 346.5 yards from my 4.3 oz.

Though I'm sad that the fiber is gone, I have to say that I love this yarn. I'm going to need to find the perfect pattern for it for something for me.

Oh, Miss Crabtree!

Several years ago, I bought a braid of fiber from Kristin at All Spun Up for a spinalong but never spun it. When it arrived, I thought that the colors just weren't me, so I put it away (fiber hoarder that I am) for a later time.

When I decided to host the spinalong in the All Spun Up group on Ravelry, this braid was a frontrunner to be spun first. I asked the advice of the group, and most people who responded agreed that it was high time that I showed Miss Crabtree some attention. So I pulled her out and started spinning her when the spinalong officially started.

This particular braid was a BFL/silk blend; I don't remember the exact proportions, and it's not written on the bag that the fiber came in, but I suspect it was something like 85/15. I decided to spin it from one end to the other and then chain ply, with the goal of getting a three-ply fingering weight in the end, but apparently I can't spin anything that has silk in it in any way other than super thin. My finished yarn, even though it's a three ply, is still pretty much laceweight. And it's just over 600 yards, meaning I had 1,800 yards of singles.

As iffy as I was about the fiber (and the singles while I was spinning it, I'll be honest), I adore the finished yarn. It looks so much like fall to me, like ripening apples on a tree whose leaves are starting to lose the bright green of summer. Rather than packing this yarn away, as I so often do with my handspun skeins once they're done, I've left it out to look at for a while until it calls to me and tells me what it wants to be.

Working My Way Out of the Black Hole

After about of week of feeling like I was stuck in the black hole of knitting -- in which you knit and knit and yet don't seem to make any progress -- I feel like I'm finally starting to claw my way out.

I may have been a little foolish in thinking I could knock out a second baby sweater in the same pattern without getting really bored of it. I've been a little stalled since casting on, not really feeling any motivation to get moving on it, but now I've reached the bottom of the body. After I do all the edging (bottom hem, button band, collar), the sleeves should be a breeze.

I also finally got around to blocking the first iteration -- the recipient gave birth this morning, so it really needed to get done!

I pulled out the waffle-y baby blanket over the weekend and worked on it in the car (we had two long-ish drives) and on Sunday afternoon while I was cooking. It seemed like it wasn't getting any bigger, but all of the sudden it's significantly longer and I'm fast approaching the end of the second skein of yarn.

It's not as pink as it looks, promise

As if those two projects weren't enough, I also finally finished the singles of my spinning project last night -- amazing how 4 oz. can look like so little on such a big bobbin!

Now, if I could just through the yoke of the sweater for me -- I suppose that's the next challenge.

No Cigar

So, I had really hoped that by the time I got to today, I'd be ready to start plying my Miss Crabtree. Unfortunately, a certain someone decided to have a complete meltdown last night and got to bed really late, so I only got about half of my anticipated spinning time in. The worst part is that I'm so close to being done. I mean, look at how little fiber there is left to spin!

I didn't get any time in today, either, so this is likely going to have to wait until tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by the next time you see this, it will be a plied yarn!

A Post of Opposites

It's Sunday, so it's fitting that I spent a good portion of the day spinning. After a morning that started early and was filled with the usual household chores, my friend Colleen came over with her wheel and we spent the afternoon talking, watching movies on cable, and spinning. I decided to start spinning up the Frabjous Fibers merino/sparkle blend that I showed you last week. I split the top in half lengthwise and then split one half in half again for a fractal spin (which is fast becoming my preferred color management method for brightly colored fiber). After spinning frog hair for the past couple of weeks, it was quite a thrill to spin up a full bobbin's worth in one day.

The colors aren't quite true to life because this shot used a filter on Instagram, but you can tell that there's quite a rainbow of colors. And boy is there ever a lot of sparkle. I had to take a lint roller to my pants and the couch when I was done. It's a bit of an annoyance, but the finished yarn is going to be a lot of fun. Rainbow has already requested that it become a hat for her, and who am I to turn down a request like that?

