Recently in Hello Yarn BFL (Hen) Category

Fiber: Blue-Face Leicester, Hen colorway; 4 oz.
Vendor: Hello Yarn
Yield: 192 yards of the prettiest barberpole yarn I've spun in a while
Weight: Worsted to bulky

Nope, I haven't warshed this. I'm avoiding the inevitability of sheepy smelliness.

So ends my spinning for softness and speed journey. I've spun softer and squooshier than I've ever spun before, and I've improved my speed. I can humbly (not) say that there *was* some consistency to my yarn: three of my single-ounce bobbins came within a yard of each other: two at 46 yards and one at 47 yards. Whee! The fourth bobbin, where I consciously tried to spin a finer yarn, came to 53 yards. Not bad, eh?

I love these little bits of color that remind me of Renaissance-era paintings. This batch has more reds, oranges, and pinks in it; not so many blues and greens as the first batch. Nonetheless, it's quite lovely, and the slight difference in color is what makes hand-dyed fiber special. (Thanks, Adrian!) I think that for any beginning spinner it's worthwhile to splurge a bit on colorways that you love, so that the experience of spindling, or spinning, is more enjoyable. The myriad of color combinations you get with barberpole yarn is incredible.

Blogworthy:
◊ Kat is in the Spring 2007 issue of Knitscene! She got 3 patterns *and* an interview. Way to go, Kat!
◊ How to make a lavender basket. Also, how to make lavender wands. I need me a good local (Southern California) lavender source.
◊ It's time to bring back hamsters dancing, don't you think? Crank up the volume!

Perhaps Adrian was thinking of the Blue Hen Chicken when she dyed this colorway as part of my gift order last year. It's mostly reds: brick and brownish and pinkish reds; some smudges of green; flashes of brilliant blue. I wish you could see this up close, as the spun-up yarn is a tantalizing palette of faded, but at the same time still achingly vibrant, colors.

I firmly believe in pre-drafting. When I first started spindling, pre-drafting was just a formality; the spinning was what made yarn! Well, yes, but pre-drafting holds the key to a lofty, consistent single. By not attenuating the fibers, you don't encourage air to flow in and out, your fibers remain compressed, and when you spin, those compressed fibers clump up. My first few handspuns were clumpy; there's a market for that, but my goal was consistency.

At a meetup, I had the pleasure of pre-drafting roving for Julia and Lori while they spun on my wheel. Julia told Marnie, and Marnie emailed me and.... Well, nothing happened for a while. If you think about all the different ways of coloring fiber, either through dyeing or carding, it's apparent that there isn't one solid way to pre-draft to get the results you're looking for in a final handspun. So with this entry I start my series on how I pre-draft colored fiber. Please feel free to add your thoughts at the end of this!

Yarn in three stages: as unspun roving, singles on the bobbins, and plied and skeined yarn. Whenever I spin, I divide my fiber into manageable quantities that I can easily remember. Therefore, you see one ounce of roving. Two ounces of singles, one on each bobbin. Four ounces, or four single-ounce skeins of yarn.

It also depends on what weight you're planning on spinning. I'm still doing my exercise on spinning for softness, so thick and thin yarn will fill up a bobbin much faster than laceweight or sportweight. I've been able to get 4 ounces of merino/tussah singles on one bobbin.

I *finally* got to spin Adrian's oh-my-god-so-beautiful fiber, which I ordered more than nine (!) months ago as a Christmas present to myself. I know (hangs head in shame), why didn't I spin it before?

I don't think I was worthy. Then I borrowed Andrea's copy of Paula Simmons' Spinning for Softness and Speed. And the world came tumbling down.

Hello. Yarn. (he he) Spun speedily and soft like baby angel tushies.

Squishily swooofffttt!!! And hella balanced. Oh yeah.

And because I can't resist, more and more pictures in the sunlight. Brings out the colors. Love the contrasts. As much as I harp on about my crappy point-and-shoot, it can take nice pics once in a while.

This one shows the range of colors. What beautiful colors. I am in love. And I have 4 more ounces!!! (I must be fair to Adrian and mention that she dyed 24 ounces of fiber for me; 8 ounces each of three delectable colorways I'll explain more in detail as I post about them. Adrian is so cool! Go buy her stuff!)

In our back-and-forth emails last year regarding colors, I pointed Adrian to a batch she had dyed previously and said that I wanted *the exact same thing*. She did her magic and came up with this. If you look in her gallery, you may find it; since I trashed all those emails, I don't remember what the link was, but it may be either Holland, "Hand Dyed Merino Wool, or "Sock Yarn". I think it may be the last one. Yeah. I have an additional 4 ounce bag, lucky me, and I'll continue with my softness/speed experiments.

Fiber: Blue-Face Leicester, 3 oz.
Vendor: Hello Yarn
Yield: 161.5 yards of squishiness
Weight: Bulky. Spinning for softness and speed. Oh my. Buy Paula Simmons' Spinning for Softness and Speed directly from her.

Blogworthy:
◊ I've joined the Fair Isle Kitters ring; I'm not sure whether the name is a typo, so I'll keep it at that. It's fall, time for more colorwork! This reminds me of a post by Nona Knits regarding yarn dominance.
◊ I'm still thinking about the Snowdrift Stole.
◊ Via Inhabitat, a beautiful rain windchime chandelier.
◊ Via Kottke, a movie of self-portraits taken over a 5-1/2 year period. You can see when he gets a haircut each time. Also, nice haunting music.
◊ Cool picture of a guy holding the sun.
◊ Stephen Wiltshire, the Human Camera.
◊ Finally, here's an article on High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging. Interesting. Apparently, doable in Adobe Photoshop CS2.