Our assignment to prepare for the plying class was to spin three bobbins, one fuller than the others, in any weight we liked, as long as a 3-ply of it would fit through our orifice. I like spinning fairly fine, so these are my singles. They're from carded wool roving (breed unknown), provided in class, spun woolen-style, mostly long-draw, and as you can see, they're fire-engine red. There were several other colors available, but the red was getting neglected by my classmates, and it called to me forlornly, "You like wearing warm colors! Spin me! Spin meeee!" I'm thinking the 3-plied red yarn might pattern nicely with the natural white and brown yarns I've been spinning, neh? Or maybe it will make a nice hat or mittens mostly on its own.
When I'm spinning my own fiber on my own time, this is what happens:
This is some of my Cormo, perhaps 15 rolags' worth, spun into singles as thin as I can manage on my Lendrum fast flyer (also woolen, some long- and some short-draw) without breaking more than a few times per hour of spinning. And now I have evidence that these singles do, in fact, 2-ply up to a nice laceweight. Here's the "happy yarn" from my last post, now washed, hanging out with some friends:
The sewing bobbin at the bottom is for scale -- it's a Singer bobbin, in case you're keeping track. The white mini-skein is my test 2-ply Cormo laceweight skein, and I think it will work beautifully for what I want to do, which is a lace stole. More on that later -- perhaps much later, since spinning up that much laceweight might take a few, oh, years. :) The brown yarn is Corriedale, spun in the grease on a drop spindle and 2-plied on a wheel, and then washed on the stove for extra heat. There are about 100 yards there, and it's worsted weight, more or less. (I am too lazy to get out my wraps-per-inch tool right now.) The purple yarn is from a batt I blended from more anonymous carded wool toward the end of my Spinning I class. I Navajo-plied it, and I'm pleased. There's not enough for more than a doll hat or so, but fortunately, DD adores purple and has dolls in need of warm things.
And yes, I still knit sometimes:
Shining Violet is almost done. I've grafted one underarm and woven in most of the loose ends. I just need to pick up the neck stitches and make some neck edging (I haven't decided between ribbing and garter yet) with one more buttonhole in it. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but there's a short placket that will have a total of two buttonholes in it, to allow for DD's uncommonly large (even for a preschooler) head. DS-on-the-way has a pretty big head, too, as do DH and I. Wish me luck in labor!
I'm bummed about the sweater's sizing. I was trying for a year's growing room, but it fits exactly right now, which means DD will probably only get to wear it for this spring and maybe fall. I designed it for easy lengthening in hem and sleeves, so if she stays slim, maybe next winter/spring will work -- but it's already more fitted than I intended. Once it's all grafted together and done, I'll have to do a postmortem on my design and gauge and see where I went wrong. I already know I skipped some of the initial, slower-decreasing raglan rows that were in the pattern I was using, making the armholes less deep than they should be. Feh. Ah, well. DD likes it, and that was more or less the point. I've only used 5 balls of yarn (out of 20 purchased) so far, so a second draft is quite doable, even with extra left for alterations.
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