Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Spin Page 64 of 69

Sock Yarn!

We have sock yarn! I’ve finally finished cabling the sock yarn. For some reason, re-spinning the 2 ply took an extremely long time for me. I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because I don’t like doing the same thing twice, and that was the ultimate in repeating yourself. But I just love the way the blips of colors POP in the cabled yarn. The resulting yarn is exactly how I wanted my sock yarn to be…fairly evenly spun and came out at around 22 wpi. I know it sounds teeny, but it is about the diameter commercial sock yarn, but a lot denser. Nature of my handspinning and cabling. I’ll see how much it poofs up afte I wash it and sets the twist.

I’m so excited.

Michele’s Wipplinger’s Color class was wonderful. It was simply marvy to be in a room full of other people with the same interest and pretty much have gone down the same paths as I have in my pursuit of fiber activities (quilting, sewing, crocheting, knitting, spinning, dyeing, cross stitch, you name it). And it’s also nice to be in a group where they don’t give you a blank look nor a “why would you?” look when you say that you’ve always wanted a P1800E; and even better, they actually know what it is. (And nod knowingly when you reminisce about your Karmin Ghia.) And be able to look around the room and see where you’ve been (from the 20-somethings in the class) to where you are going (from the 50 to 70-somethings in the class). I hope I never stop trying out new things and learning.

I’m still digesting the information from Michele’s class, so I won’t be posting on it just yet. Sorry.

Sock Yarn To Be

singles  2 ply

Title says it all. Singles on the left (approx. 45 wpi), and 2 ply on the right. I’m in the process of respinning the 2 ply to add more twist to it before I ply it again to make cabled yarn.

Spinning for Sock Yarn

After I read about cabled yarn for sock knitting in Spin-Off, I tore through my stash looking for appropriate fiber to turn into socks. For the first time, I made a sample card that I referenced while I spun. My goal is to make sock weight yarn, similar to one of my favorite sock yarn, Trekking. I love the subtle color shifts.

While spinning, I noticed that the dye in the roving was less saturated on one end than the other. So I started alternate which end I pull off of while spinning. I pulled about 10-15″ hunks. I think the finished yarn will be pretty even.

These Schacht bobbins are huge! When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I wound the singles off into a center pull ball, weighed it (4.5 oz), measured it (45 wpi), and started to ply, and ply.

I will be re-spinning this 2-ply to give it additional twist before I cable. At the rate that I’m going, it will be a while before I have sock yarn.

There should be plenty of yardage since I only use about 300 yds of sock yarn per pair of socks for me.

Page 64 of 69

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén