At Long Last...
Five months in the making, I have two skeins of finished 4-ply cabled yarn! (insert crazed cheer!) It will probably take me another month to finish plying the other 2 pounds of it. The nice thing about having some of this in all different stages of completion is that if I feel anything needs adjusting, I can do it and (hopefully) improve the end results for the rest of it.
It took 4 and 2/3 of my small Baynes bobbins to fill these 2 bobbins from my Bea. It felt like it took forever! As far as 2 ply goes, I think it looked OK. There is more twist in the first bobbin of 2 ply than there is in the second. I don't mean a huge difference but I think impatience got the best of me because I really wanted to get to the 4 plying.
Don't be fooled - the 2-ply looks very fine, but it takes two strands to make the cabled yarn and it still came out to a heavy worsted weight. I'm not disappointed, I'm just very glad it didn't come out as a chunky yarn.
My first two skeins.
I used one of my new Bea bobbins and found out that they do not hold as much as my original Bea bobbins. The skein from my original Bea bobbin weighs about 300 gm and is 486 yds. The skein from the new bobbin is only 265 gm with about 388 yds - quite a significant difference! Here's a bit of quick math for you: the total yardage of these 2 skeins is 874 yds, that's almost 3500 yds of singles - and this is only the first 1/3 of the lot - that means I've made approx 10,500 yds of singles out of 3+ lbs (nearly 6 miles??). Golly, I think I just impressed myself! LOL!! It's also beginning to explain why this project has taken so long...
I used one of my new Bea bobbins and found out that they do not hold as much as my original Bea bobbins. The skein from my original Bea bobbin weighs about 300 gm and is 486 yds. The skein from the new bobbin is only 265 gm with about 388 yds - quite a significant difference! Here's a bit of quick math for you: the total yardage of these 2 skeins is 874 yds, that's almost 3500 yds of singles - and this is only the first 1/3 of the lot - that means I've made approx 10,500 yds of singles out of 3+ lbs (nearly 6 miles??). Golly, I think I just impressed myself! LOL!! It's also beginning to explain why this project has taken so long...
You just gotta' love the law of averages! Once you get up to 4 plies it almost doesn't matter that your singles aren't machine-perfect. The diameter of the completed yarn stays within a certain small range that looks remarkably uniform. This is a great consolation when considering the time I have invested in this yarn!
On the topic of twist, now that I have some finished 4-ply, I have learned a few things. I think I could have put a bit more twist in my singles because when I 2-ply them they almost look lopi-style (contrary to the advice in the magazine which said not to put too much twist in them). I found this lost twist doesn't come back in the 4-ply either (also contrary to the magazine). It doesn't seem to have hurt things a bit to have a bit of extra twist in the 2-ply because it seems to make the 4-ply really come together and make the two 2-ply strands hug each other. This is important because of the loose twist in the singles. So if I put a bit of extra twist in the 2-ply I don't need to put as much in the 4-ply. When examining the finished yarn, it's been pretty easy to see all this because the last 2-ply coming off both bobbins had the most twist in it. It is the most balanced yarn in the last skein. I realize any average knitter picking up the skein wouldn't notice but it's one of those situations where, because I made it I know what I'm looking at.
It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to survey these 2 skeins. They are very close to what I imagined this fiber could be turned into. If I had a bit more skill as a spinner perhaps it could have been a DK weight but I'm not about to complain. I've had so many anxious daydreams of it becoming 3 lbs of unuseable garbage that it almost comes as a relief to fondle the finished yarn and find it soft, cohesive and relatively uniform, without being over twisted - my biggest fear. Over twisted yarn is like string or cord and doesn't knit nicely into anything much but rugs and coasters. This yarn, I am certain, will lend itself nicely to a sweater or two or maybe a wrap or poncho.... and now I can imagine these things happily as I continue to work at plying the rest of it! Cheers all!
On the topic of twist, now that I have some finished 4-ply, I have learned a few things. I think I could have put a bit more twist in my singles because when I 2-ply them they almost look lopi-style (contrary to the advice in the magazine which said not to put too much twist in them). I found this lost twist doesn't come back in the 4-ply either (also contrary to the magazine). It doesn't seem to have hurt things a bit to have a bit of extra twist in the 2-ply because it seems to make the 4-ply really come together and make the two 2-ply strands hug each other. This is important because of the loose twist in the singles. So if I put a bit of extra twist in the 2-ply I don't need to put as much in the 4-ply. When examining the finished yarn, it's been pretty easy to see all this because the last 2-ply coming off both bobbins had the most twist in it. It is the most balanced yarn in the last skein. I realize any average knitter picking up the skein wouldn't notice but it's one of those situations where, because I made it I know what I'm looking at.
It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to survey these 2 skeins. They are very close to what I imagined this fiber could be turned into. If I had a bit more skill as a spinner perhaps it could have been a DK weight but I'm not about to complain. I've had so many anxious daydreams of it becoming 3 lbs of unuseable garbage that it almost comes as a relief to fondle the finished yarn and find it soft, cohesive and relatively uniform, without being over twisted - my biggest fear. Over twisted yarn is like string or cord and doesn't knit nicely into anything much but rugs and coasters. This yarn, I am certain, will lend itself nicely to a sweater or two or maybe a wrap or poncho.... and now I can imagine these things happily as I continue to work at plying the rest of it! Cheers all!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 5/30/2010 8:01 AM 
Categories: Yarn, Spinning, Fiber
Tags: 4 ply cabled yarn superwash handspun
Categories: Yarn, Spinning, Fiber
Tags: 4 ply cabled yarn superwash handspun
It looks very uniform to me. You are reminding me that I have lots of singles on lots of bobbins. Great job.
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Just beautiful!! So worth the effort!
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