1.12.2008

Mad Spinning

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Been a little spinning obsessed lately...

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It doesn't help that I'm so head-over-heels in love with this blend of lush amber and deep blue (Wensleydale from Hello Yarn in Mmm...Rich and rich the colors certainly are...) that I can hardly wait to make something wearable out of it.

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So, step one in the fiber to scarf transition: spinning it into yarn.

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Spinning Wensleydale was quite an interesting experience. The long-stapled fiber is very lustrous but quite tough and sticky and really doesn't like to hold twist. The resulting yarn has a bit of a halo, similar to mohair, and is probably akin to Lopi or Noro Kureyon on the scratchiness level (which doesn't much bother me but may be a concern for others thinking of spinning up Wensleydale).
Because of the long fiber length and sticky texture of the fiber, I didn't split the roving. Instead, I spun directly from it, drafting as I went. I opted to Navajo-ply the singles so that I can preserve distinct colors in the roving (even though doing so with a non-squishy single means that the little knots from the chain-plying will show a bit...you can see one such knot in the closeup). For the non-spinner, this way of plying makes for a 3-ply yarn. As you can probably tell from the number of photos peppering this post, I'm quite enamored with the resulting yarn. The only downside of doing a 3-ply when I only have 4oz of the fiber is, of course, the not so great yardage. Now that all four ounces are spun up, I have four little skeins that total up to around 140 yards of worsted weight (9-11 WPI) of the yarn. So, something on large needles with a lot of dropped stitches, perhaps?

6 Comments:

Blogger Yarn Tails said...

Marie that is looking Beautiful! I like using the drop spindle but you dont get so big of skeins. Now the spinning wheel is such a different story! I can spin and spin till my heart desires to stop!

1:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It would make lovely wristwarmers to peek out from the sleeves of a denim jacket, I think. They would probably have to be sort of small though...

Hope you're doing well! (The fact that you are spinning is a good sign!) :)

4:54 AM  
Blogger allisonmariecat said...

Oh, that's beautiful! Maybe a hat? Wristwarmers are a good idea, too.

6:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The yarn is gorgeous, love the colors.

2:06 PM  
Blogger jessie said...

I made thick sock yarn with one ply of dyed Wensleydale and one of merino. The merino seemed to add a bit of needed bounce.

Then I made 1.5 socks. Two years ago.

Hope you can do better. The yarn is certainly beautiful!

7:49 AM  
Blogger nova said...

The yarn is lovely. I recently ordered some Wensleydale, so it was good to read your post about your experience spinning it. I am looking forward to seeing what you knit out of it.

10:55 AM  

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