Just Can't Stop

Last week I actually did not look at my wheel at all. Instead it sat in it's carry case until sometime Friday evening, after a busy day with my sister and mother which included 5 hours of spreadsheets and followups for work (a vacation day?!), the movie Julia and Julie and a trip to the grocery store. Two roasted chickens with fresh veggies later, I finally retreated to my office/spinning/fiber room to see what I could do about the ever growing fiber stash.

Something crazy came over me. I decided it was time to tackle the Merino/Tencel blend from April's Hello Yarn club shipment. I'd already used some of it for the workshop, and decided it needed to be transformed to yarn. Three hours and two bobbins of freshly spun singles later I staggered off to bed. Oh! My aching back! My joints creaked all over.

Little did I realize then, I was so wrapped up in the spinning, but I was setting myself up for some issues down the road. I spun with a vengeance Friday night. I might have overspun? What was I thinking? Turned out the bobbins were so kinked up that on Saturday night, I tried to ply and was getting some pretty shameful results. I just cut off the junk I'd just made (but I kept it - I can't seem to throw any piece of crap yarn away ever. I might neeeeeeed it....) and ran each bobbin through the wheel to relax the fiber. Okay I thought, not a big deal, this happened once before and it worked out great.

With the bobbins full again, I set about plying the yarn. Still some hurdles. Was I holding the yarn too tight? Did I put too much resistance on the ply? SNAP!! I broke the brake band! I might have had the tension set too high? Ya think? Okay so it's just a jute string, no biggie.

I tied a knot and kept on going. The singles still had some serious twist which I guess I was trying to forcibly straighten out, thus causing the break. I even broke the singles in a few places. So this is not the best yarn I've ever made. There are plenty of uneven spots, the yarn has varied thickness from 12wpi to 8 wpi, the ply is not smooth.

Despite all it's faults or maybe because of them, I think it's pretty! I love the sheen that the Tencel brings to this yarn. And I really like how the colors ended up because I honestly didn't know if I liked it in fiber form. It is drapey yarn too. I don't know yet what this yarn wants to be in finished project.

And I will go back to the drawing board on the Merino Tencel blends. I picked up a Jacquard Dye sampler set so I can dye my own and then practice. Still so much to learn!