Meanwhile, after I hit publish on this post, I'll be turning back to the frog hair -- the BFL/silk blend from All Spun Up. I am making some progress on it, but there's still a pretty significant amount of fiber left to spin.

I will actually be amazed if this ends up fingering weight once it's plied; if it does, it will be on the very light end. I'd like to finish this up soon because there's more fiber waiting in the wings. My Bee Mice Elf club fiber showed up late last week, and it's a beauty.

This is Falkland in a colorway called Pool Party. I'm thinking that this will become another fractal two ply, with lots of barberpoling. Yes, I'm in a phase, but if it ain't broke, why fix it?

5774

I am home today for Rosh Hashanah (which is probably a good thing, because I've come down with some sort of cold/sinus thing and am a snotty mess). We were at synagogue this morning and then went out for lunch with my parents, and now I'm enjoying some quiet time with my wheel. My knitting projects look very much like they did the last time I showed them to you, so I hope you'll excuse a midweek spinning post.

I think I mentioned that I was hosting a spinalong on Ravelry in the group of my former favorite Etsy dyer (she's now out of business, or at the very least taking a long hiatus). Several of us decided that we should actually spin some of the fiber we had from her shop rather than hoarding it, so for the next three months or so, we're all digging deep in the stash. I decided to spin up this braid, which was for a previous spinalong (though I never actually spun it); the colorway is called Miss Crabtree, and if I remember correctly, it's a BFL/silk blend.

I'm spinning this from one end to the other, and then I'll chain ply. As is usually the case when I'm spinning anything with silk in it, my singles are coming out very fine. What you see here is several hours worth of spinning.

At least when I'm spinning my default singles like this, I don't have to think very hard!

For those of you celebrating the holiday with me, I wish you a happy, healthy, sweet new year! For everyone else, happy Thursday!

An End, at Last

It seemed only appropriate that on the first day of the Tour de Fleece, I finished a long-suffering WIP from my own handspun.

Pattern: Breezy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: my handspun -- 85% Polwarth, 15% silk from All Spun Up, 8 oz.
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) Chiago Goo Red Lace circs
Started/Completed: June 29, 2012/June 29, 2013

This sweater started way back in October of 2011, when I received two beautiful twists of fiber from my favorite dyer (who is, alas, now out of business) as part of a spinalong. The colorway for this fiber was Tapestry, a name that, in my opinion, was a perfect fit for the deep colors in the fiber. It took me a good two months to spin up one huge skein of two-ply laceweight -- a total of 1,630 yards. I knew that with that much yardage, I had to knit a sweater, so at some point last summer, I wound a really enormous yarn cake and got to work. I cast on for the sweater leading in to last year's Tour de Fleece and made a good start on it (as you do when you're working a top-down raglan and the rows are still short).

As you would expect would happen with a laceweight sweater, I soon grew bored with it, so into the bottom of the knitting bag it went. Every now and then I'd pull it out again and put in a few more rows, so it continued to grow, albeit slowly. Then, as spring gave way to summer, I realized that my poor neglected sweater was nearing its first birthday, and it's usually not in me to let projects linger that long without being finished (with one notable exception). So I decided to focus on getting it done, hoping to finish before this year's Tour de Fleece started and I put it down once again in favor of spinning all the time. I'm very happy to report that this happened, and in fact I finished it on the day the Tour started (I figured that it was acceptable to take time away from spinning in order to finish a project out of handspun).

There's not too much to say about this sweater. I knew I'd like it because it's the lightweight version of one of my favorite hand-knit sweaters to wear. The knitting itself was pretty mindless; it's a top-down stockinette raglan, so for the body I really only had to pay attention every other row, and for the sleeves, I just had to count rounds in between decreases. The real challenge in this pattern was keeping the motivation to finish it; when you're working with laceweight, it can take a long time to see any perceptible progress, so sometimes it felt like I'd been knitting for hours and only added half an inch in length. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because this is an incredibly wearable sweater. It's actually perfect for this time of year, because I almost always need a light layer in the office to keep warm in the aggressive air conditioning. This sweater adds just a little warmth without bulk, and I can easily shove* it in my bag at the end of the day and not notice any extra weight on the walk home.

