Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Worsted That Could Happen











Okay, so I made a true worsted-weight handspun yarn yesterday (actually, it's closer to bulky than worsted), and it's squooshy and it's gorgeous (though the dye job, by A Knitting Duck, gets all that credit). But it's not lofty. And I wanted it to be lofty, and I wanted more than 100 yds out of 3.9 ozs. I think I need a totally different fiber prep to get lofty (thick but light) yarn. I suspect it's the difference between spinning worsted and woolen- I'm spinning from roving, where all the fibers are aligned, and with my tendency to spin tight and hard (sounds like porn, doesn't it?), I just cannot get a lofty yarn.

That said, the yarn itself is gorgeous. This colorway is called Rust Bucket, and it came out even better than I envisioned. It's only 100 yds of 2-ply, so I think I'll knit some version of the Floozy hat with it (without the beads, the yarn is already heavy enough without adding a couple more ounces of glass to the mix).

I think I'll go back to thinner yarns for awhile- that's my comfort spin.


Speaking of comfort spins- I got some more roving from Twisted Fiberarts (ahead of the much larger order I placed last week). This is Firefly, a gorgeous green/gray colorway, in 100% fine wool. And the little sample is Batty, purple/green/cream (one of the colorways on my wish list for yarn). I'm getting more Firefly roving, and a skein of Firefly sock yarn, so I can spin this particular roving as a 2 or 3 ply without worrying about how the colors will come out. They'll be gorgeous no matter what.


I did spin the little Batty (superwash) sample- it came out at 9 yds of fingering weight 3-ply. I think I'll make some sort of a patchwork hat with all the little samples. A one of a kind piece. It should be pretty.

But before I do any of that, I have 1/2 of one chapter left to write (and less than a week to finish), so I'd best get to it.

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