Jacob have I loved

You may have noticed I’ve been on a bit of a longdraw kick, spinning-wise. The day after Spinzilla ended, I picked up my last ball of roving in stash (roving prep is needed for a true woolen spun yarn). It was the light brown ball in this photo:I got both of these from the Jacob Sheep Conservancy booth back at MDSW 2010 (I know!). They are from different farms, but I got them at the same booth. I even had the receipt in the bag – each ball is about 4 oz and they cost only $10 each. A pittance, I say!I don’t know if this particular roving was exceptionally well-prepared or if I am getting noticeably better at spinning it, but this spun like a dream. I will definitely be going back to see if this vendor is selling again in May 2015. The light brown roving was from Tannery Spring in Schaefferstown, PA. I spun it just as I did the dark brown roving (spun 14:1, plied 16:1) and got a total of 369 yards. My finished skeins weigh in together at 140 grams, which is 4.95 ounces. The ball of roving was labeled “4 oz” so this was a very generous vendor! This yarn is so squishy. I wish you could reach into the screen and feel it: Let’s just have another look at its chocolate-y cousin which was spun right before Spinzilla: Mmmmmm.

Just as I was finishing this yarn and thinking that my next spinning project would need to be a worsted style yarn, I won a contest. And not just any contest… one from PLY Magazine! They had a contest to win a pound of fiber that was used to make the Swing Step Cardi from the Autumn 2014 issue. The sweater is designed by Amy Herzog (umm, YES) and is gorgeous:

(This photo is from the PLY website.) It hasn’t arrived in the mail yet, but it is a blend called Suriland (50/50 Shetland and Suri alpaca) from Fancy Fibers. I’ll share photos when I get it. You can bet I’ll be spinning it longdraw!