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Around the time I began spinning the brown merino mentioned in my last post, a friend of mine, Cecily, generously gave me a gift of some multi-colored, alpaca, wool blend roving. Of course, after I finished spinning the brown roving, I was eager to start in on this roving.
I decided to spin it more loosely than I had spun the brown merino—just to see what would happen… There were many (MANY) parts of the yarn that were significantly thinner (almost thread-like) compared to other parts of the yarn—although I doubt that had anything to do with the tightness of the spin. To help with keeping the thickness consistent throughout the entirety of the hank, I decided to ply it. I'm thinking my yarns will be plied until I can figure out how tight to twist it, and how to make the yarn relatively the same thickness.
This hank isn't perfect… but what ever is? I'm happy with it!
The result was 94 yards of a beautifully colored, relatively consistent weight, 2-ply, alpaca and wool blend yarn—what to make with it?
I must have cast on and frogged 3 or 4 different projects before settling on some fingerless mitts. I'm not usually one to work with such a small amount of yarn. I'm typically more of a sweater knitter, so coming up with a project that used 94 yards was a bit of a challenge. It didn't seem like enough to knit a hat, nor a scarf…
I wound the ball into a center pull ball, and cast on stitches for both mitts onto one needle, each from a separate end of the ball. I then began knitting, and didn't stop until there wasn't any yarn left. Not even an inch was wasted!
This is what I got (see more pics on Ravelry):
I'm really happy with them… too bad it's 80º outside. I'm eager to wear them.
So, what's on the drop spindle now, you're wondering… Well, Rachel from OnTheRound send me an inspiring care package, complete with stickers, to keep me motivated and on the spinning path! Thank you so much Rachel, it's working!
The Ashford Kiwi wheel that I was hoping to get a really good deal on… well that didn't work out. For now, I'm saving my money, in hopes that a nice used one will come my way. In the mean time, I'm continuing to enjoy my drop spindle with the batts that Rachel sent. I'm so thankful she did ~ otherwise I'd be out of fiber! I'm sure these will keep me busy for a little while. By the way, OnTheRound is having a 20% off moving sale! I'm not sure what (if anything) is left, but it's a great deal and Rachel is awesome, so go buy something.
I'm beginning with the pink batt, and hoping I might get something spun up in time for Mother's Day… I think my mom would love some pinkish handspun wool. But, Shhh, don't tell her.
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