October 17, 2006Raspberry Merino TencelLast week was rough. I pulled some pretty long hours preparing for a presentation in SF that I gave yesterday, and taking care of our sweet Caia girl, who is succumbing to age, despite our valiant efforts and her own. During the week there were only stolen moments of knitting and spinning here and there to maintain my sanity. So on Saturday, I allowed myself to have a complete and total Julia day. I spun the rest of my second bobbin of raspberry-colored merino tencel, plied the singles, spun another skeinlette on my maggie spindle, plied that on my pilchuck spindle, returned to the wheel to spin a wonderful thick and thin chocolate covered cherries singles, knit on one of my gift berets, and then knit some of my handspun for the first time ever. We take our Julia time seriously over here at chez MOW. It was blissful.  Two bobbins of merino tencel, side by side. Although I know I'm famous for my long-ass windbag posts (and this will no doubt be one, too!), I'm not enough of a windbag to cover everything I did and saw this weekend (Sunday was another Julia day, spent in SF with Emily at the DeYoung Museum, but that, too, is another post), so I'll start with telling you about the raspberry merino tencel here.  The plied singles on the bobbin. This made me soooo happy. As I've said before, the raspberry merino tencel project was my first somewhat longer-term spinning project on the wheel. Before this, everything that I've done could have been accomplished in a single day, albeit a long one. For this project however, I was going for a finer plied yarn than I've created in the past. The singles were so fine that it took me about 6 sittings to spin each bobbin, and I'd estimate that each represents about 8 hours of work at a minimum. The plying took me about 2 hours, and I was afraid that it was going to take a heck of a lot longer. Moxie played the role of Margene (of whom he is completely and totally unaware) while I was plying. I was so excited to see the finished yarn I was almost jumpy - chomping at the bit. He kept reminding me that I was supposed to be enjoying the entire *process* and that I shouldn't be concerned about getting to the end product as much as enjoying the spinning that I was doing. I knew he was right, but I thought I was going to kill him. I wanted to see the yarn! When I was finally done plying, I was left with less than two feet of unplied singles. This made me insanely happy, as I have an obsession with using every little bit of yarn - to the point where it is not unusual at all for me to come very dangerously close to running out of yarn on a knitting project. It's stupid, I know, and I always counsel people to buy more yarn than they need when asked, but I can't help it. I save everything, and I can't stand to have half-skeins of unused yarn hanging around.  Plied singles on my brand spanking new niddy-nosty from Amy at Spunky Eclectic. A truly wonderful tool. I wound the skein onto my niddy-nosty (love this!) and ended up having about 290 yards of yarn. To be honest, I was hoping for closer to 400 yards, but still, this was almost three times as much as I've ever spun in a single skein, so it was still really impressive to me.  Here's the skein right off the niddy-nosty. For a zoomed-out shot click here. Because I had spun the singles over the space of two weeks, there was no way to tell whether the skein was balanced right off the niddy-nosty. (I warned Moxie of this, and his disappointment was palpable. He revels in the fact that I make him guess whether each and every skein is balanced, just prior to niddy-noddy removal. It is prime entertainment for the entire family.) Here it is all curly, but after wetting it hung straight, and is still straight after drying (I thwacked the hell out of it, but did not weight the skein). It looks balanced to me, though I'm sure that there are more experienced spinners who could chime in and let me know how to be sure. (Hint, hint - chime in!) I love this skein. There are still thick and thin points, but overall, it represents the most professional-looking yarn I've made to date. I'm hoping to knit a shawl from it. I'm not sure that I'll have enough to make Evelyn Clark's Swallowtail Shawl (I've been drooling over Jared's since he finished it), but I'd like to give it a go. If anyone has a good approximation of how much fingering-weight yarn it would take to make the swallowtail, or even exactly how much lace-weight it took, I'd love to know. In the meantime, here are the stats for the yarn: Fiber: Raspberry Merino Tencel (70/30) In caia | main | moments with moxie | spinning | swallowtail shawl | the rose
Comments
how pretty! :D Posted by: pixie at October 18, 2006 10:57 AMAbsolutely gorgeous. I know nothing about spinning. I'm not sure what the niddy-noddy is even for. But seeing you create that ice creamy yarn? Almost makes me want to learn. Posted by: Jennie at October 18, 2006 10:03 AMJulia, As you know, I'm not a spinner, but that's some lovely raspberry yarn you've created. I love how knitting calms and centers me when I'm a little unwound. I really don't know what I would do without it. Posted by: Leslie at October 18, 2006 08:15 AMVery very pretty yarn. I am impressed as always. Sadie sends Caia doggy kisses. Posted by: Jenny at October 17, 2006 10:23 PMI USED 1 AND ABOUT 3/4'S OF LORNA'S SHEPHERD SOCK FOR SWALLOWTAIL. IT'S A SMALL SHAWL Posted by: MARILYN at October 17, 2006 05:09 PMJulia, first off sorry to hear about Caia... I hope that everything goes as well as it can. Secondly, there IS a way to tell if things are plied in a balanced way no matter whether your singles are fresh or not and that is to look at the individual fibers in the finished yarn. If those fibers are parallel to the yarn's axis, your yarn is balanced. If they are in the direction