Trenchwork

I’ve been working on a variety of things lately, but I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting on the spinning front. First, this brown-tones roving from Carol at The Sheep Shed Studio (the white is mohair)

became this:

There are a bit more than 600 yards of chunky (5wpi) yarn. I used the roving to practice different drafting methods, and specifically the longer draws since I seem to use a short forward and a short backward draw reflexively. I’ve noticed that I tend to spin worsted almost exclusively, so thought it was time to try breaking the pattern a bit and seeing what I’d get with different draw techniques on the same roving preparation. The bit of mohair created a few interesting slippery spots here and there.  Once the singles were spun, I practiced a traditional three ply and chain ply, and the yarn actually came out surprisingly soft.  As always, a barberpoled single that is chain-plied creates a rather tweedy looking three-ply yarn.  I rather like it.  This isn’t something I can wear, but I enjoyed working with it and it’s going to turn into a wonderful felted bag to haul around knitting and spinning.

Then I did a bit of sampling.

On the left is bamboo top, and on the right is a flax/silk blend, both from Mary sent as part of the recent fiber swap gift. They both surprised me. The bamboo needs, I think, a little less twist than I gave it, but it seems to be softening. When I first finished it (post drying), it reminded me of nylon rope. That’s changing though, as it’s handled, but I think a softer spin would make it softer to begin with. The flax/silk combination, though, really caught me off guard. There were the occasional long, prickly hairs from the flax which I pulled out as I went, but the finished yarn actually ended up softer than the bamboo. It too is softening as it’s handled, and I’m not entirely certain whether I put the lessons I gained from the bamboo to work on this blend or whether it’s just a function of the fiber itself, but I’m actually pleased with how it feels.

This too came from Mary:

This is a merino-silk blend that I *think* Mary created on her own, but which was in color clusters. On impulse, I strung the colors together in what seemed a logical order, manipulating the individual rovings for color separation here and there, and span them thin, chain plied them, and voila! There are 228 yards of chain-plied, 13wpi yarn here which would be great for a scarf, and which really helped me think about colors and how colors work in roving. Seriously, Mary did a brilliant job when she put together that package, and I’m slowly working my way through it all.

There was a wee bit of knitting.   I took Margaret’s suggestion and the superwash hand-dyed BFL which I tested for Natalie a little while ago turned into a pair of modified Fetching mitts:

It’s not a great photo, but it’s not precisely easy to take a pic of your own hand, is it? I still love this fiber, and while the stripes tend to hide the cables, the resulting fabric is warm and cozy and comfy.

Finally, and partly to explain why I’ve been indulging in fairly brilliant color after the brown, DH has decided he wants the Cobblestone Pullover from the latest issue of Interweave Knits. More specifically, he wants it in handspun. Since he rarely asks for anything knitted, of course I’m going to do this . . . and of course he’s going to get it in handspun. We took a little trip to the loft to sort through the fiber in the stash and see if there was something which appealed to him. He decided on this:

which is becoming this . . .

and of which one bobbin was spun up in this test spin:

The fiber is a 50-50 merino-tussah blend from Leah at Yarn or a Tale , and comes as laps. Running it through the carder once is enough to line up the fibers and create a lofty batt, and the resulting yarn is incredibly soft and squishy. I think even I could wear it as a next-to-skin fabric; the spinning here may be a bit inconsistent as I looked for a specific gauge, but I love this yarn.  Nor is the charcoal color entirely a flat grey. It rather makes me think of the dark sooty grey you find on certain birds; the color hints at the softness and has a subtle depth to it.

DH likes the color (he’d better; he chose it!), and is rather entertained at the idea of being able to say, “My wife made this, and it has real silk in it.” I’m not sure if that’s a guy thing, a hubby thing, or a Norwegian thing, since there’s not particularly much of a tradition in Norwegian knitting for silk-blend yarns.  

The pattern calls for a 10wpi yarn, and I figured out the grist and twist to match that in the latter half of the bobbin. There are, however, three pounds to go. Since I only had two on hand, I had to send an emergency call to Leah for the extra. I’ve snipped the unset sample so I can repeat the process, and am carding what I have. Once the rest gets here, I’m going to be firmly entrenched in grey.

Is it any wonder, then, that I started a beaded yarn in Spunky Eclectic’s Almost Solid Hibiscus last night while I wait?