{"id":428,"date":"2014-10-16T12:40:41","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T19:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tangledstrands.com\/?p=428"},"modified":"2014-10-16T12:40:41","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T19:40:41","slug":"adventures-in-spinning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.tangledstrands.com\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Spinning"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think I’m hooked on spinning using a wheel now.\u00c2\u00a0 You knew that would happen, right?\u00c2\u00a0 I did.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why I resisted learning to spin for so long.<\/p>\n

But after that first batch of yarn I spun with Penelope<\/a>…the spinning bug bit hard.\u00c2\u00a0 When I mentioned to the Knit Girls that I had spent hours knitting and spinning one day, one of them said, “You know you were born in the wrong century, don’t you?”\u00c2\u00a0 Yeah, I have to agree.\u00c2\u00a0 Hand work is just so natural to me!<\/p>\n

So what could I do but pick up the braid of fiber that I had bought on my trip to Montana?\u00c2\u00a0 It needed spinning, and I needed to keep practicing.\u00c2\u00a0 Perfect match.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20140819_130352_clr_trm_sm\"<\/a>This braid is a blend of merino<\/a> (a sheep breed, one that’s more associated with high quality ready-to-wear knits) and nylon fibers.\u00c2\u00a0 The merino provides the warmth and loftiness, the nylon provides the bounce and shape retention.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the combination most often found in yarn for sock knitting.\u00c2\u00a0 So I decided to go with that quality and try my hand at a sock weight (or nearly!) three-ply yarn.<\/p>\n

What that decision meant was that I needed to spin very thin singles.\u00c2\u00a0 To help, I separated a section of some leftover sock yarn into the individual strands.\u00c2\u00a0 I used this as a visual aid to keep the thickness of my spinning on track.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20140930_162631_clr_sm\"<\/a> \"IMG_20140930_130136_clr_sm\"<\/a>Having the visual aid mostly worked.\u00c2\u00a0 What I didn’t account for was the amount the finished yarn would “bloom” once washed.\u00c2\u00a0 Some fibers become more fluffy once they go through their first bath.\u00c2\u00a0 The BFL did (which I expected), but the merino\/nylon also bloomed (which I didn’t expect as much).\u00c2\u00a0 Next time I’ll use the visual aid, but spin the singles a tad bit thinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Or I could spin a small amount, ply it, then wash it to see how it will look\/behave in the finished product.\u00c2\u00a0 Learning as I go!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20141005_130137_clr_trm_sm\"<\/a>What I ended up with is approximately 330 yards of a heavy fingering to sport weight yarn.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s enough for a pair of socks, a generous cowl, or a small shawl\/scarf.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t yet have a plan for this one though, so it’s going into the stash for now.<\/p>\n

For the Spinners:<\/p>\n