of the ply you have over plied, if they are in the opposite direction to the ply you have underplied. For a more complete explanation with pictures - see my blog at http://beebonnet.typepad.com - today's post! Posted by: janel at October 17, 2006 04:08 PMI've been told by a certain spinner extrodinaire ( http://www.twosheep.com/blog/ ) that a plied yarn is balanced when the fibers all run parallel to each other in both plies. It's a bit hard to see in finer yarns but the best gauge. That's my advice passed on from other people. Please give Caia some kisses for me when you get home. I'm sorry she's struggling. I consider her a puppy friend, afterall. Posted by: Marnie at October 17, 2006 03:55 PMYour yarn is beautiful. I'm so sorry to hear about Caia; I'm sure your love and compassion is making this as painless for her as possible. Take care. Posted by: Elspeth at October 17, 2006 03:25 PMGorgeous!! That yarn is goig to make the most beautiful shawl! I'm glad you got to have some quality Julia time this weekend. :) Posted by: Nonnahs at October 17, 2006 03:04 PMYour yarn is mighty beautiful! Yay for Julia days!! Days like that can be so balancing. I am excited about your Swallowtail Shawl project. I can't wait to see *your yarn* all knit up. I have been eying the shawl ever since I got the fall issue but haven't chosen out a yarn for the project and haven't had the time. I just bought 4 oz of merino recently and it hasn't spoken to me yet, until just now. I am almost up to the challange, I have a final to write and then I only have one undemanding course until November 04. Yay! Should we start a Spin-to-Knit-Swallowtail-Shawl-Along? Posted by: Tiffany at October 17, 2006 02:25 PMwoo! it turned out fantastic! I strive to have as little left-over-yarn after plying -- so less than 2 feet! amazing. :) It looks great! Posted by: jess at October 17, 2006 02:00 PMIf you let the singles "rest" on the bobbin for a while (which in your case is over the period of 2 weeks), the fibers will have relaxed a bit in their twist. That way, with plying they're a little more balanced than when you ply right after spinning a single. Even if it doesn't come out balanced off the nid-nod/nid-nos, finishing it will eventually take out even more of the twist. The washing, the whacking (which "shocks" the fibers into behaving), and the drying under tension will do the trick. If, however, the plied yarn is dreadfully unbalanced (say overtwisted 3 times), then I don't think it will be truly balanced. Just use a garter stitch so that the knitting is even on both the right and wrong sides. How cute, you have a "Moments with Moxie" category! Posted by: MJ at October 17, 2006 01:50 PMwow, that yarn is really lovely. I'm not much for spinning, b/c I don't do it, but it looks great & the color is beautiful. Hopefully the Swallowtail shawl works out for you. It is a beautiful shawl. Posted by: Wanda at October 17, 2006 01:47 PMBeautiful yarn :-). I made my swallowtail in Laceweight Suri alpaca. The yardage of the ball was 407 yards and I estimate that I had about 120 yards left at the end. Posted by: Janine at October 17, 2006 01:35 PMSo pretty!! The color is amazing. I look forward to seeing what you knit with it. I can only imagine how rewarding it must be to knit with your own handspun. Maybe someday I'll join the club... Posted by: disentangled at October 17, 2006 01:26 PMMy yardage on four ounces of alpaca came to about 250 yards of fingering weight. If you find a short yardage shawl pattern, please, let me know. I was thinking I would have to go with a scarf. Posted by: Leah at October 17, 2006 01:25 PMoh its gorgeous! Posted by: Rose at October 17, 2006 01:11 PMCara - if you have just spun and plied the singles and it comes out twisty then it isn't balanced, but if the singles have stayed on the bobbin a few days, a lot of their energy is lost, so plying will definitely make them twisty, and you won't have an indication of balance. Your yarn looks great knitted up, so if it wasn't balanced (which I doubt - I'm pretty sure it was), then it didn't matter. I think you can tell once you re-wet the skein because it energizes the singles again, but I need confirmation on this! xox, J Posted by: Julia at October 17, 2006 01:04 PMSweet Caia. What a love. Can't wait to feel that merino-tencel; the color is just perfect... a lovely pink. Posted by: Mary-Heather at October 17, 2006 01:02 PMI meant off the niddy noddy - not the bobbin. But you knew that. Posted by: Cara at October 17, 2006 12:57 PMHuh. So even if it comes off the bobbin all twisty it could still be balanced once you wet and hang? I didn't know that. I think I've been spinning balanced yarn! Look at that! I whack the shit out of it too - and sometimes I weight it, but I think out of habit rather than need. Good to know. The yarn is beautiful! I miss spinning. And tell me the vendors of the fiber I gave you last year. I don't remember and want to put it on the list. What's your color preference this year? Posted by: Cara at October 17, 2006 12:56 PMless than 2ft? Amazing! the left-over-after-plying yarn bugs the snot out of me too...so I just navajo-ply everthing. Not the best solution, I know. Posted by: Elli at October 17, 2006 10:43 AMIt's beautiful. The color, the spinning. Just lovely. I get excited and rush the end of a project too sometimes. It's a failing, but I haven't figured out a cure yet. I don't know if I'd want one. Posted by: LaurieM at October 17, 2006 10:05 AMah, beautiful beautiful. i haven't had a moment to spin in a few weeks now.. but your post is convincing me i have to make time today. beautiful yarn ~ and great yardage. ;) about the plying, i'm not sure. once it's been on the bobbins for a bit, then i don't know how you can figure out balanced or not. see you soon! Posted by: andrea at October 17, 2006 09:44 AM |