I made yarn

It started with some very beautiful superwash roving in Mountain Sunset from Lavender Sheep.

I made singles on Squeaky (who doesn’t squeak much anymore but is purring because I’m playing about 10 minutes almost every day). The first bobbin was much more evenly spun and consistent on all counts. I think this is because I was very impatient to see what it turned into.

I then plied the singles. This time I used my brain a little and made a simple lazy kate out of an old shipping box and some dpn’s so I could put the bobbins where I could more easily ply from. I ended up plying two very full bobbins worth on Squeaky and for variation in technique did the last little bit by spindle.

And I made these yarns.

I definitely see improvement in my spinning over the past year. I have a long way to go before I think I’ll produce anything remotely useful but I’m having fun and learning a vast amount of really cool things about fibre and spinning and patience.

The yarn definitely turned out pinker than I expected, but I have a feeling that’s due to how I pulled apart the roving. The little bit as PG’s neck warmer I’m currently classifying as about a DK. The rest is a heavy worsted to Aran. I’m totally guessing here because I’ve not yet notched out a bit of wood so I can wpi (wrap per inch) it and figure it out for real. I’ve tried just wrapping it around any rulers I have laying around but that doesn’t seem to work for me.

Yardage ended up about 155 yards for what I’m calling the Aran and 42 yards for the DK.

I also made yarn (a while ago) with that “robins nest” roving. But it’s really fuzzy and so far has eluded its portrait.

What’s next on the wheel? Already some “pocket money” merino from Cabin Cove Yarn. My goal again is consistency and I think I have to pull back and figure out what to do with what I spun today. Yesterday I was spinning a single that reminded me of about a laceweight. Today I feel it’s spinning thread. Speaking of thread ….

There is a new singer in the house. I’m not yet sure her name, but a gift card to a certain store made this a good buy. Why this one and not the green hello kitty Janome I was eyeing? Stitch size variation and that I have a bunch of Singer stuff already for Shira that she’ll share. I’m still experiencing some bobbin tensioning issues, but if it wasn’t 10 pm on Tuesday night I’d probably still be working to solve it (I only brought her home at about 8:30.. right now I just go too far at one extreme or the other. It’ll take some play and isn’t anything outside my knowledge or experience.). She purrs along quite nicely and I’m looking forward to start sewing up the fabric stash. I don’t mind some sewing by hand but largish scale projects (i.e. more than 10 inches of sewing) are not my cup of tea. Since it’s the three weeks, I won’t embark on any clothing, but I’m not aware of any issues with piecing together fabric for simple bags and things at least not until Rosh Chodesh Av. In any case, right now I’m not sewing anything functional, but learning how to accompany her song.

• Category: handmade
• Tag: sew, spin