Tag Archives: handspun

Batt Obsessed

Posted on by
1

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!!

Super Fast 3-ply

Posted on by
2

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
1

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!!

Plying and Coca Cola

Posted on by
3

Confession, this blog post is brought to you by two snacks and Hotel Translyvania. I had to distract my children in order to get my Corriedale singles plied on Sunday.

I turned a podcast on in my headphone, grabbed an ice cold coca cola and set to plying. I really really enjoy having my Ashford lazy kate. It’s really helping me to keep better tension on my singles and make a more consistent plied yarn.

By looking at my bobbins, I think this will be a heavy worsted finished yarn. This took about two hours and my finished yarn filled two bobbins. I have those resting before I skein them off for their wash and set. It’s set to be a pretty crazy week so I’m not sure when I will carve out that time, but I’m interested to see how these skeins turn out!

Happy Spinning!!

Resting Blue Corriedale

Posted on by
1

Chipping away at my spinning turned out to be the best motivation. I now have two full bobbins of my blue Corriedale complete!

Each of these bobbins holds 4 ounces of the total 8 ounces of roving I had. Theoretically I will have equal amounts and it will be super easy to make a 2-ply. However, I know that this fiber was a little felted/compacted and I wasn’t super successful at keeping my singles consistent.

I plan to let these bobbins rest for about 24 hours and see if I can sneak some spinning time in over the weekend, fingers crossed! Happy Spinning!!

Coffee and Spinning

Posted on by
1

Back to school is here and work is, well crazy as ever. I took some time yesterday morning o drink hot coffee and spin for 15 minutes before getting ready for work. PB and Jellybean are getting big enough that they need less TLC to get out the door for the day. So I feel like I can start claiming some of that space of the day.

I had previously been calling this BFL. It is not. This is in fact Corriedale and 100% Corriedale, lol. This is harder for me to spin consistently the same and I’m getting a lot of thick and thin runs. But its fun nonetheless.

I’m on the second bobbin and chugging away on the second 4 ounces of this 8 ounce spin. The solid color will make really cool yarn but it does make for a monotonous spin. Chipping away at this 15/20 minutes at a time is probably the best plan to get through this fiber.

Happy Spinning!!

One Of Two Complete

Posted on by
1

My blue BFL spinning has been progressing nicely. I have spun through the first four ounces and filled my first bobbin of this spin.

Because of the compacted nature of this fiber I have been having trouble keeping my singles thin and consistent. However, as my current spinning tack is to just let the fiber do what it wants see what kind of yarn I end up with. I am not currently spinning with the end product in mind.

Now I just need to pop open the second bag of this spin and get the second bobbin cooking! Happy Spinning!!

Starting A Solid

Posted on by
1

The sun is shining, my children are away for the weekend and my wheel was empty. So of course I needed a new spin!

I pulled eight ounces of blue BFL roving from my stash and started on the wheel. This fiber was vacuum packed and a little felted. So I am having to work a little harder to predraft this fiber to get it to spin nicely.

But for now I leave you all as I plan to spin while the shade and my iced coffee last. Happy Spinning!!

An Ocean Gradient

Posted on by
1

My BFL gradient is washed and fully dry. This turned out to be one very happy skein!

This is 100% Blue faced Leicester long wool that I spun from one end of the gradient to the other. Then I chain plied the singles into a three ply to preserve the gradient. The finished skein ended up being 138 grams and roughly 166 yards. I calculated 9 wraps per inch on average so this is a worsted weight yarn with thicker and thinner spot throughout.

This handspun is superbly handsome all skeined up. I have zero ideas or plans on what to do with this skein so into the precious handspun stash it goes. Happy Spinning!!