Episode 141 Live: Comfort Fade Cardigan & finished Handspun Yarn

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Enjoy the show!

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Community Participation

Giveaway

For March, I’ll be sending out another 4oz of Shetland in pin-drafted form from Disdero Ranch in Tappen, BC. Please enter in the March Episode Thread and answer: What is your favourite YARN you’ve even spun & why?

For February, I’ll be sending out ~4oz of Shetland in pin-drafted form from Disdero Ranch in Tappen, BC. Please enter in the February Episode Thread and answer Amy’s question: what is the item that you made that you love to wear the most and why?

Want to feature the amazing projects people have been sharing in the episode thread! Will do so from now through March! Giveaway will be drawn in March!

Victoria – @thequeenlyknitter (post no. 4) says:

Hello my favorite and most worn item is the Range Shawl by Andrea Mowry which is the only garment made from almost 100% hand spun and it’s deliciously warm.

Handspun Thread in Ravelry – Example of a Zero to Hero Make-Along Project

Breed & Colour Studies

In December’s newsletter, I shared the beginnings of my Breed & Colour Study thoughts that will be vlogged about in the How I Spin content beginning January 2020. For the initial thoughts, please have a look here (YouTube). Part I and Part II of my personal study are now available! Part I can be found here. And Part II can be found here. Both are part of the How I Spin content released monthly!

Kelly (@tomatl, post no. 901) says:

I lumped this B&C study into our 51 Yarns, and went hog wild and did a 5-ply and a cable ply.

5 Ply

I spun this short forward. The singles I spun at about 21 WPI (unfinished), and then plied and finished by soaking & thwacking (I figured the Polwarth wanted to bloom, so why not?). The finished yarn is about 8 WPI. It’s also super heavy – I wouldn’t want to make a big giant sweater out of it (my grist was 374 ypp!), but I imagine it is incredibly warm. It’d be interesting to do a woollen yarn this way just to compare grist – I imagine if I did ever want to make a 5 ply yarn as a sweater, I would have to go that way, lest it feels like I’m in a marathon wearing it.

Cable

I had never made this structure before, and I love it! I loved making it and the final effect. Some of my final twist isn’t quite right, so the cable effect smoothed out, but there are definitely large sections that are just perfect. I was a little worried about all the colours combined with a cable ply, but instead of it looking like too much and everything gets lost, the ply structure actually helps the colours all stand out on their own (or so I think anyway!). I can say for sure this is a yarn I want to get really, really good at making, so I can definitely see more cabled yarns in my future.

I spun these singles at 28 WPI, with the two 2 ply yarns beig 16 WPI, and the final finished cabled yarn at 12 WPI. I think the cable structure definitely helps keep the yarn from blooming more than it would have. Where I was kind of ambivalent about the 5 ply and the extra work needed for not much pay off, all the extra work for this cabled yarn not only was totally worth it, but also fun!

51 Yarns – Group A – Tweed!

Megan (@lykkemeg, post no. 916) says:

51 YARNS SAL- 19. TWEED!
Oh lovely tweeds, this was this first thing I wanted to spin. I love tweeds and wanted to make my own. I like the “graceshalomhopkins” definition of tweed which is “a blend of different fibers, colors, and textures”.
Here are some tweeds I have made.
1) left bottom- swancho. The main grey color is a tweed made on the drum carder with grey romney as the base and A LOT of Camja Fiber Arts soft silk that came dyed in green, blue, and purple. This was blended on the drumcarder.
2) Vest with braids- This was my first sheep to vest. The tweed was blended on my blending board and then taken off in rolags. The base is hand combed by me CVM plus some camel down. I then cut up bits of dyed bfl and merino and blended them in as “flecks”. I then combo spun the braids in the same merino flecks and some alpaca. It is cool to be able to use the same flecks and accent color- can’t buy that type of thing!
3) Mountains vest- this was a combo spin of about 8 different braids, all different fibers, merino, bfl , silk. I randomly blended pieces of them together on the drum carder. It gives you different textures and colors.
4) Plaid tweed cardi. The brown background color is a tweed made up with a base of moorit Shetland and yellow romney and then some dyed by me silk noil in white, rust, and blue
I love tweeds!!!!

51 Yarns – Group B – Planning  

Nicole – @nicolevarrette (post no. 159) says:

Finished my fine( purple ) and medium ( 0range) wools
For the fine I used a braid of Merino and for the medium I used a braid of Jacob both were 100 grams. I spun the Merino short forward and the Jacob short backwards both were 2 ply. I ended up with both finished yarns at about 14 WPI. I am super happy with both yarns and I think I love the Jacob way more then I thought I would. It’s very light and airy and softer then I thought it would turn out. I haven’t gotten a final yardage for them yet.

Thanks so much for sharing Everyone!

Finished Objects – Spinning

CraftyJaks Tussah/Bamboo/Tussah Silk (80/10/10) in “Fractured Dawn” – WASHED

• Traditional 3-ply yarn
• Spun on Ashford eSpinner & plied
• Short backwards, smoothed fibres as I spun
• Re-wound singles to first-spun end to ply from weaving bobbins
• Unwashed & unfinished at this point – finished yarn next show!

CraftyJaks Tussah/Bamboo/Tussah Silk (80/10/10) in “Pesuta”

• Fractal 3-ply
• Divided fibre to begin spinning – Ashford eSpinner
• Plan to spin to one bobbin with ‘divider’ fibre as with Fractured Dawn spin to then re-wind singles

Reflections on spinning for this larger project – 2 more braids of fibre to spin for this large project

• Thoughts on how it’s progressing, planning final project & make
• Article for Ashford Wheeler magazine – thinking about something practical to make versus sharing process

Sampling // Work in Progress – Knitting

Comfort Fade Cardigan by Andrea Mowry

• Knitted & washed swatches – 4.00mm needles
• Various gauges but overall ~19 stitches over 4 inches (pattern 21 stitches)
• Fabrics are lovely – sizing needs to be determined
• SweetGeorgia Yarns – Gotland, Alpaca/Merino/Silk, SW Targhee
• Yarn Statistics resulted in sport weight, nice fabric on 4.00mm needles
• Size TBA – possibly the XXS based on ease and gauge differences

The Shift by Andrea Mowry

• Felt inspired to try the pattern with Finn yarns
• Finn Study yarns from Fall 2018 – Fractured Dawn (colour B), Lakeside (colour C), Arctic Berries (colour A)
• Spun in different ways to highlight the individual ways we can handle colour in 2-ply yarns: centre-pull ball (Fractured Dawn), 2-ply fractal (Lakeside), traditional 2-ply (Arctic Berries)
• Note the changes in colour as the Arctic Berries moves through the colour repeat

Housekeeping

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Thank you so much for joining me today!

Until then, Happy Spinning!