Friday, July 04, 2008

Handspun Friday - The 70's Unraveled

That is what this yarn looks like to me. Something in that avocado and gold color that has unraveled beyond repair. I almost threw this in the trash right after I took it off my bobbin. It has been trouble from almost the beginning. But I decided I might as well post about it here; after all it only seems fair that if I'm going to post about successes; I should post the mistakes too.

I bought this fiber at the festival I went to with my mom and thought I really liked it. It must have been the green colors. The fiber is from Crosspatch Creations and is a mix of wool (columbia, merino & corriedale)bombyx silk, tussah silk, and viscose. It sounded like an interesting mix to spin. When I got it home and looked at the fiber it didn't seem that appealing. I should have left it at that and tried to find another home for the stuff. But instead, I decided to spin it immediately and see if I couldn't change my mind about it.

The big problems started while I was plying the stuff. I spun the singles clockwise so in theory I should ply with the wheel going counter clockwise. But I didn't; I plied the whole thing wrong. So I tried to run the thing back through with the wheel going the right way to get the correct twist. I ended up doing that three times. Now the yarn is over spun in some spots and barely together in others.

And to top it off, I wound it from the bobbin to the kniddy knoddy to make a nice skein and promptly slide it right off. Whoops! I forgot to tie the skein - and made a nice little mess so I had to do that over too. The good news is that this is off the wheel and the Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow so this mess will soon be forgotten.

12 comments:

Monika said...

Sometimes things happen. And we learn from our mistakes, but you know that. ;o)

Zonda said...

Well, those are gorgeous colors despite the spinning problems. Maybe you can knit something and felt it?

Good luck in the Tour de Fleece!

gilraen said...

It looks good no matter what!! :)

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Bummer! I kinda like the green though! I can see why you were initially drawn to it.

Good luck in Tour de Fleece!!

Annalea said...

Hmmm . . . looks like a felting project waiting to happen, although it might not felt very well. Columbia doesn't felt much as a general rule, but I know Merino does, and I believe that Corriedale does. Knit up in garter stitch into a bag or something and then felted might be an interesting exercise in felting mixed fibers. Maybe someone with more experience in felting could chime in . . .

Look on the bright side: you've probably learned something new about plying that you wouldn't have learned with any other project that went smoothly. :o)

It would have been interesting to see this Navajo plied. Someday I've got to try this spinning thing. :o)

Bezzie said...

Oh man, you nailed that color--it reminds me of my childhood carpet! Ah well, I think we've all had "evil" fibers like that huh?

turtlegirl76 said...

Damn. That sucks that you had so many problems with it. But it sure makes me feel better knowing that even you have some disasters with your spinning!

cpurl17 said...

Boo for spinning disasters! The colors do look like the kitchens of my youth!

Good luck on the Tour!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had one of my bad days...sorry for your frustration but, I thing the fiber is still gorgeous. I am sure you can knit something up with it and it will be a treasure, and, no one will ever know the trouble you had spinning it.

Ang

Deb said...

At least your brave enough to post your "failures". The interner isn't big enough for mine!!

Anonymous said...

Color is still pretty but I agree with your comparisons. Reminds me of Grandma's old shag carpet. I agree with the felt idea if you can stand it long enough to knit it in to something. Maybe I'll find it in one of my packages sometime with a suggestive pattern.
Your perserverance (sp?) is much stronger than it used to be!!!
Good luck on the tour it sounds like a fun thing to do.

Anonymous said...

It spun up great. But the roving looked like somthing my cat may have...TMI I know, but I love the end product. Would have never believed that roving would be beautiful yarn. LMBO.

Your HHH pal.