Exploring the world of fiber, one draft at a time

My posting can be as frequent or infrequent as my spinning, so be as patient as that fiber, sitting in my stash.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Olympic spinning challenge: first and last place



Maybe not really first place, but first completed skein goes to the blue merino/angora blend. There is 230 yards of a 2 ply yarn, and it is lovely enough at this point to hold first place in my eyes.

Last place? A total failed attempt to save a dyed roving that I had no business saving. The fibers were corriedale (the off white color in the blend) and cotswold, the dyed part of the blend. The corriedale fiber was moderately decent, it had a few tangled areas and short cuts. It tended to clump and not draft well, probably due to maybe not being completely carded. The cotswold turned cottony after dyeing, and was filled with short cuts (slubs) that no amount of picking out could remove. Add up all of these factors and the blend was almost impossible to spin. I loved the dye scheme though and will consult by dye notebook again to use it. It just was not worth fussing though 8 oz of this terrible roving to try and spin any kind of yarn. I will not spin lousy roving to try and come up with a 'designer yarn'. So the 20 yards of 2 ply lumpy awfulness will stick around my spinning basket as a reminder that it really is not worth working with lousy roving. The rest of the unspun went in the trash. Oh I know I could have used it for stuffing, or for felting fiber, or even mulching my roses. I prefer to have it gone for good.

Now to find something satisfying to spin. Will it be the silky speed of the icy track, the colorful figure skating of a wonderfully dyed roving or the mundane cross country slogging of spinning a pound of natural colored border leicester?

CW

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ouch. Don't mention spinning - I had to swear off to devote myself to Olympic knitting.

Silky speed.....mmm.....

cyndy said...

Hey- I think both skeins are beautiful! That slubby yarn would look great in the style of hat that I am currently knitting!....and the angora blend...ooooooh yummy!

YST said...

Hee Hee, that yarn just photographs well. In real life the slubby parts would really cause pilling in anything knit with it. I loved the look too, but couldn't spin it well enough to know I was getting useable yarn.

Cindy