Fiber Friday 20 January 2012

[nikschaf]

Howdy!  Here are a couple of yarns I spun this week.

The first one is "Saltwater Taffy," a superbulky shetland 2-ply.  I dyed the orange-red with Wilton's and Kool-Aid and left the other ply natural.  It was my first time spinning shetland and it was divine!  So easy to draft.  It's so bulky that my bobbin only held 73 yards, so I have another mini-skein of 35 yards.  I stuck a quarter in there to show how bulky the yarn is.



After plying the "Saltwater Taffy" I had some of the dyed singles left on the bobbin.  Decided to try supercoils for the first time.  So the 2nd yarn is called "Coral Supercoils."  Jacie Boggs jokes on her Sit and Spin DVD that when you're done spinning supercoils you'll have made about 4 yards of really cool yarn.  That's about right -- this skein is only 8.3 yards, but it was a fun experiment to spin it.



A closer view to show the coils better:

[Selnith]

wow that curly coils one looks AWESOME, wish i could spin

[jexxican]

I WANT TO SQUISH THE FIRST ONE! These are great Nik. Thought it was a dime before you said it was quarter: Wow! That will make something fun.

I've been spinning this week, made a 3-ply waste yarn, but it's not ready to be shown yet. I sure am loving this bulky flyer/bobbin kit, though. It holds so much more!

[Belladune]

OOOOH!  look at that coils!  so pretty!! And chunky!  

This is my educational post. lol  I've spun up more samples then this, but no pics.

On the left, Merino. Spun Woolen, from handcarded rolags. Fulled finish.
On the right, Teeswater. Spun Woolen, from handcarded rolags. Fulled finish.
Both were wrapped around the same niddy noddy, when they came off the bobbin.

Left: Merino; Right: Teeswater by SpinHeartSpin, on Flickr

Same yarns, Merino stretched out.

Left: Merino; Right: Teeswater - with the merino stretched by SpinHeartSpin, on Flickr

What does this mean?  That fiber content of your yarn makes a whooooooole big difference in the yarn you make, and in turn, the item or fabric you create out of it.  Merino has a TON of crimp, giving it elasticity. It would make nice socks or mitts.  Teeswater, on the other hand, is more of a long wool, with very little crimp.  This means that you get way less elasticity, and it would make a nice shawl or something drapey.

Anyway, there ya go, some fiber education for the day

[edenkitty]

Ok, so this is my first fiber friday post, so sorry that I have quite a few that I want to put up.



This first one was 4 oz of a 50 percent bamboo, 25 percent merino and 25 percent silk blend that I spun up for my aunt, I know I got at least 90-100 yards or so of it, but it sure was bulky and thick. This stuff takes forever to dry (I think it's the bamboo and maybe a little bit of the silk)



The next one was another present for another aunt, I called the yarn "blue lemon meringue pie" in honor of her mother that had passed away last year. It's plied with this wonderful metlon or lurex thread I got a while back in an awesome blue. I'm unsure of yardage, and as you can tell it's pretty thick/thin



This one is a fun one, I call it "Jeans go with Everything." I spun this from a bit of Colonial wool that I got in a swap and plyed it with this awesome cotton or rayon thread that has a bit of metallic running through it with pink and blue. It's hard to catch sparkle with the camera, but I really liked the look of this one. It's 3 ounces and about 119 yards.



I love a good thick/thin single! I made this with 2 ounces of some funky german? wool I received in the same swap as the other wool and just love the color way, I call it "Clouds at Twilight" and am in love with this yarn, It's about 2 ounces and 111 yards.




Here is a yarn I spun using my gradient method, I love how the yarn comes out just like the roving, I mean, I love variegated yarns, but I love a stripe or a gradient even more. I got this roving at the Astoria Fiber Arts Academy and plied it with a commercial 2 ply wool yarn. I ended up getting a bit of of this one since i used the commercial yarn to ply with 151 yards and a total of 4.5 ounces when all is said and done.



This is my disappointing yarn, Though the colors are pretty and the metallic boucle I used to ply it with in teal with pink, blue and yellow slubs is gorgeous, I cannot for the life of me keep tension to ply well with three strands. So even though I love the color, It will probably be made into something simple, that might hide it's spots of un-plied badness. It ended up being about 6 ounces and 163 yards.

[Belladune]

Beautiful yarns Eden Kitty!

[LadybugsAndBumblebees]

I absolutely LOVE the orange and white one!  I tried to wist it, but it wouldn't work.   

[jexxican]

EdenKitty made it on my Pinterest today. Well, one of her yarns at least.

[inle_rah]

Everything is gorgeous. I particularly like Clouds at Twilight and the super coils. Great job!

[nikschaf]

Ooh, pretty yarns this week!

Bella, I really like seeing those two different skeins next to each other.  It's fun to learn about how different fibers behave.

Edenkitty, I love your yarns -- especially blue lemon merengue pie!  Love the sheen.

My supercoils were fun to spin, though I definitely need more practice.  I think I needed a faster whorl and a slower intake, because sometimes I struggled to get the coils wrapped around and pushed up before they wound on.  Less than 9 yards of finished yarn didn't give me much to practice on, so I'll have to try it again soon!