Merri Merric (Skein I)
Ply | 3 ply
Yardage | 140.2 meters / 46 gms
WPI | 22 - 24
Fibre | Merino-Soy-Bamboo roving from EGMTK
Tool | Serenity Wheel [5.5:1 ratio]

Silky smooth is how I would describe this fiber. It is one of Mandie’s special paddock blends - she gets a mill to custom blend all the mixes at her store and a chance visit to her shop one day a few months ago, prompted me to make a couple of purchases and one of which included this very yummy fiber of 50/25/25 merino/bamboo/soy.

Now I don’t know how she does it but the resulting spun yarn from this skein has a gorgeous silk-like sheen to it and is quite tough. It is a little coarse to the touch but I suspect that’s from me overspinning the singles. Still, overall, it makes for a very lovely soft skein.

I was tempted to turn this into a two ply laceweight but seeing how gorgeous the individual colours turned out, I decided to navajo-ply it to maintain the colour sequence and therefore, ended up with enough for a smallish project of some sorts. I reckon this will go perfectly well for a lovely cabled beret. The second skein is hanging up to dry after spending a few days on the Niddy so we should have a total yardage count soon enough.

In the meantime, I’m off to get some much needed rest (all this nausea is making me…sick (heh)) and continue on with my spinning. I’m thinking of working on some merino-tencel I got from a Ravelry destash before Nil and I cash in on some self-made travel deals in the form of a car rental and two weeks off in France. Can’t say I’m looking forward to the travelling - it’s the nausea. Just thinking of travelling makes me green.

Orchid
Ply | 3 ply
Yardage | Approx 230 m/150 gms
WPI | 18
Fibre | Superwash Merino in Orchid
Tool | Serenity Wheel [5:1 ratio]

Seriously, I don’t mean to toot my own horn but the base for this colourway is simple amazing! Smooth and silky with a slight sheen, it beats the previous merino which I first dyed as an experiment. That base was more for felting but this one? Ohmy, ultra soft and great for next to skin items!

Because I have too much yarn in my stash, I’ve decided to let this one go on sale at the shop. It’s one of a kind like my other colourways, and I’d most probably churn out some handspun yarn for sale on a regular basis with my own handdyed fibers or those from my stash.

Going back to the process, I’m in love with Navajo plying. Sure, it’s different from the conventional 3-ply but for maintaining colours spun, it does its job well. The first time was a bit iffy, trying to coordinate both hands was not easy but after a while, it’s quite alright. The only complaint I have with plying (overall) is that once you start, you can’t exactly stop. It’s fine if you don’t have much on your bobbin but in my case, I was at least a good 200 over metres on each bobbin. Talk about being glued to the chair!!!!

Still, spinning with a wheel definitely has its perks.

And oh, just a quick question: what’s fascinating about Playstation 3?

Summer into Autumn
Ply | Single
Yardage | Approx 224 m/100 gms
WPI | 12
Fibre | My own handdyed merino roving
Tool | Spinning wheel [5:1 ratio]

I read somewhere that once you start spinning up fine singles, it can be hard to churn out bulky weight singles; on the spindle, this theory has been proven to be true. I can’t, to save my life, spin bulky singles on a spindle (perhaps it is the weight but even with my heaviest spindle, it ends up being laceweight and such). So needless to say, when the wheel arrived, I pulled out my first handdyed roving and decided to get some bulky action going on.

Of course, at first it was crazy trying to figure out how to get the fibre into the orifice and some action going but after googling and watching some videos on the Net, things started going smoothly…

A night later and after 24 hours of skeining, washing and drying action going on, the Summer into Autumn yarn is finally ready. It is safe to say that this yarn is considerably thicker than the others I have spun up with a spindle and it is still overtwisted - something which I’ll need to work on. But otherwise, it is a nice combination of even and thick-thin in some parts and suitably thick as well as long enough for a hat.

The colours were a surprise - I hadn’t anticipated the colour change and intensity - but still, it’s a good yarn.

Now while this was drying, I started working on one of my recent handdyed superwash merino. I know I started one on the spindle but I didn’t want to work half on a spindle and half on a wheel so I pulled out another colourway instead. As so far, it’s turning out beautifully. So beautifully that if it goes well, I might just use this for a handwoven scarf but we’ll see…

In the meantime, there is laundry, brunch/lunch and assignments like mesothelioma to put up with…

Sugar Pie in Laceweight
Ply | Single
Yardage | Approx 408 m/50 gms
WPI | NA
Fibre | Alpaca-Merino-Silk from Squoosh
Spindle | The Baaa Spindle [1.11 oz]

I had taken forever to finish spinning this up, having chosen to put aside my spinning in favour of dyeing up supplies for the shop. About two weeks ago, I decided to take a break from dyeing up supplies from the shop, pick up the spindle and finish off at least half of the 100 over grams of this roving.

This roving was a pleasure to spin up - the silk gives it a sheen, the merino adds some friction and the alpaca with its short hairs gave it that fuzzy look which is characteristic of fibers like mohair. Plus the ability to yield around 400 over metres of this lovely goodness at 50 grams allows me to explore the possibility of using this for a lace scarflette or scarf.

Surprisingly, the singles turned out to be delicate yet strong. I added a slight overtwist to it after reading that it would help bind the fibers together better and am waiting to see how it will perform during the knitting followed by the blocking process.

In a way, I’m glad I still have about 60 gms left. It’ll be fun to spin it up again and this time, maybe even ply it as well!

Harvest BFL Batch I
Ply | Two
Yardage | Approx 229 m/33 gms
WPI | 24-26 WPI
Fibre | BFL (Blueface Leicester)
Spindle | The Paua shell (singles/plying) [0.5 oz]

…and it’s driving me nuts. My singles keep breaking as I’m plying and I’m not sure why exactly. Am wondering if it’s because I put in too much twist for the ply or if there isn’t enough twist in the singles. Anyway, it’s back to the loom and some light spinning for me. I’m breaking up the fibre into three lots and spinning/plying them as I go along, just so I don’t get bored of it too soon.

Oh, I’m meeting up with some ladies in Zurich on Wednesday…it ought to be fun! It’s been a while since I last made new friends…

Orange Sherbet
Yardage | Approx 200 m/50 gms of fingering weight
WPI | N/A
Fibre | 50 gms of Flitz-It Multicolour New Merino Wool
Spindle | The Baaa Spindle [1.11 oz]

I’m pretty happy with how this turned out after “sacrificing” 50 grams of the fibre to just practising on the spindle. After the practise round, I started work on the remaining half which was already split into another half (25-25 gm). It was just something I did when I was braiding them up; I shouldn’t have done it actually because now I have two separate skeins with slightly different yardage!

Anyway, I left these as singles because for starters I wanted to see how they would turn out after a wash and skeining. That and the fact that I don’t really know how to ply yet…plus I don’t have enough for plying.

That aside, I do love the candy cane-striping effect that the fibre gave. It came to be dyed in vertical stripes instead of horizontal ones so I wasn’t all that shocked by the effect. While waiting for this one to dry (and occasionally admiring it from afar), I got started on another batch of fibre - Lime Spring which is also dyed in the same way - and it is giving me a very interesting colour combo at the moment. We’ll see how that turns out.

So…what do I do with this batch of yarn? I am not too sure really. Maybe I’ll use them for a smallish project of some sorts. We’ll see how it goes.