The Stats.
Fiber: Ashland Bay Merino-Tussah (70-30) blend, McKenzie colorway, from Mielke’s Farm.
Finished Weight: just less than a pound.
Yardage: ca 940 yards of standard three ply, plus about five yards of two ply leftovers.
WPI: 16.
Spun on: Rose.
I learned a few things on this one, and used a button to help control the plying process. (Heh . . . one of the things I learned was to NOT let go of the button!) I learned a bit, too, about how Tussah handles in a blend, and there are a few places where the yarn is a bit thicker because I didn't thin the silk quite enough. One skein is a bit overplied, but I'm moderately pleased with my own progress. :-) It's still far from perfect, and I can look at it and see some real places where I need to figure out a few details in the process, but it really ended up with a nice denim tone that I like, and the yarn has a nice feel to it. But ya know, I've gotta admit that I was starting to itch to spin something else by the time I finished!
I couldn't think of a good way to salvage the remaining two singles when the third finished and still get a three ply, hence the two-ply leftovers. If anyone has the secret to that, I'd love to know!
5 comments:
How does one use a button to help with plying? I can't even imagine.
It's beautiful! And it must feel even better than it looks.
I know the answer to Julie's question, and wish I'd thought of it when I was plying on Sunday -- a plying guide. Run each ply through a hole in the button and use it to help control the twist. I've even got some big old buttons around too.
(nods nods nods at Margaret) I'd been told that you could use a diz or spice lid when you do three+ plies to help control things, and since I had neither, it struck me that a smooth button with big holes would work as an improvised diz. I'm so glad I learned that little trick; trying to handle the individual singles and keep them feeding into the ply evenly would have been a bugger otherwise since they were as thin as they were.
Julie, I know you can find more by Googling, and I know the group here will be able to give better descriptions, but there is a description of my own process in the blog post for this spin. Just scan through the rest of the notes until you find that bit.
Wow! It looks great, Rhonna! I've never tried the button method- so now I have something to look forward to (one of the things I like about this page is all of the tips I am learning about!).
About the remaining singles...couldn't you spin a Navajo Ply with each one of them (to get your three ply)??
Looks great and thanks for the tip re the button, what a great idea :)
Post a Comment