WIP Wednesday (for “Work In Progress”) is a meme where we share our current fibery projects. It was started by Nicole @ Book-Wyrm-Knits, who also reviews books at book-wyrm-reads.
Spinning
I finished spinning two bobbins of undyed singles last Sunday, and plied them together this week.
Here’s the fiber I started with (not this exact roll, but several very similar ones.) It was given to me by the woman who sold me my spinning wheel. “Romney” refers to the breed of sheep. She told me it was Romney. I’ll take her word for it, but the individual fibers are much shorter than I would expect from Romney, so it may be from some other breed, or possibly it’s from a lamb.
See the dark bits? That’s called “vegetable matter,” or VM for short. Some commercial preps remove it altogether, but whoever prepped this fiber (washed and carded it for spinning) didn’t process it that much. I just pick it out with tweezers before I start spinning, and try to catch any bits I missed while I’m spinning.
Undyed Romney (?) wool, carded. You can see little bits of vegetable matter in the wool. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
Here’s the wool after I fluff it up and remove as much VM as I can. I’ve been spinning directly from wool like this, but I could separate it into long, thinner sections if I wanted to. Again, this is wool I haven’t spun yet, because I didn’t think to take photos before I spun up the two bobbins I had.
Undyed Romney (?) wool, carded. I’ve fluffed it out and removed as much VM (vegetable matter) as I can. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
Here’s what it looks like as I’m spinning it onto a bobbin. One “thread” of twisted wool is called a single or singles. Once the bobbin is full, I remove it and put in a new bobbin. It takes me several hours to fill a bobbin. When I have two (or three) full bobbins, it’s time to ply the singles together. To do that, I put the full bobbins on a device called a Lazy Kate that lets the bobbins rotate freely. I spin the two (or three) singles together so they twist around each other; the plied yarn is spun onto a bobbin just like the singles were.
Undyed Romney (?) wool being spun onto a bobbin, on an Ashford Traditional wheel. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
These are the skeins I plied this week. Together it’s about 3.5 ounces of yarn. I have no idea how many yards it is, because I don’t have an easy way to measure that. I think I need to get a yardage meter.
2 skeins of 2-ply yarn, handspun from undyed Romney (?) wool. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
Here’s a closeup of the plied yarn. You can see that I don’t spin completely evenly yet; the yarn is a little thicker in some places than in others. Experienced spinners can spin much more evenly than this, when they want to. (Some art yarns are deliberately spun thick-and-thin, with more variation than you see here.) I am still really pleased, though, because this is more even than any of the yarns I’ve spun to date. I also avoided overspinning (spinning the singles too tightly), which makes the finished yarn softer and fluffier.
Closeup of spun yarn. You can see it’s not completely even. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
I haven’t yet decided what I will do with this yarn. It would make a nice warm hat, but I’m also debating a tea cozy, maybe with a cable up the middle.
Knitting
The feather-and-fan scarf I was working on in March is done, except for weaving in the ends and blocking. I will get a photo of it before I ship it off to the person I’m giving it to.
Kalasi cowl in progress. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
I started a Kalasi cowl for a knitalong (KAL) this month. It’s a quick and easy-to-remember pattern, and should look really pretty when it’s finished. I knit tighter than Skeinwalker, the pattern designer, so even with blocking, I don’t think this is going to be 30 inches around as the pattern suggests. But cowls are forgiving; as long as it goes over your head, it’s fine! I haven’t decided whether to keep this one or give it to someone for Christmas. The first photo is closer to the actual yarn in color. It’s KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in a dark burgundy color tending toward brown/purple; the colorway is Currant. The second photo shows the lace and texture patterns in the cowl. Once I block it (wet it and stretch it to the correct shape and width), the patterns will open up and be easier to see.
Kalasi cowl, detail. Photo © 2018 The Bookwyrm’s Hoard
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Ravelry: I’ve linked patterns and projects to their respective Ravelry pages. If you’re a knitter or crocheter and want to connect with me on Ravelry, you can find me there as “Lady-Lark.” And send me a PM on Ravelry to let me know your Rav-name and that you read this blog, so I can friend you back!
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review
Ooh, thanks for these pics! I’m so bad about posting about my spinning and knitting, partly because it means I have to download pictures. Plus I’m having a fallow period, but I hope to get back to it sooner or later.
That does not look like Romney fiber. Maybe a blend.
Checking you out on Ravelry – though I’m an infrequent visitor…
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Blog break, and Elizabeth Goudge Day
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ve just started doing these WIP Wednesday posts. I know what you mean about downloading photos! Not to mention editing and resizing them. I don’t think it will be a weekly post; I don’t make enough progress week to week for that. Book-Wyrm-Knits does, though!
I agree about the fiber. That’s what she told me (I think), but it’s not what it looks like. It’s much too short. I’m only just learning about breeds and fibers, but when I googled, the photos and descriptions don’t match this. Doesn’t matter, really; it’s soft and fluffy and spins well. 🙂
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review
No, it doesn’t really matter, unless you want to sell it and need to identify the breed. Or unless you really like it, and want to make sure to get more of the same! If it spins well and you like the result, that’s the main thing.
It’s really interesting how differently different fibers function. I got a couple of “spinzilla” packs from Webs (yarn.com) to try out different fibers and it was very instructive. I made a center-out blanket with about 8 different fibers, which is one of the things I would post someday if I were not so lazy about photos.
Lory @ Emerald City Book Review recently posted…Blog break, and Elizabeth Goudge Day
Nicole
I love the handspun yarn! It looks lovely and soft. Overspinning was the hardest thing for me to teach myself to avoid, so nicely done on that front. Your cowl is also very lovely.
Oh – and I have a niddy-noddy that I use to tension my handspun which I can also use to estimate yardage pretty accurately.
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Lark_Bookwyrm
I just ordered myself a niddy-noddy! I skeined this on my swift, holding the bobbin up on a knitting needle for easy rotation and spinning the skein. But a niddy-noddy will be easier.
And thank you for the compliments on my work! I have a lot to learn yet, but I’m enjoying spinning as much as knitting.