Friday, April 11, 2008

Handspun Friday - SAFF BFL

This yarn was spun from one of my first fiber purchases. I bought this hand dyed top while I was at SAFF last year just after I purchased my spindle and before I really knew anything about spinning. I love the color combinations in this and I also like the idea of the long color repeats.; I don't see that very often.

I had the idea that I would try and spin a self striping yarn from this roving. If I hadn't tried to make a two ply and left the yarn as a single I would have had a self striping yarn. But I couldn't leave well enough alone and I decided to go for a two ply yarn. So I divided the yarn into two long strips. You can see those strips in the photo below.

I spun each strip onto a separate bobbin starting with the orange colored end. I figured I had split the fiber evenly enough and if I spun everything in the same order I would end up with a self striping yarn after plying the two separate singles together.

That actually worked until I got about halfway through plying and I could see the colors starting to swirl and barber pole together. I know I didn't get the fiber separated exactly even and that resulted in certain colored sections being longer than others. So the results were that about half of the yarn will stripe with a single color and the second half of the skein will have a barber pole effect. I'm actually looking forward to knitting this up and seeing what happens.

I do know that I could have used the Navajo plying technique and been a lot more successful in keeping my colors together during plying. But I decided not to try it for a couple of reasons. The first being I've never done it before and the second is that the result of Navajo plying is a three ply yarn. I would have ended up with a lot less yardage that way. I wish I had more, but I only had three ounces. I thought that was a lot at the time I bought the fiber - but as it turns out it really isn't. I'm not sure what I'll knit with this yet. I'm thinking either a hat or a little bag to hang on my wheel and hold all my little tools and spinning doo dads.

Geddesburg Handspun Yarn
Content: Bluefaced Leicester
Fiber Source: River’s Edge Weaving Studio
purchased at SAFF 2007
Skein Weight: 3 ounces
Skein Length: 118 yards
WPI: 11
Spinning Ratio: 10 to 1
Plying Ratio: 9 to 1
Other Details: 2-ply, hand wash

10 comments:

Monika said...

I very much love this yarn! It's a pitty you don't have more of it, but whatever. It will be interesting to see what you come up with, a pouch sounds nice. I think this yarn is one of my favorites from your hand spun so far. :o)

Zonda said...

It is gorgeous!! Well, you know more now, will we have to rent a truck to go to SAFF 2008? hehehe

Lauren said...

The yarn is really pretty. I think the switch between the self striping, and the barber pole will look really cool in a knitted ojbect!

bockstark.knits said...

wow...just...wow!!!

Unknown said...

Love this too! Can't wait to see how it knits up. When are you going to start selling your hand-spun?

turtlegirl76 said...

That's really pretty!

peaknits said...

O.M.G.! This handspun is positively gorgeous - bravo!

Bezzie said...

Oo...I can see your thought process and what actually happened in that yarn very clearly. I'm with you--it will be really interesting to see knit up!

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Can't wait to see this knit up now understanding what you were trying to do with it! It looks so pretty!

I like Zonda's idea of a bigger vehicle for SAFF! Can I come then?! :)

Jennie said...

Such gorgeous color combinations.