Spinning A Rainbow
This is the lovely BFL/Silk blend I bought myself for Christmas. I've had a real "thing" lately for silk blends, must be because it's such a long white winter. I separated this top into six strips, lengthwise so the color changes were really short - probably the shortest I've ever worked with. The challenge was to spin them very fine because I wanted to do my usual Navajo three-ply to preserve the colors.
Even at only 15% silk I found this fiber presented predominantly silk characteristics for spinning, rather than wool. It was not particularly inclined to cling to itself so spinning it so fine meant it shredded out on me a few times and I ended up having to retrieve my end from the bobbin and re-twist by hand to make it cohesive enough to re-thread the orifice - very annoying! It didn't dampen my enthusiasm though as the colors were so uplifting! Such a panacea to the dreary cold and new snow!
In the end I had 236 yds from 4.2 oz which works out to a worsted weight, which really pleased me! I am much faster at filling a 4 oz bobbin now so my next "level" is to have my 3-ply NOT all be chunky weight. To me this is a significant achievement! My spinning is still "fiber driven" meaning depending on how the fiber behaves usually determines the resulting yarn. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just the reality. I don't know if I'll ever be a spinner who decides what weight the yarn will be ahead of time and then produces it... I have a feeling that would take some of the fun out of spinning. What I really want to be is a spinner capable of producing different weights of yarn instead of everything being chunky or bulky weight and I seem to be there more or less, now.
And yes, this skein went straight into my Etsy Shop. I just felt there wasn't enough there for the type of things I like to do with yarn.
One last comment, is that this fiber from DyePot.com did NOT bleed at all which really impressed me considering how many different colors there are in this top! It's more than I can say about my next spinning lot, but that's a subject for another post! Cheers all!
Even at only 15% silk I found this fiber presented predominantly silk characteristics for spinning, rather than wool. It was not particularly inclined to cling to itself so spinning it so fine meant it shredded out on me a few times and I ended up having to retrieve my end from the bobbin and re-twist by hand to make it cohesive enough to re-thread the orifice - very annoying! It didn't dampen my enthusiasm though as the colors were so uplifting! Such a panacea to the dreary cold and new snow!
In the end I had 236 yds from 4.2 oz which works out to a worsted weight, which really pleased me! I am much faster at filling a 4 oz bobbin now so my next "level" is to have my 3-ply NOT all be chunky weight. To me this is a significant achievement! My spinning is still "fiber driven" meaning depending on how the fiber behaves usually determines the resulting yarn. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just the reality. I don't know if I'll ever be a spinner who decides what weight the yarn will be ahead of time and then produces it... I have a feeling that would take some of the fun out of spinning. What I really want to be is a spinner capable of producing different weights of yarn instead of everything being chunky or bulky weight and I seem to be there more or less, now.
And yes, this skein went straight into my Etsy Shop. I just felt there wasn't enough there for the type of things I like to do with yarn.
One last comment, is that this fiber from DyePot.com did NOT bleed at all which really impressed me considering how many different colors there are in this top! It's more than I can say about my next spinning lot, but that's a subject for another post! Cheers all!
Posted by Gloria Patre at 3/24/2011 9:52 PM 
Categories: Yarn, Fiber
Tags: BFL silk blend spinning top handspun yarn
Categories: Yarn, Fiber
Tags: BFL silk blend spinning top handspun yarn
What beautiful coloured yarn! I luv adding silk to my alpaca and wool blends, although silk needs more twist as you have already found out. It can be challenging to spin out of one'scomfort zone ( mycomfort spinning is laceweight or fingering) but I realize it will make me a better spinner in the end
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I love this yarn! What can you make with this amount of worsted?
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A skinny dropped stitch scarf! Asked and answered! I bought this yarn! Can't wait for it to arrive! I have many projects OTN at the moment so I may give it a name and keep it as a pet for a while.
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I LOVE the colours
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