Chocolatey Eliina Shawl

Eliina Shawl by Lankakomero

• Yarn 1: My handspun yarn, 50% Superwash Merino, 50% Tencel (503 yards / 119 g per skein), ~1 skein, colorway "Milk Chocolate Lizard"
  
• Yarn 2: Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn, 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk (220 yards / 50 g per skein), ~0.42 skeins, colorway "Cocoa"
  
• Yarn 3: My handspun yarn, one ply Falkland wool, one ply Alpaca, silk, merino (372 yards / 109 g per skein), ~0.12 skeins, colorway "Turkish Delight"
  
• Needle: US 3 (3.25 mm) Knitpicks Circular Needle
  

The main yarn:


Blocking:


Backlit:


The "wrong" side:


Close-ups:



Hope those of you who celebrate it had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Two handspun scarves...

Here are two scarves I made from my handspun yarn (fairly) recently. As you will see, Bug kindly offered to model them for me...

Scarf 1.

A garter stitch scarf with knotted fringe made from my handspun Owl Clover yarn:

• Fiber: Ancient Threads Farm, Merino Superwash Roving (naturally dyed with cochineal, osage orange, tumeric, and lac)
  
• Yarn: 1 skeins = 578 yards (126 g), 14 wpi (fingering weight), single ply (~0.85 skeins used)
  
• Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm) Bamboo Circular Needle
  
• Size: 76.5" long x 7" wide, not including fringe (fringe adds 16 inches to length)
  

Gratuitous cat modeling:












Scarf 2.

A stockinette stitch scarf with simple fringe made from my handspun Live Shrimp yarn:

• Fiber: Creatively Dyed Milk Protein, Seacell, Wool Roving
  
• Yarn: 1 skeins = 365 yards (114 g), ~15 wpi (fingering weight), 2-ply (every bit of 1 skein used)
  
• Needle: US 3 (3.5 mm) Addi Turbo Circular Needle
  
• Size: 65.5" long x 7.5" wide (unrolled), not including fringe (fringe adds 8.5 inches to length)
  

Some recent spinning projects...

...and a word (well, several) of warning:

Be sure to add enough twist to your singles!
(For an answer to the question "Why do you mention this?" see my note for the last yarn, below.)

First: Thanks so much for all the nice comments about my Printed Silk Cardigan!

So far I'm surviving law school, and finding it pretty darn interesting - which is always good when you decide to devote a good chunk of your life to something :) I spun all three of these yarns BEFORE I started, however. I need to work on "working in" more spinning time here and there, now that I've got so little "free" time on my hands...


Handspun Yarn I: Mermaid

Fiber: Enchanted Knoll Farm Wool/Silk/Recycled sari silk/Angelina Farm-Raised Roving
Stats: 727 yards (74 g), ~25 wpi (lace weight)
Ply: single ply










Handspun Yarn II: Give Me Roses

Fiber: Enchanted Knoll Farm Cotswold/Merino/Bamboo/Silk/Recycled sari silk/Angelina Farm-Raised Batts
Stats: 483 yards (84 g), ~22 wpi (lace weight)
Ply: 2-ply












Handspun Yarn III: Artichoke

Fiber: Spunky Eclectic Corriedale/Alpaca Roving, colorway "Lichen"
Stats: 700 yards (109 g), ~20 wpi (lace weight)
Ply: 2-ply











An, ahem, extended note about this last yarn... which took me a little over 2 months to complete:

I initially spun it thinking I would leave it as a lace weight single. The fiber drafted beautifully, and while spinning I had a few instances of breakage, but nothing to be worried about (I thought). Then I decided it would be a really lovely 2-ply, instead of a single. When I started plying, all hell broke loose (more or less literally).

Every meter or so (sometimes even more frequently) a ply would drift apart, causing me to stop and reattach it. After a while (which actually enveloped a rather large chunk of time), I was extremely frustrated, having made so little progress in the face of serial-breakage. I thought, fine - it doesn't have enough twist in it to ply (you ply in the opposite direction, which removes twist from the singles), it needs to remain a single - so I stopped and tried to wind the singles off onto my niddy noddy. The singles broke again, and again... and again.... So I thought, OK then - I'll just run the singles back through my wheel, adding more twist. More breakage ensued - ack!

This had never happened to me before, and I was suddenly unsure of everything. Was there something wrong with the fiber (which had seemed quite pleasant to work with when I initially spun my singles)? Was it me? At this point the intransigent singles were inhabiting 4 of the 5 bobbins I owned (the two I'd spun the singles on, the plying bobbin, and another regular bobbin from when I'd tried to add more twist to the singles). I was stuck, and I didn't see a way to spin anything else (to renew my spinning confidence) without removing (and thereby destroying) my pretty but non-coherent singles.

I didn't spin for weeks... and weeks.

Finally, desperate to finish my yarn, I decided that my only hope was, indeed, adding more twist to the singles. I approached this cautiously, and with some trial and error, I found that adjusting the intake, treadling more slowly, and watching like a hawk that the tension on the singles coming off my lazy kate and running through my fingers remained consistent, I was able to slowly work through the remaining singles a bobbin at a time with much less frequent breakage.

I was surprised just how much additional twist I needed to add - I had significantly underspun the singles!

Finally, I plied them together (with little incident!), and I'm happy to say, I was able to rescue my yarn (with some wastage, to be sure, but nothing like the total loss I thought I had on my hands at one point).

All I can say is - Phew!

(and... be sure to add enough twist to your singles!!!!!)