Merino/Silk/Angora - Take One

I'm still at the Bay house and in between working on the husband's ham radio towers and planting a ton of stuff around the house, I've gotten some more spinning and plying done.


Merino/Silk/Angora roving from The Woolen Rabbit

Details on my blog HERE. Scroll down.

A progress report

I finally (!) finished the lace-weight singles I was working on, and managed to finish plying most of them this weekend. The last 250 yards are hanging to dry even now, but I can show you most of the finished yarn. There's a full report on the blog, but here's the heart of it.

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!