Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Finished... sorta

882 yds, 25.4 ozs of hand-washed, hand-dyed, mill processed, self-striping Romney yarn! Commercially spun worsted weight yarn comes in at about 800 yds per lb, and this yarn is both heavier and thinner than commercial worsted weight,so my handspun yarn is still more dense than I'd like it to be.
 The top hank is 160 yds and 5ozs. It came from the last of the roving bumps. The lower hank is 4.4 ozs and 152 ozs. It was spun from the leftovers of all 4 roving bumps- there was more red/yellow than the other colors and spinning the ends would have thrown off the striping, so I set them aside for a final hank. It'll be good for cuffs or contrasting portions with the rest of the yarn.
 This is all of it. Pretty, no?
Well, all of it except for the bumps I spun up a couple of years ago- that yarn has the same color progression, but it's much heavier because I was playing with spinning bulky. The experiment was a success, though I still haven't decided what to do with that yarn. Or this, either, come to think of it.
I just thought this was a pretty picture. It's all handspun- the little hanks were spindled and the rest was done on the wheel (my Ashford Joy, not the Traddy in the pic).

I experimented with the red/gold skein, playing with the long draw. I was happy with how the yarn came out, and that it was softer and more lofty than my usual short-draw spinning. I have a bump of mottled green Romney (left from this batch and not included with the self-striping), and several more bumps of dark brown from the same batch of fleeces, so I have lots of roving for practice. Previously, I'd only used the long-draw with cotton. I think it helps that this roving was perfectly prepped so it draws out smoothly and easily.

It's nice to add another trick to my repertoire. 

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