Blue Moon Eclipse
So, ready or not, here I come with a little more spinning!
This is the first hank of the Blue Moon 50% Merino/50% Silk blend dyed in the "Eclipse" colorway. It's about 147 yards (according to my niddy noddy) and 1.25 ounces and it's just as soft as all get out. Not sure how much is on the bobbin yet. Definitely less than is on the skein, so I probably have a total of 250-275 yards and I still probably have over half of the roving left to spin up.
Did I mention how soft this stuff is?
My spinning and plying are still a little bit uneven, as you can see from this closeup:
but I'm definitely improving. I'm finding that, compared to the drop spindle, the wheel gives me more time to think about what I am doing with the fiber. I also find it a little easer to stop and tweak as I go along. Even so, there are some places in my singles where they got a lot thinner than I would have liked or a little bit too thick. But nothing that involves hand eye co-ordination improves without practice. Hopefully as I spin up more of this stuff and other things I'll get better at keeping things more even. What was very cool about this skein was after I pulled it off my niddy noddy, it didn't twist at all... not one bit! So even if the gauge fluctuates, I did a good job at balancing the yarn. I had real concerns about that happening.
You see, this skein also comes with a learning experience.
I had just finished spinnin the second bobbin's worth of singles and decided that I just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen when I plied this stuff up. So with the help of my homemade lazy Kate I got everything all set up and started plying. I'd been spinning all day, so I had a good rhythm going, but something didn't seem quite right. No problem with the plying, but the yarn wasn't poofing up quite as much as I expected it to. Didn't seem that bad, though, so I kept spinning along, not quite able to put my finger on what was bothering me.
And then my wheel threw it's drive band (it does that periodically, just to test me and my newly developing spinning wheel technical service skills) and after I got the band back on and began to start spinning again, it suddenly dawned on me what was wrong. I was spinning the two-ply in the same direction as I had spun the singles. And I had about a third of a bobbin's worth of the stuff. Clearly, sometimes the speed of the wheel can be a double edged sword.
After a little bit of judicious cursing I decided that there was nothing I could do but unwind it all off the bobbln and start over, making sure that my wheel was turning in the right direction. I watched it turn into a bit of a tangled curly mess as I unwound it. And got a pleasant surprise when re-spinning it in the reverse direction (albeit a good deal longer to remove the twist in the wrong direction and add new twist in the right direction) -- it actually worked and gave me the results I wanted. So spinning in the wrong direction is not fatal. Frustrating, but not fatal. At least not with this yarn. Of course, when I plied it in the right direction, I got that nice bit of poofiness that I wanted to see and the colors even looked a little different together (not sure if that is a trick of the light or if the orientation of the fibers really does matter for the perception of color).
I haven't yet measured the WPI on this yarn, but this yarn is probably the first thing I've spun and plied that I could say approaches DK weight. I'm assuming that the merino content helps to give it a lot of loft.
I'm still not sure what to make of the colors. Or what I will make out of this yarn. It's certainly soft enough to be used in a skin-touching garment, but I'm not sure beyond a scarf what kind of garment that would be. And I'm not sure I could handle that much wild color variation. I'm trying to decide if it would make up into a nice pillow cover or two -- something that will still be enjoyed for being soft. Once I get a little more spun up, I'll swatch it and see.
In the meantime, I'm going to keep it on my desk to pet. It's hard not to be happy when you're touching something so soft!
Gorgeous!! The yarn is lovely!
That is gorgeous yarn - I can see how soft it is. Mmm.
Ah, you've hit upon it exactly Theresa! The orientation of the fibers, especially when silk is involved, makes a HUGE difference in how the color is perceived. I've done some experimenting on that exact thing and the color changes depending on how much twist is put in, if you use a woolen or worsted draw and how much, or if you ply your yarn! While you will see subtle differences in wools, silk is very dramatic because of its sheen. Your yarn is gorgeous!
Oh it's so pretty. People at my office think I'm a bit insane, because I keep a skein of soft yarn just to touch. There's something so calming about soft yarn.
I'm really enjoying reading your spinning notes.
SOCKS!!
I wear my hand-spun two-ply merino socks, but I wear clogs everyday. I think they would make gorgeous socks.
Beautiful yarn.
Don't feel bad. I was the plying person on a sheep to shawl team a few years ago. I was busy plying away when I looked down at the bobbin and the yarn was looking odd. I had plied it in the same direction as the singles had been spun. I pulled yards and yards off and had to respin to get everything right again.
It looks beautiful!
I've just started spinning myself. I'm in awe of how nice your stuff looks! Have you decided what kind of wheel to buy yet?
It's really pretty! Bet it would make a wonderful Lady Eleanor.
Yarn looks so great! Thanks for the great detail in your post.
You are spinning very well, but you need to stop worrying about the consistency of your singles. A perfectly consistent yarn can be purchased easily. Part of the beauty and attraction of handspun yarn is the character of the yarn. Focus on having fun spinning a yarn you love and you will always love spinning.
I just came across your blog, and I wanted to say that your yarn looks great!
I also wanted to second what the Spinning Guy said... as a spinner, I tend to get frustrated with other spinning bloggers who don't think their yarn is 'perfect' enough. Handspun yarn is not supposed to be perfectly even... it's that slight unevenness when knitted up that gives it it's character. If you want perfectly consistent yarn, with no slightly thinner or thicker areas, stick with mill-spun. But for the best, most interesting yarn, go with your own handspun. There's nothing like it.
I love the yarn!
The colors are beautiful. They remind me of tropical waters. I could see it knit up as a hat, scarf, mittens....all three! Very pretty.