Scottish Hillside

I finished my skein of Rose Quartz yarn yesterday, and decided to rename it Scottish Hillside.  Thanks, Kirsty!

I thought I'd show what's involved in finishing up a skein of handspun yarn, and at the end I'll show you why I was so anxious to finish it!  It's a picture-heavy post again, but most of it is eye candy.

You may remember I was making a three-ply yarn, so I first had to spin up 3 bobbins of singles, i.e. the plies that make up the yarn:

Singles Meet-Up.
Couldn't resist!

Faux-keh.

More faux-keh.
Maybe someday I'll get a real camera
so I can do real bokeh!

The bobbins of singles go onto a lazy kate . . .

which goes next to the wheel . . .

and about an hour later, it's all plied into a full
bobbin of  3-ply.
(Sorry this one is so fuzzy.)

Then the yarn is wound off onto a
niddy-noddy to make a hank.
This is my favorite niddy-noddy.
It's the first one my dad ever made
me, when I first started spinning.

After it's removed from the niddy-noddy, the yarn gets
soaked for about a half hour.  This sets the twist and
also helps the yarn bloom.

Then it hangs to dry.  And now the hardest
part:  waiting!!

I couldn't resist inspecting my work
every hour or so!

Finally, the next morning it's mostly dry, and I can
twist it into a hank.

I got about 320 yards out of this piece of sliver.

And the heathery color mix shows up a lot more
than I was expecting it to, so I'm happy about that!

And of course, you've got to admire my
nails next to it.  I did a French mani with
Zoya Purity and Laurie, and then added
some Rococo Gold Leaf topcoat.  I feel
strangely conspicuous in a French mani -
I have't done one in probably 15 years!

That hank of yarn took quite a bit of work.  Each bobbin of singles took about 2.5 hours, the plying took over an hour, and the finishing took another half hour or so. So, about 9 hours for one hank of yarn, and it's not even wound into a skein yet! Good thing I enjoy spinning!

I think this yarn will become another Wholehearted shawl.  I'm not really sure it's enough, but I have at least another pound of this fiber, so I can always spin more if I need to!

And now the reason why I was so anxious to get this off my wheel.  Last week when I went to Vogue Fabrics to get buttons for my sweater, I discovered a bin of spinning fiber.  Uh-oh!  Look what I came home with:

I got three ounces of this.

Ah!  Those colors!

Be still my beating heart!

Look at this cute little curlicue!

I actually have enough spare bobbins that I could have started this right away, but I was a good girl and finished one project before starting another.  But you better believe I'll be starting this today!