SPIN009 & SPIN010

I spun two skeins of standard 2-ply few weeks ago but didn't have the heart to wash and finish them till last week.

SPIN009: Wildcraft Superwash English Wool Blend. Colourway The Little Rainbow.



Originally I tried spinning directly without further division. I hope to reserve the distinct colour repeats and get a stripey yarn by Navajo chain plying. But then I noticed the colour repeats were quite short. Maybe 2 inches or less. After pre-drafting and spinning for about 5 grams, I found the colours blending in too much. All whites and  yellows were crowded out by reds. The single I got was predominantly pink, a muddied pink.



I then tried spinning from the fold. No luck. I simply couldn't get the hang of it. I then divided the top lengthwise into many thin strips. I spun a few grams and then chained plied it. The colours were indeed more crispy and distinct. Yet the colour repeats were very short.


After three failed attempts, I decided to return to my "usual practice": standard 2-ply. I intended to spin and plied tighter, hoping to get a sturdy yarn for my very first pair of handspun socks. All the yarn I previously plied tend to underplied, such as this monster, so I am quite happy about this one. Though it's still not very even, the plying looks tighter and relatively more balanced than my previous handspuns. I love the colours too. Pinks, yellows and greens. A very cheerful colour combo.

Unfortunately it only yields about 175m. Not enough for a pair of socks. Hum... maybe combining it with another skein of handspun or commercial yarn for a stripey sock or do contrasting toes and heels?

SPIN010: Scrap Yarn 2. Wow. It's the 10th handspun I made since October!



I almost wanted to name this colourway as Make It Or Break It because I spun it while watching the American TV drama series of the same name.



The fibre were scraps from Fibreholics Sample Bag which I got in summer. Last time I spun all the manly colours into Scrap Yarn 1 which has turned to be a Gherkin Hat. This time I spun all the remainig brights into two bobbins of singles.



Z-spun and s-plied, both at 10:1. 2-ply. 70g. 192m before finishing. 12-14 wpi after washing and drying. Fingering weight, sort of.



Again, there're pinks, greens and yellows. I guess I have told you enough about my colour preferences. :)

SPIN007

Few months ago, not long after I started learning to spin with a spindle, I got a fibre bag from Fibreholics. It contained fibre samples from ten different dyers in the UK. I didn't really spin much as I was really bad at spindling -- I still am.

Last Thursday night, we were watching The Simpsons after dinner. I didn't feel like to knit. Nor did I want to leave my fingers idle. Hence I took all the scraps out and was planning some practice. I left all the bright and feminine colours behind, only picking about 60 grams of darker shades from three dyers. Too bad that I lost all the labels so couldn't tell where they were from. Sigh. A note to myself: Should keep a better record next time if I order any sample bag again.

The three samples I used were:

(1) Royal blue - Only used a teeny bit as it was a bit felted and was difficult to draft. :(

(2) Grey/blue - probably an overdyed grey Shetland. Got a hunch that it's from The Thylacine. Good stuff!

(3) Dark green

I split all the above samples into 4-5 short strips so each was about 4-5 grams in weight. I also found 50 grams of natural brown Corriedale which came with my spindle. It was also split into 5-gram segments. Then I mixed them up and spun all up randomly into two bobbins of single at 10:1 on Ashford Traveller.After plying there was about 86grams with 90 metres pre-wash.

It's generally chunky, but there are some places of thins as fingering. Maybe I should have done more pre-drafting for a better control. Although this attempt at thicker yarn wasn't very successful, I think it's an  enjoyable spin. It's so quick, too. What an instant gratification.

Surprisingly it's not as rough as I thought, though not soft enough to be a cowl. I think I will make a hat or a pair of mitts out of it. :)