Another holiday vacation spin complete. This one started out as eight ounces of Merino wool from the Yarn Wench. I ended us with a nice fat skein of 3-ply yarn that should be enough for a nice little project. I'm just not sure what it will be yet.
I took the fiber and split it into lengthwise strips and then weighed out three equal piles. I spun each pile onto a separate bobbin. I love the idea of the yardage I can get with eight ounces of fiber as opposed to four. But, you have to remember that every steps takes longer too.
Once I had the singles finished; I plied all three together. The plying is the part that always seems to take the longest to me. I have found that I'm most successful with 3-plies when I keep each single going into the ply at an even angle and rate.
In the end, I do think the final yarn was worth the extra time. I ended up with enough for a nice little project. I' not sure what the project will be yet, but until then I"m happy just looking at this skein.
My plies still aren't extremely even though. I think what I need to do is slow down and do everything a little more consistent. But I do have a hard time doing that. Each time I sit down at the wheel to spin, I seem to begin with intentions to try for a very consistent yarn. But not too far a long into to it, everything becomes a race to finish.
I'm not sure that I plan on doing anything about it for the most part. I enjoy what I'm doing and I'm ending up with some yarn I'm willing to use - that is what is important anyway.Geddesburg Handspun Yarn
Fiber Content: Merino wool
Fiber Source: Yarn Wench
color: Mourning Dove
Yardage: 490 yards
Weight: 8 ounces
WPI: 12-14 wraps per inch
Notes: 3-ply yarn
I do think that this will make a nice scarf or something, although it will have to be small because I didn't get much yardage. I'm wondering is tencel is denser than wool and therefore less fiber for the same weight. Does anyone know? I'll have to go research that.
The results yarn is rounder than the other 2 and 3 ply yarns I've spun. It is also a bit firmer. I think I'd like to try it out sometime with two different colored singles instead of a variegated ones. I imagine it would be easier to see how are four plies are twisted together.
The yarns I used for the first part of the scarf are Rowan Felted Tweed (green) and Manos Silk Blend. I used the Welting Fantastick pattern from one of the Barbara walker treasuries. I'm really please with how it turned out. It was a little hard to send it off for someone else to finish. But I didn't have enough yarn to knit an entire scarf. I do have enough saved to add a matching piece to the other end once the scarf is returned to me.
I started my segment of this scarf with 10 rows of seed stitch from a blackish skein of Socks That Rock. I'm going to send this skein along with my scarf and ask that everyone knit 10 rows of seed stitch after they add their colored segment.
My first segment is knit from some leftover Wollmeise sock yarn. I used another pattern from one of the Barbara Walker Treasuries, but this time opted to try out a cable pattern. This pattern is called the banjo pattern. It was one I hadn't seen and I liked the use of circles so thought I'd give it a try.
Although, Sherman isn't as inclined to play when it comes to bones. Scarlett usually loses hers to Sherman as soon as she walks away from it for any reason. And since he doesn't ever put them down - he just finishes them - and she never gets them back. Although you do have to admire her for trying.
Just seconds after getting in the gate - a very aggressive dog grabbed Scarlett by the head and neck and started shaking her and we were certain she was going to be badly hurt. This attack was totally unprovoked. It was extremely scary and upsetting. 
Thankfully, Scarlett suffered only the most minor of physical damage. I think Brad actually bled the most. The owner was very upset and took his dog out of the park immediately. He did check on us after securing his dog. We tried to stay a little while but Scarlett was very nervous about the other dogs so after a short time and a little walking around the park we came home.
I like the idea of being able to sample a couple of interesting skeins of yarn and come away with a nice wearable project. Scarf yarn is one of my favorite travel souvenirs. Simple patterns or complex lace; handspun, leftover snippets, or pricey store bought yarn - a scarf can be anything you want.
The scarf was easy and I finished it within a week of starting. If you plan on knitting one for yourself, if you haven't already, I only have one thing to point out. Watch you color combinations in the Silk Garden. The stripes can disappear if the colors match in both skeins at just the wrong time.
