WiP

[piranha]

my first yarn from the variegated grey shetland wool, now plied and in the process of being knit into a pocket scarf.





plied it following alden amos’s advice to keep a lot of distance between the (improvised) lazy kate and myself and also between myself and the wheel, as well as tension on the plies and yarn. worked like a charm.

plied one full super bobbin, and left some of the single on the storage bobbin so i can try navajo plying.

washed the skein in very hot water with a little ivory soap, rinsed with fabric softener, and hung it to dry.

it became quite soft and lofty! and is knitting up very nicely; true to the fleece. i was gonna make pads for the cats from this, but it’s too nice for that.

it’s mostly worsted, with some thinner and thicker spots. i can see how much the quality changed between the start and the end, *heh*.

Comments

[anatsuno]

very nice! go you with the fiberskills!

[submarine_bells]

Nice work! It looks great! Much nicer than my early spinning attempts... although, to be fair, my early efforts were done on a not-quite-ideal handespindle, which I think really didn't help.

My understanding is that if a yarn is lofty, it ain't worsted - true worsted has fibres lying flat and parallel to each other. An example of worsted yarn is the kind of wool fibres that get made into men's suiting fabric. What gives wool the loft is the fibres lying all this-way-and-that-way. Apparently most spinners wind up using techniques for yarn prep and spinning that are combo of worsted and wooolen, with any given yarn being anywhere along the spectrum, but for true worsted, the fibre has to be combed. Carding's a woolen-style prep technique.

Or have I misunderstood what you're saying here?

At any rate, fine work! It looks great.

[kareila]

That looks lovely.

[jennyaxe]

That looks lovely, much better than my own first attempts...

[piranha]

my very first attempts were on a home-made hand spindle as well, and i didn't even ply what came out of that. i was too impatient for using a drop spindle at the time, and gave up on it. i'll probably pick it up again when abby's book gets here.

you're right about the type of yarn, and that "lofty" doesn't go with "worsted". but i was talking about the thickness; in the US "worsted weight" is about 18-20 sts per 4 inch swatch, 12 wpi. i think you call that "aran weight"?

[piranha]

thank you!

[piranha]

thanks! my first hand spindle attempt were cruddy; i just couldn't get the coordination down. the wheel seems much easier to me.

[piranha]

thanks! yeah, i am excited. i love being able to make things that don't require a huge industry to procure the basic ingredients.

[jennyaxe]

My wheel isn't functional, I need to replace the thingies that hold the actual wheel in place. Once I get that done, I'll start practicing.

[lorres]

This is beautiful. Thanks for showing us.

[submarine_bells]

Ah, right, now I'm with you. Actually in Australia, somewhat confusingly, yarn thickness is described in "ply" (which has no connection whatsoever with the actual number of singles used in its construction). The more commonly available thicknesses are 4-ply (sock-weight yarn), 8-ply (the most common thickness, often the default for sweaters, hats, scarves etc), and 12-ply (thick, chunky yarn). This page has a conversion table at the bottom which includes Aus standard yarn weights, which oddly don't include one for worsted/aran weight. I suppose if it were in there, it'd be around 10-ply.