Twists of Fate

So The Yarn is dry now. It’s The Yarn, with caps, because it is my first! My first wheel singles were spun on my now very sadly sold Columbine, and before the wheel went in the mail, I wound off onto a couple of Ashford bobbins. These sat around for *koffkoff*, and I finally got around to plying them up the other night.

First, the artistic shot shown here to the left. This was actually the last picture I took. It was lovely light outside today, and I had the window open to air out the place a little bit, and to listen to the birds in the tree in the back.

This shot is of the wraps per inch. Both skeins are pretty much the same overall, so I snagged the second one and measured. These may be a bit smooshed on the measuring tool, but it came out at 12. If it wraps a bit looser, it runs at 11. So, first skeins WPI is 11-12! Woo.

You can see other shots by following the links.
Skeins side by side.

Skein the first, plied w/out tension: One, two, and three.

Skein the second, plied using the tensioned lazy kate: One, two, and three.

I’m so pleased! I ended up not weighting these when they were drying. I just took ‘em out of the pot, stuck them around a couple of hangers and let the water/gravity do the weighting. I did, after a few hours, do the whacking on the kitchen table thing before re-hanging. Just because.

Right now the skeins are relaxing on the couch. If I had about 130 yds between the two skeins on the niddy noddy, I wonder how much it shrunk after I washed it? Do I unskein them, and reskein and recount to be sure?

Gosh. Did y’all actually make something with your first skeins or just leave them as is, to be admired and treasured forever more?

Actual fibery content!

Sadly, I don’t have any pics to share with you at the moment, but I did want to mention that I actually plied some of the singles I’ve spun and the skeins are still at home soaking. They’re still soaking because me and mornings are un-mixey things, and I forgot they were on the counter in their pasta pot of happy eucalyptusy Euclean utopia.

My plying? Sucks. I wish I spun as well as I alliterate.

One skein, which is about 67 yards, seemed way too loosely plied. This was done using the “kate” on the front of the Traveller, which is really just those metal spokes poking up from the bottom. I had big issues with trying to do this – it just wasn’t working at all, and I gave up about halfway through the bobbins. However, once I pulled it off the niddy noddy, it actually hung straight. Huh. We’ll see how it looks once it’s dried – the singles were *koffkoff* old, and I am curious to see how the wetting will change the way it looks.

The second skein is also about 67 yards (my bobbins weren’t really all that full), and skewed liek whoa. This one was done with the tensioned kate, but I think I screwed something up with the placement of the bobbins on it. I know that I managed to twist the two singles around each other while attaching them to the lead, which made the whole plying experience just yick. Also, I need to move the kate behind me, I think, in order to give me some actual lead time and help ease the whole process.

If they don’t turn out too badly, I’ll post pics once they’re dry. I’m definitely keeping the skeins, but I should probably get a refresher on how to actually ply from someone who knows what they’re doing.

I must say though, that I really like Finn. Nice and easy to start with, and I enjoyed working with it a lot. I’m on a list for 2007 shearing notification at a couple of Finn fleece farms, which would be neat. In the meantime, I’ll try to get some more at the LYS when I’m in there next.

Or, you know, I could continue washing fleeces (this will never, ever end!). Or begin teasing the washed fiber I have in prep for drum carder arrival later this month.

However, it’s much more likely that I’ll go home tonight, sit my big fat ass down on the couch and work on the knee high socks while listening to season seven of DS9 on DVD. I’d taken an inexplicable break from Netflix for a while, but I’m back at it. With enthusiasm!