July 24, 2006
More Yarn
I'm sure I'm not the only person to find it slightly panic-inducing that my spinning habit just puts more stuff into my stash...
This is 3 ounces of three-ply yarn from the rambouillet fleece that I dyed 4 colors and then blended with combs. I believe it's about 300 yards. Other than being a tad overplyed (VERY easy to do when you're navajo plying), it's a reasonably nice yarn. Incredibly elastic and cushy although not as smooth to the hand as it might be. And not so overplyed that the hank was unbalanced - it twisted almost one full twist when it came off the niddynoddy, and that easily washed out.
It has a slightly tweedy look because I left in some of the neps as I spun - they were almost all in the contrast colors and I hated to be pulling out any of the contrast colors. I think I will want to knit this on size 5 or 6 needles. Depending on how much I get from the rest of the bag, I think it would make a nice jacket or else a simple gansey-style pullover. My hope is that I will get 4 hanks this size, which would be enough for something useable.
Other than plying this on Saturday, I actually didn't spin this weekend. I combed a little to get out ahead of the next hank of this yarn, but I couldn't come to a decision about what I wanted to put on the big wheel. So I'll do a little fiber stash browsing over the next few days and make a choice.
Knitting fared better. I'm starting the heel on my second Eleanora sock, so I hope to have that done in a week or two. I finished the back of Tilia:
This is knitting up fairly quickly, and I just can't wait to wear it, it has such a nice feel to it. Because I'm using yarn that knits up at a slightly smaller gauge than the pattern calls for, I'm knitting the second size in width but following the length measurements for the smallest size. And I shortened the length of the body about an inch and a half - on me I want this style to be closer to top hip, and 24 inches in body length just seemed a little too long. We'll see how I feel about that when it's all done.
Posted by Prudence at July 24, 2006 08:00 AMI love the colors in the yarn, especially the fab tweedy bits! I'll be trying out Navajo plying for the first time as soon as I finish spinning what I have on the bobbin.
Posted by: Kat on July 24, 2006 10:16 AMThat is a FABULOUS skein of handspun. The colors are just intoxicating. You do beautiful stuff!
Posted by: Joanne on July 24, 2006 11:44 AMGorgeous yarn, I love the rich heathering. It will make a beautiful sweater--with bounce! Tilia is beautiful, too, and it should fit like a dream.
Posted by: Jan Clark on July 24, 2006 02:04 PMI love the spinning and I love the Tilia. Do you think the bottom edge will smooth out when you wear it? What do you plan to do to it there? It pulls up quite a bit now at the cables. Linda
Posted by: Linda on July 24, 2006 02:48 PMActually, Linda, no I don't, if you look at the photo of the sweater (linked from last week's posting), you'll see how it lies. I think it's a 'design feature' that it pulls up at the lace pattern. The pattern relies on K3tog, I think that's what pulls it up.
Posted by: CarolineF on July 24, 2006 02:56 PMI feel the same way about not enough knitting to keep up with the spinning!
LOVE the yarn! And Tilia is such a beautiful sweater!
Posted by: Kerry on July 24, 2006 04:56 PMlove the tweed!
Posted by: vanessa on July 26, 2006 09:21 PMWow, the blended rambo colours turned out just great! You've got a nice tweed there, and the plying is so perfect. Tilia is so pretty.
Posted by: Mel on July 29, 2006 01:08 PM