Finished Boyfriend
Once I've got all my singles prepared, it's hard to keep me from wanting to sit down and ply them up. This was particularly true with this batch of superwash merino in "My Boyfriend's Back" from Crown Mountain Farms. I really wanted to make John a special pair of socks, and I really wanted the yarn to be ready by Christmas. So I fired up my wheel on the 23rd of December and armed with a bunch of podcasts, I plied up all 8 ounces. I could tell as I was plying that this yarn was going to be perfect for John. It had nice long stretches of color and there weren't too many bright patches or patches that might inadvertantly be misconstrued as pink. Most of it was dark and a bit moody and what I thought was just perfect for a pair of socks for John.
These before and after finishing shots are to help visualize how much a yarn can change from right after you finish plying it, to after it has a nice bath and a chance to dry. While in the top photo the yarn has been stretched over the niddy noddy a little bit, it still has that flat quality to it, even when you take it off the niddy. After a warm water bath with a bit of Eucalan, the yarn really comes to life. It poofs and contracts and gets some of the loft that you expect from a merino yarn. I let my yarn hang to dry, but I don't weight it at all. After finishing, it is also twist neutral (i.e. balanced).
One thing that did occur when I gave this yarn a bath was that I had a lot of red dye exhaust. Even after several rinses in cold water, I never got the water to run clear or even close to clear. I know that red dyes have a tendency to do this, and, as the wise Claudia has said on her blog, this is just the price we have to pay sometimes for beautiful vivid reds. However, I emailed Teyani to find out what she knew and to let her know about my experience. Of course, Teyani recommends sticking with a cool water bath, but she also told me that what's in your water may have an impact on color bleeding. Apparently, with her water, which is not city treated water and has no chlorine or fluoride added, she sees a little dye exhaust, but after a rinse it's pretty much stable. However, with customers that live in places with treated water, they often see what I saw when the dyes used were vivid reds or blues. Interesting, eh? So if you're an urban spinner of hand-dyed rovings, you may want to consider cooler finishing baths when working with intense colors, and you probably need to expect that you'll always get a bit of bleeding from the yarn, so you really want to make sure you wash whatever you make with the final yarn with like colors.
At any rate, I'm extremely happy with the finished product and it received an additional endorsement from the man who will be the recipient of the socks. Now all I need to do is finish up a few of my other projects so I can cast on for his Christmas socks! (Good thing I made sure that there was an XBOX360 under the tree for him as his big Christmas present, eh?)
P.S. to Rachel... "grist" is essentially a measurement of the number of yards of yarn per unit weight. In the US this is often measured as yards per pound and can be used like "wraps per inch" as a general means of comparing yarns or determining if one yarn can be easily substituted for another.
Good info, Theresa. The difference between the two yarns is very apparent in your pictures. Thanks for sharing!
An XBOX360 *and* handmade socks? Every man should be so lucky.
The yarn is gorgeous! I love the way it plied up. What sock patter do you plan to use? I might have to get me some of that fiber!
I never thought about what's "in" the water having an impact on rinsing. Thanks for that information.
Beautiful yarn. I really must finish spinning up my "Good Vibrations" singles and make some more sock yarn.
Your yarn is so beautiful! I can't wait to see the socks that you make with it. I was wondering if you have ever put some white vinegar in your rinse water and if that helps with your color bleeding?
I'm curious about your yarn finishing techniques. I just learned to spin this fall and the lady I took the class from never mentioned washing and drying yarn after spinning. I picked it up somewhere that it is a good thing to do, but I don't really know what to do. Warm wash, cool rinse is what I've been doing with a little baby shampoo. Could you outline your process a little more or suggest a good reference?
Is there a wraps per inch you aim for when spinning sock yarn?
Your finished boyfriend is very nice and I look forward to seeing the socks!
Wow, that yarn is AMAZING! And I love the before and after photos -- I knew there was a difference before and after finishing, but didn't realize it was so dramatic!
I'm also curious about your finishing technique . . . and how it differs from what I've been doing (warm eucalan bath, no rinse, squeeze, whack, and dry).
I've never tried it, but after reading your blog post I'm wondering if using distilled water might leave you with more of your dye in your yarn ... at my local grocery store a gallon of distilled water is pretty cheap (under $3), so it might be worth a try?
I was thinking of using distilled water for the bath too, but since the socks won't be washed in distilled water, I'd want any dye to come out prior to knitting. But that's just me. I dyed some roving last week and for the first time - I didn't have any red discharge! I was happy.
The yarn turned out wonderfully - looking forward to seeing it knit up!
Drool... I'm the same way with plying. As soon as the last bobbin of singles is done I MUST ply it right away.
I like the before and after comparison. Teyani's feedback was also useful. Never would have guessed that it is what is in the water that might make the difference.
congrats on a beautiful yarn - can't wait to see what pattern you'll knit up with it!
Gorgeous yarn. I think I want to pick up some of that roving for myself.
I'm coming out of lurkdom to share a laundry tidbit my grandmother and mother both told me they've done for years to reduce bleeding from red dyed items in the laundry----put vinegar in the rinse water. I've done that a couple of times with red items and it did seem to help. Not sure if it would help with Boyfriend....
Red is like that. For beauty, one must suffer.
;-)
The yarn is gorgeous. I'd love a pair of socks for myself out of it! :-)