A quick spinning run-down
There was a bit of spinning and a bit of knitting over the past Month o' Work, but I didn't really have time to take photos or blog about it. As a result, my knitting FOs--two Utopia hats--have gone on to their recipients without being blogged about, and my WIPs have been ripped and reknit multiple times and no one's the wiser except for me.
I did manage to get a couple documentary photos of my latest spinning endeavors, though. This is mostly because I haven't figured out what to knit with these spinning FOs, so they're marinating in the stash and are still in my possession to be photographed.
Above is 4 oz. of merino fiber that I got at the Boerne Fiber Festival last year. My goal in spinning this stuff up was to spin as thin as I could manage to see if I could make sock-weight yarn. The finished yarn is slightly heavier than most sock yarn, but it's not so thick I'd call it sportweight or DK. I was pretty pleased with it as a first attempt at sock yarn. I can't remember the yardage (I really should write these things down), but it should be enough to make at least a pair of ankle socks. Either that, or I'm going to use it as a liner for some mittens, because it's nice and soft. But I'll have to see if I can find some coordinating yarn/fiber for the outside of the mittens.
And . . . I also got into the Hello Yarn February-April Fiber Club earlier this year. I'm a biiiig Hello Yarn fan; I really love Adrian's sense of color. Here is the February fiber--5 oz. of BFL in the "Insect Wings" colorway:
I loved this fiber; the colors are so nice and saturated, and the finished yarn turned out nice and soft. I managed to get about 140 yards of heavy worsted weight yarn and I think I'll try to get a hat or two out of it.
I can't wait to see how it knits up because I tried to fractal-spin it (at least, I tried to do what I understand to be fractal spinning). I took the entire length of roving and split it in half lengthwise. I pre-drafted one half and spun that on to one bobbin. I took the other half and split that in half lengthwise to get fourths; then I pre-drafted the fourths and spun them on to another bobbin, one after the other, trying to start each length of roving from the same end to keep the color repeats in order. Then I plied the singles off the two bobbins together.
I'm not sure if my efforts at fractal spinning will result in anything special, especially since I'm not perfectly sure that the color repeats are in the correct order (I'll admit I was careless). But I'm sure the finished fabric will be fun and soft, anyway; the color and the fiber really do most of the work!
I'm going to try to get better photos of the Insect Wings yarn this weekend--it's just too gorgeous not to try. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
I did manage to get a couple documentary photos of my latest spinning endeavors, though. This is mostly because I haven't figured out what to knit with these spinning FOs, so they're marinating in the stash and are still in my possession to be photographed.
Above is 4 oz. of merino fiber that I got at the Boerne Fiber Festival last year. My goal in spinning this stuff up was to spin as thin as I could manage to see if I could make sock-weight yarn. The finished yarn is slightly heavier than most sock yarn, but it's not so thick I'd call it sportweight or DK. I was pretty pleased with it as a first attempt at sock yarn. I can't remember the yardage (I really should write these things down), but it should be enough to make at least a pair of ankle socks. Either that, or I'm going to use it as a liner for some mittens, because it's nice and soft. But I'll have to see if I can find some coordinating yarn/fiber for the outside of the mittens.
And . . . I also got into the Hello Yarn February-April Fiber Club earlier this year. I'm a biiiig Hello Yarn fan; I really love Adrian's sense of color. Here is the February fiber--5 oz. of BFL in the "Insect Wings" colorway:
I loved this fiber; the colors are so nice and saturated, and the finished yarn turned out nice and soft. I managed to get about 140 yards of heavy worsted weight yarn and I think I'll try to get a hat or two out of it.
I can't wait to see how it knits up because I tried to fractal-spin it (at least, I tried to do what I understand to be fractal spinning). I took the entire length of roving and split it in half lengthwise. I pre-drafted one half and spun that on to one bobbin. I took the other half and split that in half lengthwise to get fourths; then I pre-drafted the fourths and spun them on to another bobbin, one after the other, trying to start each length of roving from the same end to keep the color repeats in order. Then I plied the singles off the two bobbins together.
I'm not sure if my efforts at fractal spinning will result in anything special, especially since I'm not perfectly sure that the color repeats are in the correct order (I'll admit I was careless). But I'm sure the finished fabric will be fun and soft, anyway; the color and the fiber really do most of the work!
I'm going to try to get better photos of the Insect Wings yarn this weekend--it's just too gorgeous not to try. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
posted by seedless grape at 9:46 AM
1 Comments:
I too have difficulties in deciding what should be made from my finished yarns. It usually seems like my handspun yarn is special and should be used for something really spectacular. I think, unfortunately, that my knitting skills are not up to that standard.
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