Sapphire Superwash
I am wondering who coined the phrase, "the lazy days of summer". So far, it seems to be summer and I'm busier than ever! I'm not certain I'm getting much accomplished in spite of the fact that I've hit "finish something already!!" mode! LOL! I've returned to my other projects with determination and the first to come to completion is the Sapphire Blue superwash I seem to have taken forever to spin!
Let me begin by explaining I planned to make this a 3-ply yarn but I didn't want to chain ply it so I decided to try to divide up the last lot into 3 fairly even lots and partly fill 3 bobbins. Yes, you have my permission to laugh!! Those 3 partly filled bobbins are pathetically uneven! Undaunted, I began plying with them and just added in a full bobbin as the part bobbins emptied since even the full bobbins aren't evenly filled either! I plied until I was pretty sure I had plied about half the singles and tied off the skein. As I neared the end my uneven bobbins caught up with me and one bobbin ran out leaving only 2 partly filled left. Being rather daring, if not talented, I decided to try the famous "Andean plying bracelet" technique to get to the end of the fullest bobbin left, the idea being that you ply from both ends of the singles. This is why I chose the fullest bobbin, hoping it would run out about the same time as the one with the least singles left. To make a very long (and frustrating) story short, I'll just insert the next photo....
As far as I'm concerned, I was lucky to get my hand back!! There was so much active twist in the singles it twisted itself into spaghetti that kept spiralling around itself... after about 15 minutes I broke the singles and chain plied the remains from the one bobbin and was seriously contemplating chucking this wonder-ball when DD#2 offered to rescue me. She sat and patiently unwound the ball from the outside, which I chain plied. I couldn't believe how she sorted the twists and knots!! Admittedly, the singles were a little on the fuzzy side in places but instead of having to waste them, everything was plied except this:
Yes!! BE AMAZED!! I sure was!! (and no, she is not availble on loan!! Get your own!!
) In the end I finished up with 2 skeins, one with 331 yards, one with 344 yards, which I think really IS amazing considering how badly I divided the fiber to begin with! LOL!!
It is indeed a worsted weight, much heavier than the emerald and the brown superwash but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since the spinning was done so intermittently. The size of the singles was all over the place but I guess the law of averages helped me out because it's a three ply. It's not as inconsistent as I was afraid it would be but it's certainly too heavy to use with the other two colors. Between the two skeins there is a total of 440 gm and 685 yards. (oooh I love mixing metric and imperial!).
I actually have nearly 3 tubs of a similar superwash top in a pale blue (about 2 pounds) all separated into sliver because I want to try my hand at making a 4 ply cabled yarn but I'm so tired of this kind of fiber right now I've put it aside to do some smaller batches of a rather crimpy, brightly colored wool blend that reminds me of dryer lint..... I can do small batches and bright mixes right now... I'm just taking a break from big spinning commitments for a bit I think!
Let me begin by explaining I planned to make this a 3-ply yarn but I didn't want to chain ply it so I decided to try to divide up the last lot into 3 fairly even lots and partly fill 3 bobbins. Yes, you have my permission to laugh!! Those 3 partly filled bobbins are pathetically uneven! Undaunted, I began plying with them and just added in a full bobbin as the part bobbins emptied since even the full bobbins aren't evenly filled either! I plied until I was pretty sure I had plied about half the singles and tied off the skein. As I neared the end my uneven bobbins caught up with me and one bobbin ran out leaving only 2 partly filled left. Being rather daring, if not talented, I decided to try the famous "Andean plying bracelet" technique to get to the end of the fullest bobbin left, the idea being that you ply from both ends of the singles. This is why I chose the fullest bobbin, hoping it would run out about the same time as the one with the least singles left. To make a very long (and frustrating) story short, I'll just insert the next photo....
As far as I'm concerned, I was lucky to get my hand back!! There was so much active twist in the singles it twisted itself into spaghetti that kept spiralling around itself... after about 15 minutes I broke the singles and chain plied the remains from the one bobbin and was seriously contemplating chucking this wonder-ball when DD#2 offered to rescue me. She sat and patiently unwound the ball from the outside, which I chain plied. I couldn't believe how she sorted the twists and knots!! Admittedly, the singles were a little on the fuzzy side in places but instead of having to waste them, everything was plied except this:
Yes!! BE AMAZED!! I sure was!! (and no, she is not availble on loan!! Get your own!!
) In the end I finished up with 2 skeins, one with 331 yards, one with 344 yards, which I think really IS amazing considering how badly I divided the fiber to begin with! LOL!!It is indeed a worsted weight, much heavier than the emerald and the brown superwash but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since the spinning was done so intermittently. The size of the singles was all over the place but I guess the law of averages helped me out because it's a three ply. It's not as inconsistent as I was afraid it would be but it's certainly too heavy to use with the other two colors. Between the two skeins there is a total of 440 gm and 685 yards. (oooh I love mixing metric and imperial!).
I actually have nearly 3 tubs of a similar superwash top in a pale blue (about 2 pounds) all separated into sliver because I want to try my hand at making a 4 ply cabled yarn but I'm so tired of this kind of fiber right now I've put it aside to do some smaller batches of a rather crimpy, brightly colored wool blend that reminds me of dryer lint..... I can do small batches and bright mixes right now... I'm just taking a break from big spinning commitments for a bit I think!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 7/4/2009 5:20 PM 
Categories: Yarn, Spinning
Tags: yarn superwash wool spinning
Categories: Yarn, Spinning
Tags: yarn superwash wool spinning
What a wonderful blue! You did a great job! Your daughter is amazing, such patience! I tried Andean plying once, never again. I rather like navajo plying. I have 2 large spinning projects, but see myself spinning some 4oz fibers in totally different colors in between.
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It is beautiful. I have found that when I have some left on a bobbin, I wind it into a ball on my little ball winder and then I have a center pull ball to ply from. You can pull it off the winder onto a narrow tube or scrunched toilet paper tube and stick a knitting needle through and stick the whole thing through a shoe box or have DD hold it while you ply off the remainder.
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That's a great blue!
Blue rocks.
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