Thursday, February 18, 2010

From Roving to Yarns.....

In keeping with the earlier post this week on habits, I pulled a roving from my shop and decided to spin it up. The first colorway I pulled was the Portulaca colorway of handpainted Superwash BFL.
I decided since I am going to be refeshing the shop with new fibers soon, I was going to play with the various techniques of spinning the rovings.
For this one, I divided the roving in half length - wise and weighed it. Then I divided each half into 4 smaller lengths.
I spun trying to keep the color stripes in order, but there was some variation in each length. The resulting yarn is soft, lofty and has some thick and thin sections that vary from sport to worsted weight in spots.

The colors softened nicely once spun and plyed giving me a wonderful marled effect.

The variations and flow is so nice, I can see this being used in scarfs, hats, or even a very nice pair of thick fair isle mittens. Especially if paired with a solid cream color to allow this yarn to take center stage.
I almost decided to keep it for myself, but decided to offer it instead. Its listed here and here. Another beauty shot:











So now I have pulled another colorway, this time I chose Firecracker, another Superwash BFL roving.




Once again I split it length wise and weighed it.




Then divided each half into two sections. I am going to try to keep the colors a bit more defined.


The first bobbin is done:


This yarn should turn out about fingering, but it really puffed up when washed, so since the last skein did that, I am spinning it thinner.


I hope to finish the 2nd bobbin and ply it tonight.


Its turning out really cool, don't you think?

4 comments:

FibreJunky said...

very pretty!!

Opal said...

you got the gorgeousness going on over here! :D

Unknown said...

Niiiiiice. I need a spinning wheel!!!

Anonymous said...

Forgive my curious nature, but would you share what type of spinning wheel you are using? The yarn is really lovely.

I just finished my very first real hand knit piece all made from my own hand-spun yarn, a 3 ply made using 2 Alpaca singles and one wool single. I am so tickled that it came out so well, and the feeling of accomplishment is so sweet.

I have yet to spin superwash wool, but I do have one skien that I picked up at our local Endless Mountains Fiber Fest in Haarford, PA; held last September. If it goes well, I'm sure I'll be looking for more since I love knitting socks.

I love the newly died skeins you have drying. They all look very lovely. I hope you are very successful in finding homes for them quickly. :)