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!!

Wash and Drying

I managed to finish spinning the singles for my merino/cashmere singles this past week after I got back from my travel. I wound the singles into a cake so that I could ply from the inside and outside. IT…WAS….A….MESS!! I neglected to understand how badly the singles would get tangled. I had to break and and untangle my singles many times. But in the end, I made a skein!

The skein had a little over twist from plying as it didn’t hang completely straight off the plying bobbin. But I had confidence that a bath would fix it right up!

And I was right, a bath and a whack had this skein nicely balanced. Since it is 90+ degrees in Kansas now I set this skein outside in the sun to dry. And boy howdy, it dried in four hours! I need to take the time to weigh and measure this skein to find out what kind of yarn I made.

This finished yarn is SUPER soft and might the thinnest spinning I have made to date. I can’t wait to see what this measure out to be! I really feel the need to find a project to fit this spectacularly yarn….

Happy Spinning!!

Plying On A Hitchhiker

My targhee singles are sufficiently rested and ready to ply. I decided to be crafty since my Kiwi wheel currently has lamb singles on it and pull out my Hitchhiker wheel. This was my first wheel but I never got the hang of the single treadle. But I’m a little more seasoned now and decided to give it a whirl!

Turns out, a lot easier to use once my brain and body understand the mechanics of spinning! I was able to successfully ply. I did put on the jumbo flyer and jumbo bobbin in order to get all four ounces in one shot.

I ended up with a lovely barber pole yarn. I will let the yarn sit overnight and then give a wash and a thwack. I’m interested to see what kind of twist I created with this wheel since I am less familiar with it. This should be a fun skein!

Happy Spinning!!

I Think I Accidentally Made Worsted Weight Yarn

It took me a minute to get all my plying done. Had a few fits and starts, but I now have two pretty bobbins!

I did a quick wraps per inch gauge on these….and y’all this might be a true worsted with spots of a heavy worsted. This is the finest I have spun and plied thus far! I need to give this yarn a bath and see if it plumps up any. I am kinda excited to see what this turns out to be!

Happy Spinning!!

Plying All The Romney

My spinning mojo has really caught fire. After starting some singles out of 100% Romney last week, I spent all day Saturday playing outside with the kids and finishing the singles. I let them rest overnight and played the “mother’s day card” so I could drink wine and ply my yarn.

I really enjoy using my tensioned Kate. It helps prevent overspinning and having the singles fold back on themselves. The wine doesn’t hurt either!

Happy Spinning!!

FO Friday: Mirror Mirror 2-ply

Some sparkly fun yarn has fallen off my wheel. I finished plying and have washed the 2-ply I made from my Christmas yarn from PB and Jellybean. I have named it Mirror, Mirror 2-ply!

I ended up with 233 grams/ 272 yards of a bulky 2-ply across two skeins. It’s not my most consistent spin and I was hoping it would come out closer to a worsted. But it’s marvelous finished spin and my kids LOVE it.

The photos really don’t do the purple sparkle justice. I am thinking this should be a cowl? But probably will percolate in the stash for a bit until it confirms to me what it wants to be. Happy Spinning!!

More Skeins Ready For A Bath

As predicted my mystery tweedy alpaca singles very quickly passed through my wheel. And while those singles were resting I managed to get a whole other fiber bat spun up.

I ignored my household chores of laundry and dishes to spend a whole glorious evening plying my singles and watching Vlogmas videos from my favorite knitters. I ended up with these two pretty skeins.

They don’t hang completely straight and have a small amount of twist which means I might have overplied them. But that should wash out when I soak and whack these skeins. But now I need to catch up the laundry and washing line so I have room to wash and dry yarn!

Happy spinning!!

Could Use A Little More Twist

My Purple and Teal plied yarns are washed, whacked and dry. I was chuffed to see how “big” of skeins I created!

I love these yarns and all their uniqueness. But if I was being honest (and a little critical) I think they each could have used a little more twist in the plying. They are spun very loosely but do hold together.

Next up I need to wind and measure these beauties. I think these might be closer to a heavy worsted than my previous bulky/super bulky. But I still haven’t located my yardage counters or wraps per inch tool. My craft supplies might be a bit chaotic right now!

Happy Spinning!!

A Plying Spree

My wheel was empty after finishing my Fusion BFL skeins so I decided to ply up my first couple of set of singles. My purple singles and teal singles were WELL rested and ready for plying.

I used my ball winder to wind both singles into center pull cakes to ply end to end. My spinning teacher recommended this for me based on the twist/singles she saw me making. So I just decided to give it a whirl and I learned a lot.

First up, I could really tell I spun the purple singles first. They had much more thick and thin spots with plenty of unspun bits. That is compared to my teal singles that got more consistent thanks to practice. And both skeins had some overspun spots where it made plying extra hard because the yarn kinked back up on itself.

At the end of the day I have two filled bobbins with almost finished yarn. Next up for those yarn babies is bath and whack! Happy Spinning!!