My first class was about fiber dying. The class was fun, I liked the instructor and I did learn some things. We talked about preparing fiber for the dyeing process, mixing dyes, applying and setting the dyes. I enjoyed dying the fiber - but I really am not please with my fist attempt. She warned us about putting too much dye onto the fiber and I took it to heart. I didn't use enough dye and ended up with a dull roving. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to produce enough hand painted fiber to sell - but I would like to try again at home. I think I might give it another try this spring when I can comfortably work outside.
My second class involved preparing fiber with sparkly stuff for spinning. I'm at complete loss on why I signed up for this class. I am not a sparkly person by nature at all, but I signed up anyway. We learned several different ways of incorporating the glitz into fiber from spinning, but I found the drum carder to be the most fun and the only thing I couldn't have tried by myself at home. Who would have thought that there are even different types of sparkle. The stuff in the photo is leftovers from my class. I did purchase a small bag of sparkle to see if I could come up with something more to my liking at home.
The last class I took was on novelty yarns. Another puzzler of a selection, but I think I was really aiming to try something new that I wasn't likely to try by myself. The first yarn we tried was a cabled yarn. Which in this example is basically two 2-ply yarns plied together. I like the was this one looks and will working on one soon. I'm thinking of trying for a cabled sock yarn. I'll be sure to post the process and results.
Next we tried a knotted yarn. It was interesting and for a novelty yarn I can see how it would make an interesting texture in a scarf or something. Mine was create by plying two of my homework singles together. I think there would have been a lot more contrast if I had used different colored singles or even different textured singles. I might try some more of this one too.
We tried soft twist singles and a marled yarn which just means putting two colors together while spinning. This picture shows our soft twist singles, the marled yarn and to top it all off we plied the whole shebang with thread. The poofy white parts are my soft twist singles and towards the bottom you can see the purple/white marl. It was interesting trying to spin two different fiber together in one thread.
We also tried a couple of types of boucle yarns, including a three pass boucle and a core spun boucle. I had a difficult time getting a nice consistent effect with these. It would take some practice.
We tried using beads too. I like the idea but found the process we used difficult to master. We strung the beads on thread and fed that into the fiber as we spun. I'd like to try making a beaded yarn again to see if I could finally master the task.
Orb spiders live only one season and leave an egg sac in their last web for the coming spring season. These four spiders are just part of the spider crew that has picked out front porch for their last web hurrah.
I haven't seen any spiders in the past few days, but I do have a couple egg sacs to watch. I'm hoping that they survive the winter and the non hibernating animal life. I'd like to see one of the sacs hatch with hundreds of baby spiders in the spring.
These spiders are oftern refered to as writing spiders becaise of the appearance of their webs. Charlotte, from Charlotte's Web, is an orb spider too. Next year I'll have to try taking some photos of the webs the orb spiders spin around our yard. They can be quite amazing.
I started the project as soon as the yarn came, but something was off. I didn't really like how the project was turning out. I didn't think the yarn really looked like the scarf in the original photo. So everything got shoved into a bag and then into the closet.
The pattern called for two skeins, but I used four. I think you'd have to use a minimum of three to even get the short length the pattern mentioned. I like the scarf in the end - but think it would have been more fun in a self-striping yarn. I seem to remember the original looking like it striped.
The hat is nice. It has an interesting construction. It was knit flat in garter stitch using two different sizes of needles and then seamed up. It is an interesting hat - but it is probably a one time knit.
This might be the only bath she will ever have inside the house. We've always given Sherman his baths outside or taken him to the groomer in the winter if necessary.
We tried another trip to PetSmart this weekend too, but it ended up much like the first. I had to hold her and carry her through the store. I think it is the different floor that she's nervous about.
She's doing well with everything else - we just need to get her out and about more often.
Well, I am finally home and done traveling I'm hoping that work will settle down a little bit as the year comes to an end. I'm looking forward to having more time for fun things like knitting, spinning, puppies, and blogging. I should have some knitting/fiber content later this week.
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