I will note that I did discover one pretty significant error in the pattern, and I have been in touch with the designer about it. When I was ready to start the ribbed cuff of my first sleeve, I realized that the stitch count I had -- which matched what was listed in the pattern -- was not divisible by four and thus wouldn't work out with a 2x2 rib. I though maybe it was just an issue with my size, but then I got out my calculator and realized that it was an issue for all the sizes. I immediately sent Hannah a PM on Ravelry, which was answered several days later by one of her helpers, who said that I should work one more or one less set of decreases in the arm. I wasn't about to rip back several inches' worth of work to add another set of decreases, so I worked them into my first round of ribbing. I don't think you can tell a difference, and frankly I don't think it's such a huge deal; I was just surprised that this type of error hadn't been caught before (but bear in mind that I was working with a hard copy; it's very likely that the error has been corrected in the digital version).

Silly photo (c) Rainbow

Now I'll bet you're thinking that after this experience I'd never knit another laceweight sweater again. You may be right, at least in part. I'm not in a hurry to knit another right away, but I wouldn't say I'd never do it again. In fact, I have two gorgeous skeins of laceweight that the Mister and Rainbow bought me for my birthday this year that are just begging to become a sweater (because, frankly, I'd be buried alive by a shawl that used all that yardage). The key is to start it knowing that will take me a good amount of time to finish and not plan to have it done by a certain date -- unless I want to eschew all other projects and crafts until it's done. So I'm not casting on just yet, but don't be surprised (or call me crazy!) if it happens again in the near future.


*And by "shove," I mean "fold it carefully and wrap it in a bag or something so it doesn't get snagged by anything."

The Sock Yarn Experiment

Over in the Spin Doctor Ravelry group, several of us have started an informal spinalong to try out some new techniques for spinning sock yarn. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to use up some of the Crown Mountain Farms fiber in my stash, specifically some that I bought in a weak moment during one of their sales a few years ago. (Incidentally, they're having their spring sale right now. Yes, I am happy to enable.)

I used some of the Corriedale pencil roving, which comes in 8 oz. bundles. I didn't see the need to spin up that much, so I split the fiber in half, giving me 4 oz. to work with now and 4 oz. to do something else with later. I decided to spin up two skeins of yarn, one for each sock, so that I could compare the durability of the skeins/yarns, so I split that 4 oz. in half. Then I split each half into thirds; two-thirds of each half was spun onto one bobbin and the remaining third was spun onto another. All the singles, with the exception of one of the smaller bobbin's worth, were spun in the normal direction (Z). That one smaller bobbin's worth was spun S. Then I plied three singles at a time -- using both larger bobbins and one smaller one. When I used up all the singles on the smaller bobbin, I broke the other singles and started plying using the other small bobbin.

Still with me?

I plied the regular three ply first, then the opposing ply skein (the one with one ply going in the same direction as plying). The effect is that the opposing ply skein is much springier and twisty than a traditional three ply; this is supposed to add to the durability of the yarn.

Here are the two skeins freshly off the plying bobbin. Both are a little twisty because the plying twist is still active (this is before washing and finishing).

Traditional three ply on the top, opposing ply on the bottom

Here's a closeup for comparison:

Both skeins went into a hot bath, after which I vigorously snapped both of them by putting my arms in the middle of the skein and then stretching them out. After they'd dried, the change was significant, though you can still spot the difference in the skeins:

The opposing ply skein is still a little kinked up, but the skein hangs relatively straight. I ended up with approximately 190 yards of the traditional three ply and 153 yards of the opposing ply (there's more of the former because I started with that one and ran out of normal singles on the second skein).

