So Many Steps

I finally finished a skein of yarn this week that really should have been done quite a while ago (I blame the Mad May knitalong). In reality, it probably didn't take as long to spin as I think, but because this is the second yarn I've spun from the same fiber (Crown Mountain Farms corriedale pencil roving in Eire), it feels like I've been working on it for months. In any case, here it is:

This is a cabled yarn, which means it's a yarn made of plied yarns that are plied together. This particular skein is a 2x2 cabled yarn. I split my approximately 4 oz. of fiber into quarters and spun four bobbins of singles. Then I plied two bobbins' worth together twice (so I had two bobbins of two-ply yarn). Finally I plied the two-ply yarns together. You can see why this took so long, right?

Yes, it took a long time, but the texture of the resulting yarn is just incredible. This is the second cabled yarn I've spun, I think, though I've yet to knit any up. This skein is roughly sport weight and about 236 yards, so probably not enough for a pair of socks unless they're really short socks (which kind of defeat the purpose for me if they're wool), but I think it'd make some interesting fingerless mitts.

Now that this fiber is finally all used up, I'm craving some color that isn't green. I think this is going to go on the miniSpinner next:

Clearly this is calling out to be chain plied to preserve the gradient, so I'll start spinning from one end and just keep going until I get to the other end. This merino/silk will be such a treat after the corriedale!