Friday, June 9, 2017

Gradient yarn

On May 26th I posted about the gradient yarn I was working on.  The fiber is from "Freckled Face Fibers"  and the breed of sheep is Blue Faced Leicester, or BFL.








I had divided 4 braids of fiber to fill 4 bobbins in a gradient fashion, light to dark.  I plied the singles to make 2 skeins of yarn.




I had weighed the bobbins after I had spun the singles and plied the ones that seemed to match in weight, knowing that there might be a surprise  at the end.  Sure enough, when I finished plying the first 2 bobbins there was quite a bit of single ply left on one of the bobbins.  I began to hope that this would all turn out for the better.



What was left on the 2nd bobbin was a lot of the lighter colors.  I left that on the bobbin and I hoped that I wouldn't have to "waste" it,  I so wanted this gradient thing to work!











I set up to ply the second skein, and I wondered the whole time if it was all going to work out.  I finally got to the end of the 3rd bobbin, and there was quite a bit left on the 4th bobbin, again!   I grabbed that first left over bobbin to replace the one that ran out, and I kept going!  The colors were going together really well.





If I could have crossed my fingers and plied at the same time I would have!  When I came to the end of what had been the second bobbin,  I had 1 yard on the fourth bobbin that I pulled off  in my hand and added it to the plying yarn for the last 18 inches of the skein.



What that all means is that one of the skeins is bigger than the other and the gradient progression goes a little lighter in the larger skein, I am okay with that.  The smaller skein will be warp and the larger skein will be weft in a woven shawl that I will offer for sale in the 2 Fall shows in which I participate.

There were 1,910 yards pre wash, the softness is pronounced in this yarn and the drape should be fantastic.  I have heard that you should use 40% of your yarn for warp and 60% of your yarn for weft.  Incredibly, these skeins are exactly those percentages!  I will be bringing them to the Center on Tuesday to get recommendations as to the sett I should use on my rigid heddle loom, I am thinking 10 ends per inch.

Next up on the wheel, is some Romney lamb/ Alpaca / Silk thrums roving that I am spinning to a lace wt 2 ply, to use in a shawl with a couple of skeins of Romney I have already done.  I may do some silk yarn to add to the warp in this shawl  as the silk thrums that are in this roving, match perfectly a silk single I spun up some time ago.  All I need to do is ply that silk single with some gold tussah silk I have in the stash. (Three cheers for the stash!)  It will make a great accent yarn.

It seems I am doing a lot of spinning lately, but in the end it is for weaving on the rigid heddle after all, Until next time, Happy Spinning and Weaving, Tina

1 comment:

LA said...

Another lovely shawl in the making!