Eventually I'm going to use the remaining 4 oz. of this fiber for a 2x2 cabled yarn (essentially two two-ply yarns plied together), but I need a little break from the fine green spinning and started yarn for a hat for Rainbow -- the Falkland she picked out about a week ago.

This'll be a two ply, probably sport to DK once it's plied -- it's amazing how fast fiber spins up when you're not doing superfine singles!

For the Heck of It

One of the podcasts I listen to regularly is the SpinDoctor podcast. Sasha's 'cast is great for new and experienced spinners alike, as it's filled with great reviews as well as discussions of her own spinning. So when she announced that she was hosting a spinalong of art yarns to go along with Jacey Boggs' book Spin Art, I thought I'd spin along for a bit.

Normally, I'm not that into art yarns; I can appreciate how interesting and pretty they can be, but I've never spun any myself because I don't know what I'd knit with such yarns (not that I end up knitting that much of the yarn I spin anyway!). There were a few yarns in the book that I wanted to try however. The first was a cabled yarn, which I did last month with a Crown Mountain Farms club shipment. Another was a corespun yarn, which is the most recent thing off my wheel:

The core was a bit of fiber leftover from last year's sweater project; I spun it, with lots of extra twist, in the direction I normally ply so that I could do the wrapping in the direction I normally spin my singles. For a corespun yarn, you hold the fiber perpendicular to the core so that it can literally wrap around the core. This means that some twist is introduced as the core is wound on, so you need more twist than usual in the core so that the yarn is balanced in the end. For the wrap, I dug deep into my stash and found some colonial wool top from Paradise Fibers that I bought for practice (and evidently never used) when I first got my Lendrum four years ago.

This skein is about 111 yards and pretty wildly inconsistent -- not surprising, given how awkward the process felt the whole time -- but it's pretty well balanced and fairly soft, so I'm pretty happy with it. I still, however, have no idea what to do with this yarn! I didn't love corespinning, but I suspect that's mainly because it felt so awkward; it's hard to love something that's hard. I'd be willing to give it another try -- eventually. For now, I am spinning up the rest of this colonial top into my usual yarn (I started with 8 oz., so this'll make a good dent in my stash).

New Year, New Yarn

I'm typing this quick post from our gate at the Southwest Florida International Airport, where we're waiting to get on our flight back home (and dreading it, a bit, to be honest -- we've be thoroughly spoiled this trip with warm weather and sunny, cloudless skies every day). I have some big doings to talk about when we get home, but for now, I do have some handspun to share with you -- it is Sunday, after all.

You may recall this gorgeous All Spun Up Polwarth/silk fiber that arrived at least a couple months ago. When I got it, I knew I wanted to challenge myself, so I set out to spin up all 8 ounces into a two-ply laceweight, one huge skein of it. It took me nearly two months to spin the singles and ply, even with my miniSpinner, but I got it done.



A whopping 1,630 yards are in this skein, which didn't use the full 8 oz. (I had a bit leftover on one bobbin). I was hoping for closer to 2,000, but I blame the poof factor of Polwarth. Still, this should be enough to make myself a laceweight sweater. The colors are really hard to capture accurately, so here's a shot without the flash.



Can't wait to knit this up!

One Bobbin Full

It's been a while since I had a spinning post on a Sunday because I've been working on the same project for almost a month. It's not quite done, but at least I've reached a milestone in the process. Here's a full bobbin, holding 4 oz. of extremely thin (40+ wpi) singles of All Spun Up polwarth/silk

This bobbin is resting at the moment until I figure out what to do next. I have another 4 oz. of this same fiber/colorway, and originally I thought I'd spin that up the same way and ply the two together for one really enormous laceweight skein. But now I'm having second thoughts, not only because it'll take me another month (maybe) to spin the second bobbin of singles but also because I'm not sure what I'd do with 1,600-2,00 yards of laceweight. So I may end up chain plying this one and splitting the other 4 oz. in two to spin a laceweight with that. Or not. Any suggestions are appreciated.

