I made some yarn!

Jacob Alpaca 3-ply
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

Clearly, the novelty of being able to make my own yarn has not yet worn off. Here is my latest batch off the wheel, a 3-ply Jacob Alpaca blend. I bought the roving from the Toots LeBlanc booth at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle (they had a small market set up to support the Nordic Knitting Conference). I remember that trip so fondly!

I spun this worsted style because that's the only style I know so far, but after reading further in The Intentional Spinner, I now wish I had tried woolen spinning with this fiber. I'll just have to try that next time!

I tried to spin finer and succeeded, though not consistently. I tried to spin more tightly and didn't succeed so well, I guess, because my plying twist was more than my singles twist. I could tell because when I let go of the end of the plied yarn, it untwisted a bit. The yarn relaxed some when I set the twist in nearly-boiling water, though. In all, I have about 260 yards, weighing 5.8 oz.

This yarn might be a good candidate for some cozy gloves or mittens. It's not super soft (due to the Jacob, a "primitive" or "unimproved" sheep breed). It seems like a hardy Nordic yarn, like the kind of thing they might have made in Independent People. Have you read it? Steven turned me onto it and I really loved it. It's on my mind again lately because I'm finishing The Tricking of Freya, a novel that is set in New Iceland (Canada) and Iceland and which references the type of people depicted in Independent People.

So, I have to go now, because I think I might be able to finish Freya tonight! Off to read...