Ang - I guess my suggestion/question is to see if maybe you're under-plying the yarn? Remember that the yarn winding onto the bobbin has less twist in it than the plied yarn leaving your hands. Every time the yarn touches a point (the orifice, flyer hook, etc.), it loses just a bit of twist so in most cases, you should add more than you think you need. Also check the yarn on the bobbin occasionally at first to make sure it still has enough twist.

I tend to get a pretty balanced yarn when I navajo ply and if it isn't balanced off the wheel, a long soak in hot water and some vigorous handling/thwacking tend to even it out. I don't add much more twist for a navajo ply than I do for a 2-ply except in the first and last several feet of singles to make sure it doesn't drift apart when I'm starting. This is some fingering weight navajo plied BFL that's pretty much fresh off the wheel with no setting. It's pretty much balanced and setting the twist will make it completely balanced. I hope this helps.

I haven't done any spinning in ages and then after a spin in public thing at my LYS to promote spinning this past Sunday, I haven't stopped.

I received a Funky Carolina fiber sampler of 12 different colors and fibers. They're being spun into fingering weight skeins of 4 fibers each and will be knit into a shawl.


left to right: soysilk, merino (green), superwash BFL, falkland


right to left across middle section:  BFL, superwash merino, tencel, superfine adult alpaca (the blue starts the merino again)





I love the two skeins together. I'm working on the third skein, which is faux cashmere (nylon), two colors of superwash merino and a merino/tencel blend.





The brown skein is a navajo plied Falkland from Fat Cat Knits named Lars in the Sun. The purple is a two-ply superwash merino, Nightmare from Funky Carolina.


Merino, commercially prepared/dyed top. 350-ish yards light fingering weight.

The second sampler skein & Lars still need to be set, but I'm putting it off until I have the third skein done.

Oh, pretty!

I recently got a Kromski Sonata and took some Funky Carolina superwash merino for a whirl. The second is the last bit of spinning I did on a borrowed Ashford Traditional; BFL from Gale's Art, a local dyer. I'm craving more fiber, but a kitchen refinish and waiting to see what I find at SAFF in a couple weeks have thwarted my spinning ambitions.

Salty - 4oz sport weight


Cherry Blossom - 4oz fingering weight

It seems everyone has skulls on the mind this time of year I've been turning them into stitch markers, but a friend of mine has requested earrings as well. The beads pictured are translucent white & glow-in-the-dark. They're each just under 1/2" long.

As much as I love browsing the Fiber Friday offerings, it seems that it has fostered the mindset that posting new yarns throughout the week shouldn't be done. People save up their creations, waiting for Friday, and it seems the Completed Projects board suffers from a lack of activity because of it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to have a thread showcasing everyone's hard work, but wouldn't a some inspiration during the week help people sit down and do a little more spinning, giving us more fiber to oogle every day and not just Friday?

In that spirit, here's my random offering. 128 yds of Corriedale in Strawberry Fields from Spunky Eclectic's fiber club. The fiber was given to me by a friend who wasn't thrilled with the colors. I'm undecided

It occured to me that the fiber wasn't going to spin itself. This is 3oz of "sea mist" merino and silk I picked up at a LYS. The plan is to ply this with chocolate merino and see what happens. I only have two bobbins for my out of production wheel and haven't been able to try my had at using a lathe yet, so I'm all about plying from balls.

The at night, flash photo shows how pale the wool really is.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nytefalle/502976078


http://www.flickr.com/photos/nytefalle/503014529


http://www.flickr.com/photos/nytefalle/502976294

BFL = Blue Faced Leicester

I've been wanting to make a Fiber Friday post, but I just haven't been spinning lately. I'll pull out some old photos because I'm determined to finally post something. Here's some kool-aid dyed merino & silk from a few weeks ago. This was me trying to force myself to spin something heavier.



And some Humbug BFL that I spun in January.



This is closer to my usual spinning weight. Alpaca With a Twist that has been in progress for ages now.



Merino from a local farm.

Ok, here's the requisite bathroom mirror shot.



I omitted the purl ridges in every instance and did the neck and hems in a seed stitch. I also started the lace on the sleeves so they would be at the same level as the lace on the body and moved the sleeve increases to the underside.



My voodoo math for the bust adjustments I made can be found here http://www.nytefalle.com/blog/?p=260.

Well, I'm currently working on the Sophie purse from http://magknits.com. The purse is brown, since I happened to have a full ball of the Cascade 220 sitting around. I'm going to make pink poppies from the same site to embellish. The problem was I couldn't find any just pink wool at my lys's over the weekend. I decided to go with a skein of white lambs pride worsted & give kool-aid a shot. Definitely a lot of fun. Here's the steps...

http://home.comcast.net/~memilind/images/start.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~memilind/images/middle.jpg

Well, I completed my first actual pair of socks a little while back. I had a day long stint at the doctor's offices at the beginning of the month, so I stopped into the Hobby Lobby almost next door & picked up something to work on. I think the yarn is Bernat Hot Sox in Army Hot.

One of the police officers who usually patrols the same zone as my husband re-enlisted in the army reserves last month. A few days later, she got called up. She's currently sitting at Ft. Stewart about to head on an 18 month tour in Iraq, possibly Tikrit. We're keeping all her police gear & taking care of her cat while she's gone & pretty much being her "family" since all her actual family is in Michigan. I thought maybe she'd get a kick out of these.