FO Friday

I promised to show you some spinning, and here it is!

I participated in the Tour de Fleece this year (you challenge yourself in some way with spinning while the Tour de France is going on) and my only goal was to spin some every day – and I (mostly) met the goal.  I took about 4 days off during the 23 days of the Tour.  For the majority of that time I was spinning on one thing – my goal with it was to end up with a navajo plied fingering weight yarn – so the single had to be super thin, which took me sooooooo long to finish (I had a 4oz braid).  But it turned out wonderful, especially for my first navajo ply.

Fiber:  Knitty and Color alpaca/silk in colorway Not Drinking Merlot

Spun on: my new Majacraft Rose
Ratios: I don’t really know – I need to learn the ratios of my wheel!   It was on the smaller whorl – about the second fastest setting.  I wanted lots of twist for how fine I was spinning, plus I knew I was going to navajo ply, so I needed some extra twist in there, too.
Ply: 3-ply navajo ply
Started: June 30, 2012
Finished: July 20, 2012
Results: 529 yards of a light fingering/heavy lace yarn

During the last two days I switched it up and went bulky!  This time I wanted to try core spinning.

Fiber: Three Ravens Muppet Spin-a-long ‘Animal’ (BFL, merino, corriedale, bamboo rayon, mulberry silk, firestar glitz) – plus some sari silk scraps, and plied with KidSilk Haze in a purple color.  Cotton crochet thread as core.

Spun on: Majacraft Rose wheel
Ratios: I don’t know this one either.  Set on the largest whorl, the largest setting – I wanted the opposite of my other yarn – a very low twist since I was aiming for fluffy and bulky.
Ply: Core spun single, spiral plied with KidSilk Haze and added in chunks of sari silk bundles randomly
Started: July 21, 2012
Finished: July 22, 2012
Results: 31 yards of a bulky weight fluffy yarn!

There are several spots where my cotton core shows through, and I’m not entirely happy with how the spiral ply with the thread turned out, but overall it’s not bad for a first attempt at core spinning!

Now I am anxiously awaiting 4pm Eastern time so I can cast on for my Ravellenic Games sweater!  (T minus 2 hours to go!) My needles and yarn are at the ready!!

Happy Knitting!  And GO Team USA!