If you happen to follow me on Instagram, then you will have seen some of these spinning works in progress. I’m not even sure where to begin; but everything not related to other knitting projects seems best.
I have been alternating between fine and not-so-fine spinning. Sometimes I need a quick spin. A skein in a day. I also need the challenge. I love knitting fine lace and so I love spinning fine lace, but I want to be able to spin not-lace too. I challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone and spin not-lace every few yarns.
A bulky skein of Fruity Falkland 2-ply was just what I needed earlier this summer in the midst of some fine spinning. I had picked up the fibre at the 2016 Manitoba Fibre Festival from Generation Fiberworks; I love playing with non-merino wools. The bright colours of this fibre demanded my attention; I think it will go towards my sister’s plans for a bulky, handspun sweater. (Which I suspect I will be knitting one day.) She already has a skein of my bulky handspun yarn with a lot of orange (a batt from Tog & Thel last year), which is what has inspired her imaginations of a sweater. (Yes, I laughed at the idea of turning one bulky skein into a sweater.)
More recently I needed another break from some larger projects on the wheel, so I played with a beaded yarn. This was my first time placing beads (2/0 in size for a bulky yarn) on the fibre directly while spinning. I made a fractal-ply and spun the beads into the first ply. The second ply (half the length of fibre) was divided (length-halved again) for fractal spinning. The fibre itself shifted between blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple (and starting over). I placed 3 beads per colour section somewhat randomly.
Much to my surprise, the beads passed over the hooks effortlessly. I had assumed I would need to help them onto the bobbin. The second bobbin spun up much more quickly. It wasn’t long until I was plying onto my quill and winding off a skein.
I’m not sure what this will become. For now, it’s simply a fun yarn – which is not my usual mode of spinning. (Fibre from Manjusha Farm has natural black in the top. I don’t recall the wool type.)
In my fine-spinning category, I have finally begun to spin the silver alpaca-silk fibre I bought many years ago. It has sat in the “too good to play with” stash for far too long. I am spinning this up as a lace 2-ply. I have 8oz of the fibre. I hope to make a shawl (surprise!).
I also have finished my first plying attempt on a support spindle. Typically I have only used my support spindle for spinning the individual plies before using another spindle or wheel to ply. However, after making the plying ball for this current set of 2 plies, I thought I would try plying. Having tried it, I will likely stick with plying with another tool in the future. I would have finished much sooner with another tool.
There is much more of this fibre yet to spin. I am using two different green colourways dyed by Majusha Farm on a 50/50 merino-tencel fibre, for a total of about 8oz. It is a slow project that I am enjoying.
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