I Win!

Yesterday was all about the spinning and quiet satisfaction.

I am spinning a bag of Shetland fibre that I picked up a long while ago from Pam's Woolly Shoppe. It's different from the very fine Shetland that I purchased with my wheels.  A little coarser fibre and more of a carded than combed prep.  It isn't nearly as smooth and it is making for a most magical spinning experience.

I am using this whole bag of fibre, all 225 grams for sampling and trying different things. 

The first thing I wanted to do was spin to put more twist in the single and to see if I could get the twist more even throughout.  That worked really well.

 

Really well.  The other thing I tried for the first time was to ply from a cake using the inside and outside ends to form the two ply yarn.  As you can see, a huge improvement and a much more enjoyable process.  I felt in charge of the process for a change.  It doesn't 'wrap' anywhere. They twist together.

The plied yarn  had a lot of energy.  The end of the 2 ply kept kinking back on itself to make a 4 ply (a really nice looking 4 ply) and when it came off the niddy noddy, there was a lot, a lot of bendy twisty life in it.  I was disappointed.

My friend suggested putting it in hot water right away and seeing what the finished result would be.  She has a 'Mr. Spinny', a laundry spinner that is perfect for small tasks like this.  

It came out and dried quite nicely.  Reasonably balanced even.  There is the smallest hint of twist in the long loop of the hank, but I am calling this sample a big win.

Not so much quiet satisfaction after all.  I petted it and admired it all day.   

I hit the vuvuzela level of satisfaction on this one.