WnS Ep. 220: Spinning Ultrafine Baby Alpaca & Supported Jacob

Dear Spinning Circle,

Live Stream: Saturday, October 23rd @ 8am Pacific // 11am Eastern

Direct YouTube link here. Premier Episode!

Thank you for being here today, especially those who were able to make it to the Live Stream. I appreciate your time spent here in this place with me. You are most welcome. I hope you feel most welcome because you are welcome here.

Enjoy the show!

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There is a lot going on in our community! It’s a lot to cover and remind you of each week. Have a look here for more info!!

If you are curious about what happens in our community, please click the links below, reach out to me: rachel @ welfordpurls (dot) com, or reach out on Instagram/Ravelry/Slack (if you are a Patreon member, @welfordpurls_admin)

Community Inspiration // Participation

Breed & Colour Studies – Jacob

Suzanne shares via Slack & Ravelry: I am getting close to finishing spinning my Breed & Color Study yarns. I used CraftyJaks mini batts set to create a gradient set by combining different singles into two-plys. The first skein from left to right is plied with two of the white singles. The second skein combines one white with one grey single. The third skein combine one of CraftyJaks grey with a plain grey that I had from Jacob fiber in my stash. Skein 4 in my set combines one grey single with one black single (from the CraftyJaks mini batts). Skein 5 (last one on right in top row) is plied with two black singles from the mini batts set. The large skein on the bottom is the first of two (or maybe three) that I am spinning from the rest of the plain grey Jacob in my stash. I have really loved playing with combinations in this study, an idea I got from Katrina speaking about this possibility on the Wool & Spinning podcast.

Luxury Fibres ALONG

Amanda shares via Slack: Fun with 100% undyed yak.  Spun 2-ply worsted to create a fingering weight yarn for gloves.  Dense and warm, my husband loves his new gloves.  Just in time for sub-zero temperatures!  It will be fascinating to see how well they wear over time.  Knitting pattern is ‘Yantar Gloves’ by Anna Zhuravleva

Ina shares via Ravelry: I did spin some Golden Retriever yarn and knitted some fingerless gloves for me. I’m not sure how they will hold up to some wear and tear… but there’s more where these fibres came from! The real colour is somewhere in the middle of these two pictures and I really like the shade. It is somewhat heathered and which gives a bit more colour depth. The yarn is quite fuzzy and soft enough though I wouldn’t want to have it around my neck.

Natural Shades ALONG

Brittany shares via Slack: So the other day I shared about the beginnings of processing these two Gotland/BFL/Icelandic X fleeces. I separated the locks into, white tones, Grey, and black. I chose to start spinning the Grey first. I filled 2 bobbins up with 100g and plied last night. Soaked, thwacked ya! I’m so in love. It was such an amazing fibre to spin. I spun worsted because I wanted to smooth out any slubby bits. So I’m quite happy with this spin. It’s such an honour to spend time prepping and spinning your own yarn.

Amy shares via Slack: Playing with some raw merino fleece this week. Looking forward to practicing some woollen spinning techniques

Zero to Hero // #sweaterspin #useyourhandspun #spinallthethings #weavewithhandspun

Mia shares via Slack: Does cat hair and whiskers count as luxury fiber?? Having someone sabotaging me trying to finish up the last 75g of singles for a sweater spin. About 20g left, of a total of 600g. The cat’s got to go so I can get this spin DONE!
Doreen shares via Ravelry: I spun these various skeins of local fibre, mostly wool, some with mohair and dyed with commercial natural indigo. The different yarns took the colour differently. The end results, a cardigan for me and one for my daughter, modelled here by my granddaughter. Guess they will have to share! Pattern is Flax Light, steeked with afterthought pockets. Helical knitting helped blend the colours. So cozy!

Ruth shares via Slack: I’ve been juggling a lot of things in recent days. Here is the first FO to emerge. Yume by Isabell Kraemer. Cropped with split hem. 3/4 sleeves, split cuffs to echo hem. This is my second Isabell Kraemer sweater and I’m finding her patterns consistently easy to work. Bi-color, to use a one-off skein of Malibrigo, and not quite enough of the handspun alpaca and wool to go monochromatic. I have two more pounds of the alpaca and wool to spin but I think I will go for a worsted and dye it.  I wanted to use up what was already spun. The handspun was 3ply and varied quite a bit in grist. Some of it was really overspun and over plyed. I put it back through the wheel, unplying, and soaked the skeins again. I alternated handspun skeins every row throughout. Steam blocking improved the hand considerably. I may go back and reinforce neckline.

Sample Spinning // PLAY

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. – Carl Jung

Lauraline shares via Slack: Last weekend I played. Halloween batt made by a local dyer (Urso Yarn Co), with local Dorset fiber. No color management, just spinning across the batt. I set up by the lake and spun! It was fun and relaxing. The yarn is uneven and a bit messy, but will work perfectly for plain fingerless mitts!
Sarah R. shares via Slack: I finished a spin and I’m pretty pleased with this one. It’s 108g/200m and looks to be worsted-Aran weight. The fibre is 100% Spanish merino from the wild spinster. I hope it doesn’t come over as tooting my own horn to say I feel like I’m finally producing yarns I really like on a consistent basis, and this is one of them.
Maggie shares via Slack: I finally finished a spin! This is 8 oz of Finn from Hello Yarn. I was hoping I’d have enough yardage for a Love Note but I don’t think this is enough even though I’ve not counted it yet. But it’s so pretty I don’t want it in the stash long!

Weaving

Laura shares via Ravelry: I have a loom and I used to weave a lot, mainly baby wraps, scarves and towels. My biggest project was a bed cover for a double bed. I just lent my loom to one of the many crafting icu nurses at our icu, as I live with two cats now and the loom would have to sit in the basement in pieces for at least a few years (until we get a couple of kids out of the house and I get my own crafting room). I also wove fabric for a coat! I’d almost forgotten it, but today Rachel talked in the live stream (which I had chance to watch hours later) about weaving fabric with handspun yarn or a coat. My coat is of course not woven with handspun, as I only started spinning one year ago, but I’ll share it with you anyways. The warp is cotton and the weft is 100% wool. Sewing was a bit complicated as handwoven fabric tends to unravel, but I’m quite happy with the result.

Hanta shares via Ravelry: This is one of my latest weaving with my handspun as warp. And this one is currently on the loom using handspun for both warp and weft.

Barb shares via Slack: So ridiculous! Missed an entire repeat of the warp, one broken thread, and floating salvages. Looks like stalactites from the loom!

Thank you so much for joining me today!
Until then, Happy Spinning!