Tuesday, May 1, 2012

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!

17 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! That is sooooo gorgeous! BTW, the faux-keh is pretty darn good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehehe - thanks! But I want to be able to make little hearts or stars like the fancy people do!

      Delete
  2. Wow! This looks amazing! Great job, Gail!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can not wait to see how that fiber knits up, it's just too beautiful!
    I love a french manicure, goes with everything. I wear a french pedicure during the summer to make life easier!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny - a French mani is so understated, but I'm so used to wearing crazy colors that to me it feels really noticeable!

      I couldn't wait either - I just wound the yarn into a skein!

      Delete
  4. Oh wow! it is glorious! You are so clever! I just love the colour...

    ReplyDelete
  5. sooooo gorgeous ! I cant believe how clever you are ! (well I can, but you know). The colours are just fabulous and I love the name !! :-) Nice to be inspiring for a change rather than the other way round, lol. xx BTW - LOVE the mani - I just did French with glitter top coat - great minds ! xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love that there's something called a niddy-noddy. Tee hee. Both of these colours are so pretty! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a lot of fun vocabulary in spinning!

      Delete
  7. Rococo Gold Leaf! That takes a classic French manicure in a fresh direction.

    I really need to figure out spinning at some point, since I have a fleece on hand from a friend's sheep, but when I have no idea.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love seeing behind the scenes of spinning (as I've never spin before). 9+ hours, huh? That's dedication ... and I think this hand-spun will look beautiful in the Wholehearted Shawl. As for your new roving -- watch out! It's going to be luscious.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I wasn't planning to ever take up spinning ... but now that I know it involves something called a niddy-noddy, hmm. At the very least, one of my sewing tools is gonna get nicknamed niddy-noddy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, and the yarn is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  11. OH, my gawd ! ! ! !
    THIS IS the best EVER color[s].
    Now this is one I WANT to see spun up, PRONTO ! !

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.