Wensleydale 2-ply

I plied my Wensleysdale on Monday and here it is! This is 285 yards and 116 g (4.15 oz), so it’s a little fatter than fingering.  I spun and plied on my 12.5:1 whorl.

I love this dreamy color.  The color on the label is “haze” but this is too purple to be “haze” to me.  If I were naming it, I might have said “moor.”  Doesn’t it belong in a 19C English novel? I’ve no idea what to do with it.  It’s not super soft, but nor is it wiry.  It is drapey, so maybe some kind of small shawl that just covers the shoulders and doesn’t snuggle right up against the neck?  I’ll have to see what can be done with 285 yards.  That’s less than a typical skein of sock yarn.  If you have ideas, please send them my way.

What to spin next?

Better late

Right now I’m spinning 4 oz of Wensleydale that I bought at the first Sock Summit in 2009.  I got it with the idea of spinning sock yarn, because it’s a longwool breed with very long staples – but I don’t think that’s what it will turn into now.  This is naturally dyed fiber from Tactile Fiber Arts Studio.  After I’ve been spinning a while, I find that my pinching fingers (for me, left hand) are a bit blue.  That makes me worry a bit.  What if, say, I knit a shawl and wore it over white?  What would happen?  Hmmm.I bought two of these little bundles (2 oz each) and so I decided that they would be a two-ply yarn.  No sense making a bunch of work dividing two 2-oz bundles into 3 equal amounts.  I’m done with the first bobbin and well into the second.  Hopefully I’ll ply before the weekend is out. My sources say that Wensleydale has a staple length of 8-12” – that’s LONG!  I’ve had some difficulty separating my pieces into shorter lengths, and I’ve had to adjust my drafting style by putting my hands very far apart.  But this is all good for learning.

In other spinning news:

• I got into Maggie Casey’s plying class at MDSW this year!  This is a good growth opportunity for me:

JC20 Plying, Hints and Tricks

with Maggie Casey

How do you finish your yarn after you’ve spun the singles? Two-ply, three-ply, four-ply, cabled yarns, Navajo ply — so many choices. How much twist do you need? Is it necessary to have a balanced yarn? We will ply them all and you can decide for yourself.
Participants should bring: Spinning wheel and all its parts, lazy kate and at least four bobbins.

• I’m very seriously flirting with the idea of joining the SPAKAL I mentioned earlier.  I did some math and think I need to acquire about 24 oz of prepared fiber.  That doesn’t sound like so much more than the 8 oz of BFL I spun recently.  It sounds DOABLE.  And I like the sweater they’re knitting (Eadon from Twist Collective).  So I think there’s a very good chance I’m shopping for sweater fiber at MDSW next month!

 

Next time, I have some beautiful yarn from Denmark to show you.