The fiber collection (primordial yarn) is growing. The biggest acquisition was 16 oz of carded Corriedale sliver in a natural white/gray, which is to practice with. I have no emotional investment in this fiber; I won't feel like I'm wasting it if I don't end up with what I was aiming for, and so on... Not that it isn't pretty.
I am initially aiming for 3 ply sock weight yarn, which is in the vicinity of 14-16 WPI (wraps per inch).
Read The Big Book of Handspinning and some books by Judith Mackenzie McCuin. Spent some time perusing the Ask the Bellwether blog (she's good!).
Got a sliding hook flyer for the spinning wheel. Got the husband to drill out the slots in the mother of all to use all the whorls (that would be GEARS to you cyclists; the mother of all is somewhat akin to the rear derailleur).
My Thursday fibers group was highly entertained. They are mostly quilters, but have done spinning and knitting. I have been a quilter. All in all, a really nice, fun group to hang out with.
Pulled off about a half ounce of the sliver, split it into three strips, and started spinning, using my new Spinner's Control Card to help me keep a consistent diameter on the singles. Sort of. My singles ranged from 24-32 WPI.
Then I pulled out the Lazy Kate and started plying while lunch was heating up. Aside: we work for awhile, then eat lunch, then go back to whatever we were doing. Today was beef-barley mixture in pita bread, greens, apple and spiced walnut (walnuts made by SIL) salad, and apple cake.
I must say, I'm pretty pleased with how my plying is improving. Then wound the yarn onto the niddy-noddy, tied it off, and set it to simmer while we ate lunch.
After the simmer, I wrapped it in an old towel and thwacked it on the kitchen counter for awhile. Great way to get one's aggravations out. I highly recommend it. Then dried it on the shelf in my dryer (handy for those who don't want to wait for air-drying).
The end result? 12 WPI, 1125 YPP (yards per pound). Not quite there. But now I know what I need to work on. And it is pretty yarn, just a bit thicker than I was aiming for.
2 comments:
Beautiful yarn! I just finished spinning a blend of llama, alpaca, cormo, and angora - yum!
The yarn looks nice -- you'll find with fine wools that they bloom on washing, so I usually spin a little finer on my wheel than I plan to end up with in my yarn. That way, when the yarn blooms in the wash, it doesn't get bigger than I'd intended the yarn to be.
Extra points for sampling :-) nicely done!
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