#wemakeyarn

If you’re a spinner and you’re on Instagram, there’s probably no way you don’t know about #wemakeyarn. Participants post daily in January and respond to these prompts:

I’ve been playing along, and it’s a lot of fun.

There’s ANOTHER Instagram thing called #spin15aday2018challenge, which is exactly what it sounds like. I’ve been double dipping on these and challenging myself to spin a little bit EVERY DAY no matter what. We’re only a few days into the year, but I’m doing fine so far.

Here is my first handspun skein for 2018:

It’s made from Corriedale roving from the Sheepspot Fiber Club, The color is a dreamy purple-grey, hard to photograph but really beautiful in actual life. Roving begs to be spun long draw, which I love… but I did not love this particular fiber. It looked so innocent when it arrived:

But it just didn’t draft well! It was lumpy and sometime sticky, and just wouldn’t behave for me. I don’t know if these lumps were nepps from the commercial carding process, or second cuts perhaps… but I did not like seeing them.  Can you see them in this photo?

I pulled out my hand cards and worked at the fiber a bit more, thinking perhaps another round of carding would open it up and make it easier to spin.

I made a bunch of these, and that was fun… but the fiber was only a little bit easier to spin. In the end, I just worked through it. Here are my singles before plying:

In the end, I got a 3-ply skein of 136 yards and it weighs 85 grams. It’s a little more bumpy and lumpy than I would like. Oh well, it just looks extra handspun-y.

And now I can get started on the next project, about which I am SUPER excited. Rainbow rolags!