Yummy handspun

I really meant to post about these yarns last Friday, but I finally caught the cold-from-hell that James had. I ended up missing most of last week at work. Here it is a week later and I still feel like I'm coughing my lungs up. Sigh. At least between coughing fits I was able to squeeze in some spinning time, so I guess it's not all bad.

I managed to survive the my second spinning class last Sunday, but I thought I was going to pass out near the end. We learned about choosing and preparing a fleece. Here's the teacher Shirley with a gorgeous one. It was smelling quite sheepy all afternoon!


We used hand cards to make some roulags to spin from. It seemed like a lot of work... I'm not convinced that I want to start from a fleece anytime soon. Maybe some day, but not yet I think.

First Plied Yarn


This is the BFL in the color 'Big Sky' that I was showing last time. I plied 'er up as a two ply. I have 170 yards or so of a roughly sport weight at 12 wraps per inch (wpi). I'm very happy with the weight and relative consistency of the yarn. I even hopped on to ravelry while it was still drying and started looking for patterns. Nothing decided yet, but it'll probably end up as a scarf of some sort.

First Three Ply Yarn


I actually spun these singles before the BFL, but plied them after the other yarn was finished. The fiber is 5 oz. of Lorna's Laces superwash merino in the color 'Georgetown'. It was my first time working with merino, so the singles had a lot of thick and thin action going on. The plied yarn is better, but it still has quite a bit of variation. It came out to roughly 90 yards at 8 wpi.

Coffee Socks

James saw me working away at all this spinning, and decided he wanted handspun, hand knit socks. How could I refuse such a request!?! I quickly hopped on etsy to look for some appropriate fiber. I found it at Fiber Optic Yarns... 4 oz. of superwash merino in 'Black Coffee' (incredibly appropriate as James is quite the coffee enthusiast). I was in so much of a hurry to get started that I didn't get even get pictures of the fiber or singles. You'll have to make do with some plied yarn.


For some reason I had my heart set on three ply for socks. I think I did a pretty good job getting a fairly consistent fingering weight. I plied the yarn more than it seemed to really want because I wanted it to be sturdy for socks. I've knit a bit with it to start and it seems a little stiff. They should wear like iron, though. I also need slightly larger needles than I usually do, so I'll be starting the sock over again soon. Pictures when I do.

I used my jumbo flyer for the first time plying this. I liked not having to worry about filling up the bobbin, but it was so big I could feel the revolutions pulling at the yarn as I was plying, which was a little disconcerting. Also pictured is my newest addition-- a cup holder to fit my wheel from FBN Plastics holding tissues at the time... very clever! I figure it will be especially useful when I'm spinning somewhere other than my living room.