This fiber came from my stash. It is a super wash merino that has turned into a 3-ply yarn. It is a thicker than traditional sock yarn and is actually closer to a worsted weight in the thickest places.
I think that I'll be using it for socks. Not socks that are meant to be worn with shoes, but house or bed socks. I wear socks at home a lot because my feet get cold. And this yarn will be perfect for those kind of socks.
Geddesburg Handspun YarnFiber: dyed by PigeonRoof Studios
Content: Super wash Merino
Weight: 3.55 ounces
WPI: 13
Yardage: 240 yards
Notes: 3-ply
The sweater was quick because of the large needles and the yarn. I knit the sweater according to the instructions for the x-large size. The pattern called for 1,060 yards of yarn. I bought 5 skeins of the Taiyo (1,090 yards), but only ended up using 4 skeins (872 yards). I ended up using less yardage than the pattern called for in the large size. My gauge was slightly off; I got 13 stitches over 4 inches and the pattern called for 14, but I still didn't expect that big a difference in the final yardage count. The finished sweater is a little too roomy, but that will work okay for the office.
The fiber is billed as spiral dyed and I don't know exactly what that means. But the colors in the fiber are really rich and saturated. Surprisingly enough, there was very little, if any, dye bleed out during the yarn's hot bath to set the twist. The fiber came in two identically dyed pieces and the color repeats were nice and long. I did not divide the fiber into strips before spinning. I tried to preserve the long color repeats that showed up in the fiber.
The fiber was easy to draft and nice to spin. I only wish I had a little more so I ended up with more yardage. But I think I have enough for a hat.
Last Wednesday I attended a knitting focus group meeting and the topic was old works in progress that hadn't been worked on for awhile. The idea was to bring a project to the meeting and make a firm decision on whether to complete it or just terminate the whole thing. I have to say, most projects brought to the meeting were frogged. But I decided to move forward with mine.
The project in question is the 
I had to start another sock too. I'm working on a 
I've been working on a sweater too! I'm knitting a 
But in the mean time, I started another sweater last Friday. I'm knitting a nice little open cardigan to wear in the office to beat the chill of the summer air conditioner. Our office is kept at deep freeze temperatures all summer, so this will definitely get used this season. I'm knitting it out of Noro Taiyo which is a cotton, wool, and silk mix. I love how the yarn feels and it has all the typical Noro characteristics. I'm to the point of splitting off the sleeves. The yarn is worsted weight and I'm knitting on size US 10.5 needles, so this project is moving right along.
I ended up with eight ounces of fiber and decided I wanted to spin the fiber a little different than I normally do. I decided to try for a nice thick chain plied yarn to try and keep the color repeats together. So that is how I spun up the first four ounces. I tried for a low twist single in an effort to keep everything fluffy and light. But in several places I didn't put enough twist and my singles came apart while I was plying.
I decided to do a true three ply yarn with the other four ounces and I enjoyed spinning and plying that a lot more. I thought it would also be interesting to see how different the finished yarns look. I think it will be fun now to see how each actually knits up. I'm thinking I'll try for a pair of socks out of the regular three ply and a hat or maybe mittens if there is enough yardage in the chain plied skein.
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