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.
I like the slip stitch design in the pattern. I think it works really well for the variegated hand painted yarn I picked. The pattern was easy enough too, but it was a little convoluted. The pattern is written toe up and after knitting the toe of the sock there is a set of instep increases. Then you knit the foot and before the heel is another set of increases. After the heel, you have more increases and then you have to pay attention to the pattern and borrow a few stitches on one of the pattern rows from the back needle.
This project is running from March to April and begin with the group voting on a fiber, fiber supplier and color. This time we were able to get a group discount and a custom color dyed just for the group. The fiber selected was Bluefaced Leicester from Briar Rose is a mottled lavender color.
After the fiber was picked, we voted on a pattern. This time we actually voted for a pattern for a thinner yarn and a pattern for a thicker yarn. The winning patterns were the 
I settled on this little shawl pattern after an extensive search on the internet. It really is a clever little shawl. It is knit from end to end and doesn't require a pin. There is a little tube of ribbing at each end that allows the other end to slip through and stay put. The photos above shows one end of the shawl and the tube of ribbing.
The shawl is made up of individual sections referred to as "lace points" and these can be added or substracted to change the size of the shawl. There is also some minimal showt row shaping between the lace points. The pattern suggested 14 lace points for a small and 16 for a larger sized shawl. I knit 15 points.
I also really like the colors. The colors in the skein gives me a very spring like effect even though it is 100% wool. The yarn is soft and squishy too.
I have no idea what to knit with this. In fact, that is becoming a problem with a lot of my handspun. But I am working on developing a solution to my growing problem. Hopefully I will be able to implement and share the plan soon.
I cut a long piece of yarn to start, the longer the better for me. I'm guessing that I probably start with 2-3 feet. Tie one end of the leader onto the bobbin and then thread it through your flyer hooks or sliders and the orifice.I then create a loop at the end of my leader and I'm ready to get the fiber out. Some people actually tie their leader to the spinning fiber, but i use the loop and thread a small thin stretch of fiber through the loop and back onto itself to start.
I hold the fiber in my hand and and begin treadling to build up twist in my looped piece of fiber so it stays connected to the leader and will take up onto the bobbin. This is one reason why I like a long leader. It gives me a little time to get the twist from the leader into the spinning fiber and get my hands moving for the drafting. the loop also allows the fiber to separate from the leader in a clean way when you are plying of winding a skein of singles from the bobbin. The leader and loop is then ready for the next spinning project. I use this lead and loop method for spinning and plying. Occasionally when I have a lot of twist in a single or ply I have to cut or break the leader from the new yarn.that is the other reason for a nice long leader.
This is pretty a fairly basic step in spinning and I'm not sure it will be of use to anyone, but it is a place to start. I'm hoping to document more more spinning techniques that I use so we can compare and contrast the methods we all use. I know I still have a lot to learn. Anyway, now that you are all set to start, give the wheel a spin.
I switched my wheel to a higher ration for the spinning and I ended up using about the same amount of twist, but everything was a little easier and went a little faster. I liked that. I did use a lower ratio for plying. I did that so I could fit all the yarn onto one bobbin. My wheel has a couple different sized bobbins. But you can only use them with the appropriate flyers and ratios. It was a little more work in the treadling, but I like the idea of a single skein.
The good news is I know I have enough yarn for a good sized pair of socks!
I also spun singles to make two different two ply yarns. The pink singles are a merino silk blend and the green singles are from a Rambouillet combed top. I have eight ounces of each color. After all that I still had three bobbins waiting for fiber so I decided on a true three ply yarn. I used a superwash Bluefaced Leicester. I think I'll get a great pair of sock out of this.
This was a lot of spinning in just one week but now I've just got to start plying. I just don't know what to start with, but I have to start soon. I joined two spin alongs for March and the fiber for both groups arrived this week; I need more bobbins! But I might just have to take a break from spinning today.
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