In the meantime, to take a break from spinning so thin, I got out this month's Crown Mountain Farms shipment (4 oz. of Icelandic top) while Rainbow took her nap this afternoon and spun up two bobbins' worth in a ridiculously short amount of time. Here's what it looked like before:

This was my first time spinning this particular breed, and it was interesting -- definitely on the hairy side, though not as unpleasant as the Lincoln I spun several months ago. My singles are about fingering weight, and it looks like it'll ply up to about DK weight.

I'm excited that this fiber went so quickly, because I'm really trying to make a dent in my stash; my fiber stash, like my yarn stash, has gotten a bit out of control. That didn't seem to stop me, though, from picking up some more yesterday at Indie Knit and Spin.

Falkland from CosySpins

Falkland from Gwen Erin

Falkland is one of my favorite fibers, and I haven't spun any in a while, so I'm looking forward to getting at these soon!

Down to Earth, Part I

Those of you who know my spinning know that my favorite dyer is Kristin at All Spun Up. When I first discovered her Etsy store, very few people knew about her, so it was relatively easy to get my hands on some of her hand-dyed fiber. Of course, once handspun from her fiber started showing up on Ravelry, it wasn't long before she became incredibly popular -- to the point where if you didn't pounce the minute she posted an update to the store, you couldn't get any of her fiber.

Thankfully, Kristin has been doing regular spinalongs. She posts ahead of time what the fiber blend will be (though the colorway is a mystery), and if you want to participate, you post in a thread on her Ravelry group so she has an idea of how much fiber to dye. The listing is then up for a couple of days, and as long as you check within 24-48 hours of the listing, chances are good that you can get some of this much-coveted fiber.

For this May/June, the fiber blend was merino/silk (an 80%/20% blend), so I signed up for a double dose of 8 ounces. The dye job did not disappoint -- she calls this particular colorway Down to Earth.

For now, I started with half of the fiber and spun a very thin single (I'm not sure I realized just how thin it was), then chain plied it to keep the colors distinct.

I am completely thrilled with how this turned out. As I was spinning it, it made me think of a seascape -- the pale blue of the water, the white of the sea foam, the brown of the sand and pieces of driftwood, and the gray of a cloudy sky. And of course there is nothing like the experience of spinning this fiber blend; it is just luscious going through your fingers, and the resulting yarn is soft, silky, and light.

This skein also marks my first entry into my LYS' Summer of Socks and Lace contest. I was aiming for fingering weight, but at more than 600 yards for my 4 ounces, it's on the light side of that.

I have no idea what this will grow up to be, but in the meantime, I will be very happy just wearing it wrapped around my neck! I still have another 4 ounces to play with, so perhaps I'll have a matching skein for this in the near future.

Completely Enchanted

On Thursday night, as I was wrapping up things and getting ready to head to MDSW, one of the things on my list was to skein up the finished yarn from the latest All Spun Up spinalong. I believe the last time you saw it, the singles were halfway done.

The name of this colorway is "Enchanted," which perfectly described how I felt about this fiber. Shades of blue and green, my two favorite colors, on a luscious blend of 50% fine alpaca, 30% merino, and 20% silk -- what's not to love? I knew I wanted it to be a two-ply laceweight, and the singles were definitely the finest I've ever spun. I used my miniSpinner for the first time (other than the bit of practice I did with the sample fiber that was included with it when it first arrived) to do the plying, because I knew it was going to take a long time. Even with the electric spinner, it still took me about a week of plying sessions to get it all done.

When I finished skeining it up, I realized why: My 4.125 oz. of fiber yielded more than 1,000 yards of yarn that is roughly 36 wpi. And I love it.

Now the challenge will be to find the ultimate pattern for this yarn! Suggestions are welcome.

Coming up soon: a recap of MDSW!

Half Spun

My spinning has been extremely slow going because of how thin the singles are, but I managed to finish the first of my two bobbins the other day.

Every time I look at these colors I like them more. I hope that I'm able to get some good yardage out of this so I can knit something spectacular with it!