Bittersweet
So. My first enabling of 2006 would be to tell you that Habu is having a sale. It would not do for you to miss the Habu sale. You know Habu is eclectic, artsy-sort-of yarn, so you don't want to miss it! (Thanks to Kitty Kitty Priscilla for the tip!)
Fiber: Rose Merino/Tussah, 4 oz
Purchased from: Carolina Homespun booth at Stitches West
Yield: 601 yards
Weight: Lace to fingering
Lurvely homespun Barberpole Rose! I am so pleased with how it turned out. It is a tad darker than the roving, but I think that may be a general rule of all multi-colored roving. It's particularly dark here, but only because the photo was taken on a gloomy day.
The photo above is more representative of its colors. My singles were slightly uneven, ranging from sport to laceweight, and the plies are a little tighter than usual. I attribute that to my learning to spin from the fold. The yarn is shiny, too. I'm thinking shawl or stole design with this.
After washing, I usually lay my handspun on a drying rack, without any tension. IThese 3 skeins, however, had only one or two twists in the skein, which I'm rather proud of. But why 3 skeins, you ask, when you only had one bobbin?
This. Happened.
I decided to do a 2-ply (Navajo plying would have resulted in a thicker yarn and I wanted this thin) so my first step would be to wind it into a center pull cake for plying. I wound the single with my winder, not noticing that some lengths somehow spun out of control until I pulled the yarn cake off the winder. I decided to rewind the yarn, but of course unset singles will wind over each other until they make a snarling mess. I stopped. I cried. I walked away. I got over it a day later and mustered enough courage to cut the offending bits and tied together as many lengths as I could salvage. The 3 skeins were the result. *sigh* While I'm glad it turned out well in the end, I wish I would've been more careful. I would've gotten one big fat skein that I'd be dancing around the apartment with, but I got careless with winding. Lesson learned. On to the next 8 ounces!
Salivating over: Apple's new MacBook Pro. Yeah, I need a new laptop.
GORGEOUS! So beautiful. I can't wait to ply my first skein. Hopefully the end of the week.
I think I checked out the Habu sale a day after it started... They have a merino/silk blend that just glows! But I agree that they are definitely artsy, and sometimes you just have to see and touch the yarn. This is when I'm glad to live in New York!
Well, I'm really smitten with the yarn, the color has such depth and because its overall effect is a bit monocromatic, I think the barber poling is quite nice. There's something rather vintage about the overall effect. Beautiful stuff.
Silk will betray you! It is in her nature!
Consider using storage bobbins instead?
Beautiful, yummy yarn. So delicate and such great colors. I have only Andean plied, so I've never had to deal with the problem of the singles going crazy on the ball winder. What would you do differently next time? Would you set them first?
Yummy yarn, indeed!
You just had to mention the whole Habu bit, didn't you! ;)
Your yarn turned out beautiful! It has great depth of color.
Yummy is definitely the word. Sorry to hear about the winding fiasco. My heart breaks a littel when those things happen with yarn I purchase, I can't imagine how I'd feel with yarn I spun!
Oh yeah - there's a new suite for iLife, too :)
Yummy is definately the word! I'm so glad you were able to "fix" the winding fiasco.
PS There's a new iLife suite out too :)
Pretty! Hey, I was just plying today, too. You only have one bobbin?!? I have three and it just ain't enough. :) Thanks for your nice note. I want to answer it but being offline much of the day, well, it's often hard to get back on. There's a lot of life to be lived after the blog! (Though I would like to put up a gallery one of these days. If for no other reason than to keep track of my stuff.) Thanks again, MJ.
Well, I think you did a bloody good job to get 3 skeins out of that terrifying tangle! I'd have cried too! It's such pretty yarn.
just found your blog. the design of your site is great. i'm jealous!
Yikes, I would have cried, too. I'm glad you salvaged most if it, it looks beautiful!
Ooohh! You're pretty good with that fiber and wheel! I noticed the thick/thin of the plys but I like it. Oh, I like everything anyhoo that you show us.
Oops almost clicked on the "buy now" button for the G4 :) (Wishful thinking.) Gonna get it? Let us know if you do.
Beautiful yarn! I'm sorry that while you were plying it, it turned into a mess, but now you know better so you do better, right? The barberpole rose is a beautiful color.
And I can't buy yarn, so no Habu for me!
OH NO! that os such beautiful yarn... really pretty colors.... sorry you couldn't get it into one big hank, glad you salvaged much of the 8 oz though!
i (too) love the colors in this yarn. like river pebbles of varying tints.
eek, i'm sorry to hear about the snarling incident. :( looks like you triumphed in the end though. 2 twists per skein!
I haven't gotten into plying yet, but I had the same thing happen with a skein of laceweight that I was *trying* to use. It got all garfed up and I ended up having to cut a couple of the worst knots out - leaving me with 2 cakes and a little mini-ball. *sigh*