Spinning A Wee Bat

Summer is slipping away on me! I really wanted an entry to the Summer Spin In with the Two Ewes podcast so I grabbed a wee bat from my SSK haul and got started.

This is a wee 44 gram batt that I made myself on a drum carder at SSK. I made it using BFL in black and blue with some blue firestar blended in. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Though I nicked my fingers on the blades, ouch.

This is pretty rustic BFL and spinning very thick and thin. I am just going to let the batt do what it wants. I will just chain ply whatever the result is. I highly doubt that I will knit anything close to skin with this. With the bite this has….it might be a weaving or decoration yarn?

But I do like how easy the batt is to spin with! I need to do more of this. Happy Spinning!!

SSK Fiber Mini Swap

I’ve been home from Super Summer Knitogether (SSK) for several days now and I have SO MUCH to share. For my own sanity I’m going to break all the goodness into a blog series.

I drove 10 hours to Nashville TN and made registration just in time for opening ceremony and the fiber mini swap. This is where you bring fiber and break into minis and make fiber soup. Then you leave with as many ounces as you came with…..just in chaos style.

The pool was hard to mix and I definitely got some of the same braids but I was very happy with the colors I received. Of course I have zero clue what fiber content is but that is okay. I am just looking forward to this spinning!

Dogs Hate Spinning

I’m trying to work on my spinning for the Summer Spin In and Duke is really not interested in progress. He would prefer that my hands be for head scratches.

And I have managed a few singles on the bobbin of this fiber. It’s a merino/nylon blend from Fondant Fiber. It’s crazy soft and the jewel tones are really shining.

It does feel daunting to look at how much fiber is on the bobbin versus what is in my hand, lol.

Happy Spinning!!

Three Finished Skein

My latest handspun is FINALLY dry! So let’s do a wrap up post.

On the right are my Frosted Roses skeins. The bigger one is a 2-ply made of Polwarth/Silk blend. I got 263 yards in a 100 grams for a sport weight skein. And the teeny mini is a 3-ply that worked out to 30 yards over 23 grams. I’m pretty happy with both!

The brown skein is my Shetland 3-ply and I am thrilled with this one. I got 212 yards of yarn over 117 grams. So this worked out to a heavy DK or light worsted. And it is really pretty consistent given my current skill level.

Now just to tag these kids and get them into my handspun yarn storage! Happy Spinning!!

A Rose In Two Form

The Frosted Rose yarn is all plied. Both the on purpose skein and the extra mini I ended up with.

I did have the partial bobbin left that I spun into a chain ply (right). It turned out to be a decent sized mini skein! I did get these wound off the bobbins and into a bath this weekend. And it’s SO HUMID here that they are taking forever to dry.

I think I will move them downstairs to near my dehumidifier in my laundry room?

Happy Spinning!!

Plying Roses

More on the spinning marathon from last weekend. I started plying my Roses singles as the shadows started to get super long.

These singles plied fairly well. I did have some thin spots where I had to rejoin as I was plying. And FOR SURE there are some thick spots disburse in this yarn. But overall I was happy with the yarn that came out. It’s still unwashed so I have zero clue what it came out to. I really need to get to this weekend for the washing and whacking.

Oh, and I was TOTALLY right about the uneven bobbins. I had so much left on the second bobbin. I didn’t feel like messing around so I chain plied this last little bit to make a mini skein. Silver lining I guess?

Finished skeins next week! Happy Spinning!!

Two Sets of Rose Singles

It took most of a sunny afternoon on my parents porch, but the rose colored singles are done!

Just eyeballing these two, I don’t think I split the fiber super well as one bobbin is bigger than the other. But I could be wrong and one is packed tighter? I need to let these singles rest and then I can start plying.

Still committed to a 2-ply for this project. And thanks to summer starting and remote work….we extended our stay and I was able to add a second day of spinning and babysitting 🙂

Happy Spinning!!

Porch Spinning

After spinning on my patio on Saturday I escaped to my parents house for Sunday brunch and babysitting. This meant I spent ALL DAY on the patio working on spinning project.

I focused one spinning the second half of my rose colored singles. It was a breezy 72 degree day and I didn’t have to adult at all. One item that occurred to me, it’s been quite a bit of time since I spun the first half. So this yarn could be quite unique.

Or it could be unique due to the rose colored wine my mom serve me? Only plying will tell!

Finished Shetland Singles

Life is definitely life-ing here lately and I ran away to my patio this past Saturday for a mini mom retreat. Just me, my dog, some chardonnay and my spinning. It was a glorious 4 hours.

I was still working on the Shetland fiber I won earlier this year. It’s 100% Shetland made into thin roving. It spun like a dream! I neglected to weigh how many ounces I started with but I did fit them all onto one bobbing

I am thinking I have 3 or 3.5 ounces? Based on how full the bobbin is after I was done. This was Saturday afternoon and I hit my goal. This allowed me to free up my wheel to work on finishing my other spinning project. More on that tomorrow!

Happy Spinning!!

Shetland Spinning

I have had this ball of Shetland fiber from my Summer Spin In prize just sitting on my desk. I decided that since my wheel was empty I would throw this on here.

This fiber is very nicely prepped into skinny roving like bands. I am finding it spinning very fine and with very little vegetable matter. Just spinning on a whim and all this fiber will go straight onto one bobbin. I may wind it off into two bobbins and 2-ply or I may chain ply into a 3-ply. That is a future Rachelle problem!

For now I am just relaxing and letting the fiber do the things it wants to do. I don’t fully feel the spinning mojo back but it is nice to do something different than knit or crochet.

Happy Spinning!!