Spintastic

Over the month of October, I did a lot of spinning. When I use a phrase like that, I can’t help being reminded of the German slang word, “Spinner” which means crazy person. Sigh.

Anyway, the first skein was in response to a challenge on the Ewe Give Me the Knits Ravelry Board. The theme was “Steampunk.” I have never deliberately spun anything else but a smooth plied yarn, but I decided to have a go.

This yarn was spun from 50% BFL/bamboo blend from Ewe Give Me the Knits, which I dyed in the crockpot with onion skins. I tried to spin as bulky as I could and plied the single with a silver rayon sewing thread, which was thread with glass beads and ribbon. It is about 10wpi. I called it “Golden Steampunk.“*

The next skein is spun from three colours of alpaca top that I received from Moseley Park in the first installment of their natural fibre club. The total weight was about 120g, and the colours were not equal. I spun it into a striped yarn by splitting the colours in four and spinning them in ABCABC sequence in each single. The aim was to get some sections at each join where the plies were not matched. It ended as 270m at 10wpi.

The final skein I spun in October was a new technique for me. I am unable to attend the March workshops with art-spinning guru Insubordiknit in Melbourne, due to the arrival of a small wriggly child at around that time. So I bought her DVD and worked through the first technique - fat and thin singles. I used an old braid of “wool” that I got in my early stash-building days. It is a great colour, but was a tad felted, which probably didn’t help with the technique. It looks good, but it is a bit fragile, so I need some more practice on this one. I called it “Swamp Rattails”*.

* = It is all Ravelry’s fault that I name my handspun now. It is too hard to leave the “Name” field blank.

Related posts:

1. Tour de Fleece This year I have chosen to participate in the Tour...
2. Poteni I wanted to share the final two skeins I finished...
3. Tour de Fleece: Ormeau Merino My first skein is off the ground. This is a...
4. A skein of frosted cream One of the spinning projects I started during Tour de...
5. Isabel Just realised I haven’t shared my new friend. I “needed”...