All the handspun

In 2016, I resolved to knit more with my handspun. I had only moderate success – I made four projects from my handspun yarn (though one was an adult sweater). For 2017, I renewed the resolution. Something is different this year because right now, I have THREE handspun WIPs! Would you like to meet them?

 

The first project is one I’ve had in my Ravelry queue for a little while. Part of my 2017 resolution is to always have a handspun project waiting in the wings, pattern and yarn pre-selected. This is 3-ply Whitefaced Woodland that I spun last fall. I am not sure that I love it. I know the ball of yarn looks dreamy in the photo, but the feel is pretty tough. I tend to like a tight angle of twist in my yarn, and I think I went too far on this one as it is a bit wiry to the touch. Also, I had to fuss with the pattern (Sugared Maple mitts) quite a bit to get it to work with my yarn/gauge. I cast these on a couple of weekends ago and then stopped.

I stopped because I was so much more excited about my NEWEST handspun yarn – the Southdown!

I finished making this yarn on January 29 and started the socks on February 3. I was anxious to see if I’d really spun yarn that would work well for socks. This is just my basic vanilla sock with a garter rib stitch pattern (K one round, 2x2 rib the next round). So far it feels lively and springy and I’m very happy with it. Stay tuned to find out if I have enough to finish the pair.

And finally, I started a new scarf for S1:

She lost the one I made her most recently and really misses it. She went to the pile of handspun and rummaged around for the softest yarn. To my surprise, she came up with this skein that I made back in 2011. My blog post about it reveals that I wasn’t very impressed at the time – I felt it was underplied and not very attractive. The fiber content is 50/25/25 merino/bamboo/silk. I think the combination of fibers and the loose plying contribute to the softer feel.

At 14 wraps per inch, it is technically fingering weight yarn – but it feels a little more substantial to me. I think the bamboo and silk give it some mass that an all-wool yarn wouldn’t have. Anyway, I like this yarn WAY more in its knitted form than I did in the skein, so this is a huge win for everyone. We get it out of stash, replace a needed garment, and learn something all at the same time.

Handspun FTW!