Trenchwork

A little while ago, Natalie of The Yarn Yard suffered under enough of a delusion that I’m an expert spinner that she asked if I’d do a little test spinning for her with some hand-dyed fiber. Since the fiber was also one I’d never tried before, how could I possibly enlighten her and say no? I mean, really. It’s like asking a teenager if he wants pizza or DH if he’d like some chocolate. Get a grip. Free spinning fiber? Hand-dyed free spinning fiber? Throw it at me!

She did. She sent me this:

It’s about 130 grams of superwash BFL in rich raspberry, royal plum, and pure ocean blue tones. It’s vibrant and has a lovely balance.

It became this:

and then this:

and was eventually swatched up like this in order to see the stripes:

The Stats

Fiber: Superwash BFL, hand dyed, from The Yarn Yard.
Weight: 130 grams
Yardage: ca 126; chain ply
WPI: 12
Twist: Since I like a firm ply, I deliberately span toward that goal. Twist here ranges from 13 to 17. That’s more difference than I’d like, but I’ll accept it.
Spun on: Rose

The Lessons

What do I think of it? Oh, wow. I’ve seen hand-dyed fiber which was packy and had to be predrafted in order to be spun, but even right out of the envelope, this was lofty and squishy and beautiful. The colors were consistent and true throughout the fiber (no white patches in the middle of the roving), and the stuff spins like a dream. I’ve no idea if this last item is true of most superwash, but this fiber begged to be spun in a long draw of some sort and would make spinning thin singles a snap. Literally, I had to fight to keep myself from spinning froghair. I simply cannot say enough good about how well it handled and how much I enjoyed spinning it.

There aren’t many technical notes. Since the idea was to test the fiber and colors for Natalie, I just split the roving in half, then in half or thirds again and spun the strips head to tail consistently throughout the single, making certain I had the same color repeats in the same order. I had intended on spinning a two-ply for a final fingering-weight yarn, but that changed when I finished the single. Since Natalie had gone with a barberpole effect, I thought I’d take a different approach so she could see how her colors would work in a different method. I decided to chain ply it and preserve the color repeats just so that I could see how the yarn would stripe in a knitted fabric, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a blast watching the color repeats come through. It is a bit heavier than I’d planned for, but the finished yarn is amazingly soft for straight wool, and the fabric not stiff or scratchy at all. Even *I* might be able to wear it as a next-to-skin scarf.

The real key here was that this yarn also received a slightly abusive wet finish, and I discovered that it plumps up very nicely during that process. Pre-finish, I measured out the WPI to be about 13-14, and I didn’t really expect a change since this is superwash. The finish increased the WPI in such a way that the yarn is consistently 12 throughout the ball. While I do need some practice with the chain plying (a few of the “knots” are visible), the finished yarn is solid and very, very round. In a traditional three ply, it would make a brilliant yarn for an Aran-style sweater.

Seriously, this was wonderful stuff. Natalie did a great job with the colors and preparing the fiber for spinning, and the fiber itself is simply, well, wonderful. Enough so that I’ve already decided I want enough for a couple of large projects later. It’s all I can do to not order an entire bump of the stuff from her NOW. I am, however, being good and waiting until I’ve at least made a dent in what I already have. Sigh. Seriously seriously seriously good spinning stuff, regardless of whether you have your spinning mojo working or not.