It seems appropriate that on St. Distaff's Day I have spinning to show, for the first time since before Christmas. I predrafted all the purple merino/silk yesterday, and spun up a partial bobbin today.
This is about a third of the roving, spun semi-worsted short draw to a thickish laceweight- I haven't measured the wraps per inch yet, but it's not froghair.
This was some fiber I got off Ebay several years ago, and while it is nice, it's not super-splendiferous. It was advertised as "assorted mill ends" of Jaggerspun Zephyr roving, and that seems to be the case. Definitely 50:50 merino/silk, but it came to me somewhat tangled, not a smooth rope of combed top. I don't think I made it any worse during the dyeing, but the pre-existing fiber disarrangement (as well as the extremely variable length of the silk fibers, anywhere from an inch or so to almost a foot) makes it a bit difficult to draft into a very thin and smooth single. It can be spun laceweight, just a bit thicker. Predrafting before spinning helps a lot, as it realigns the fibers somewhat.
In a previous post, Christina asked why I started the green mitten with a provisional cast on. I did this because I initially planned to pick up those stitches and knit an attached liner mitten to make these super warm and more windproof. I'm now debating whether to do this, because the mitten seems pretty warm as is. I may just do a knitted bind off.
You can't really see it in this picture, but three of the cables from the cuff extend up and around the hand. Two of them go around the thumb and merge into one, and the third goes up from the opposite side and meets the merged cable at the top. Spiffy.
This is about a third of the roving, spun semi-worsted short draw to a thickish laceweight- I haven't measured the wraps per inch yet, but it's not froghair.
This was some fiber I got off Ebay several years ago, and while it is nice, it's not super-splendiferous. It was advertised as "assorted mill ends" of Jaggerspun Zephyr roving, and that seems to be the case. Definitely 50:50 merino/silk, but it came to me somewhat tangled, not a smooth rope of combed top. I don't think I made it any worse during the dyeing, but the pre-existing fiber disarrangement (as well as the extremely variable length of the silk fibers, anywhere from an inch or so to almost a foot) makes it a bit difficult to draft into a very thin and smooth single. It can be spun laceweight, just a bit thicker. Predrafting before spinning helps a lot, as it realigns the fibers somewhat.
In a previous post, Christina asked why I started the green mitten with a provisional cast on. I did this because I initially planned to pick up those stitches and knit an attached liner mitten to make these super warm and more windproof. I'm now debating whether to do this, because the mitten seems pretty warm as is. I may just do a knitted bind off.
You can't really see it in this picture, but three of the cables from the cuff extend up and around the hand. Two of them go around the thumb and merge into one, and the third goes up from the opposite side and meets the merged cable at the top. Spiffy.
2 comments:
That purple is absolutely coming out stunning!
Wow, I'm just learning to spin using a drop spindle, and it's really difficult for me. I only hope some day to do work as lovely as this!
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