Today we are home as a family of four with no work, daycare or school. The plan is to rest, play games and watch movies to recharge our bodies and brains. I wish you all a day of rest and peace!
Happy Labor Day!!
A Rest for Labor Day
1
Author Archives: atangledyarn84
FO Friday: Blue Batt 2-ply
Disaster adverted….mostly. My 2-ply did get completed after about an hour of untangling. I ended up with a couple small balls of singles that I attached to ends coming from my wheel and got those overlapped and plied. I then picked up the ends from the remaining cake and kept the cake between my thighs for control. This worked fairly well and I got the whole thing wrapped up last night.
I gave it a quick wash before work and hung to dry near the dehumidifier in the basement. It was dry enough last night to weigh and measure and skein up. I ended up with yet another worsted that varies between light and heavy worsted. The finished yardage was 72 yards and 62 grams. So just a little mini skein but super cute nonetheless.
And I have learned my lesson, next time I ply from a cake…..I will keep it controlled in my lap and not rolling around the floor!!
Happy Spinning!!
That Went South Fast
My plying process started out so good…..
And then it went south SOOOOO FAST…..
My tension from the cake got all wonky. And then the outside started feeding faster than the inside and in the end I ended up with tangled ramen.
I took a big girl breath and decided to walk away for a minute. My play is to break the singles and wind the ramen into separate balls. Once I get all the chaos under control I will then reevaluate and figure out best to keep plying this beast.
Slightly less happy spinning today….
From Batt to Singles
The two ounces of this wee little bat didn’t take me long to get spun into singles. I have a finished bobbin of singles all ready to spend 24 hours in timeout.
I feel like a I have strong singles with good enough twist that I feel comfortable winding this off into a center pull ball. I will get out my tensioned lazy kate and ball winder to make my cake. But that is tonight’s task!
Happy Spinning!!
Sunflower State
A local bank in my area planted a sunflower patch and let people come use the field for free photos. It was 100 degrees and the kids were SUPER good sports.
Jellybean is wearing shorts, I promise! He has grown 2 inches over summer and nothing fits. Meanwhile PB decided to wear her flower girl dress from a recent family wedding. Different strokes for different folks I guess?
But I’m never going to regret having this sweet photo!
Batt Obsessed
I finished my little 3-ply recently and I couldn’t help but pull out the other Moonstone Dyeworks batt that I had ordered and got it on the wheel.
This is another custom made batt that has a mix of rambioullet, merino and a bunch of other fiber content. This is really spinning very easily and I find that I don’t mind spinning from the batt.
I don’t think I plan to spin this into a 3 ply and shoot for a 2-ply instead. I will spin all the fiber on to a single bobbin and then wind the bobbin off into a cake. With the end goal of spinning from both ends of the cake. That way I use up all the singles with no leftovers.
Happy Monday and happy spinning!!
FO Friday: Connections Beanie (Dark)
My Connections Beanie (Dark) is off the needles, washed and blocked. It turned out not too shabby!
Pattern: Connections Beanie by Susan Lobos Garcia (Rav Link)
Yarn: The Shepherd’s Mill 2-ply sport in Light Yellow and Aqua
Needles: US 4 and 5
Mods: One accidental error in the colorwork chart that I consciously chose not to go back and fix.
The crown decreases went fairly well. I had a few tension problems around the centered decreases. But after all the trials around this hat I just wanted to be done. This dark version of the pattern is the smaller size so this hat technically fits me it is definitely better suited for PB or Jellybean.
I would knit this pattern again, but I think I need a break to get over my frustrations around this version. Totally on me as the knitter and not an issue of the pattern. Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!
Super Fast 3-ply
My wee little batt spun up very quickly as predicted! I had time this week to finish the singles and start the 3-ply. I only let my singles rest about 12 hours but I haven’t seen that cause any problems…yet.
My finished skein is a very energetic 3-ply and is super twisting back on itself. Again some of this will wash out. The skein is also very tiny so I don’t predict having many yards in this but I loved the process of this so much.
My plying wasn’t too shabby. I had a few pig tails sneak in but looking at the yarn I can see I got a nice high twist yarn that is (mostly) uniform. Now I’m off to wash a whole bunch of handspun!
Happy Spinning!!
Energetic Corriedale
I have my blue Corriedale off the bobbins and ready for a nice wool bath.
This two ply is really energized as you can see the skeins are twisting back on themselves. I can tell I really put some extra twist into these skeins as I plied. I will lose some of this overtwist/energy when I was them.
And I can confirm that these skeins will be heavy worsted to maybe a light bulky weight yarn. The corriedale is not next to skin soft but I am interested to see if this softens any after washing. Happy Spinning!!
Spinning My First Batt
After getting the Corriedale off the wheel this past weekend I felt the itch to start some of the small batts I purchased recently from Moonstone Dyeworks. I decided to start the purple-ish one.
This is a custom blend that is mostly Rambioullet but has some mohair, nylon and merino. I can feel some longer staple fibers every once in awhile. Overall its been very pleasant to spin.
I have achieved relatively thin and consistent singles for this spin. I have a plan to 3-ply these singles using chain ply. I will end up with a very small skein doing this method as this fiber is only two ounces in total.
This spinning project is really hitting the sweet spot in my brain and I kind of don’t want to stop. I forecast this being a super quick project! Happy Spinning!!
