buttercup & zaria

a history of my first yarn

This post is for my Mom, so I can show her my first spinning project. (Hi Mom!)

It started with this roving. It's 50% superwash merino wool / 50% tencel (which is a manmade fiber made from cellulose.)



I spun it into thin lengths of yarn called singles.



I wound the 3 singles together into a ball in preparation for plying. (I got the idea from abbysyarns on Ravelry -- it's infinitely easier to ply from a ball than from 3 singles.) Plying is twisting the singles together to form a thicker, stronger yarn. I spin the singles clockwise, then ply them together counter-clockwise.



Last night I plied the singles, which took quite a damn while, let me tell you. This is a 3-ply yarn because it has 3 singles in the finished yarn.



Then I washed it, whacked it, and hung it to dry. This morning, it looked like this. It's BEAUTIFUL.







(Big picture can be found here.)

I did it! I made yarn!!!

110 yards of 3-ply fingering/sock weight merino/tencel yarn! Last night I plied the singles, which took quite a damn while, let me tell you.



Then I washed it, whacked it, and hung it to dry. This morning, it looked like this. It's BEAUTIFUL. I can't stop petting it! And it's balanced -- I'm not going to have to run it back through the spindle!







(Big picture can be found here.)

zaria: singles spun, ready for plying!

I am so excited! Last night I finished spinning the Buttercup single to ply with the 2 Zaria singles!



I wound the 3 singles together into a ball in preparation for plying. (I found this post from abbysyarns on Ravelry, and it is brilliant. Plying from 1 ball instead of 3 bobbins is so much easier.)



And a picture with a kitten. For scale, of course. :) The ball weighs 1.8 oz.



I can't wait to ply tonight! My first project will be finished!

finished spinning the Zaria!

I finished spinning the Zaria merino/tencel this weekend. Haven't plied it yet because I decided to ply 2 strands of Zaria with 1 of Buttercup to stretch it out, and I'm spinning the Buttercup now.

But I'm very close to finishing my first spinning project!

zaria -- 2nd batch

I'm so pleased with this 3-ply! It's merino/tencel, and I overplied the hell out of it before I set the twist. (I was trying for a nice, tight ply and overdid it by quite a bit.) This morning I figured out how to take out the extra twist.

First, I loosely wound it on the large niddy noddy. Then I started at one end and ran an arm's length through my fingers until it had untwisted to the point of being balanced. I wound that into a tiny ball and secured it with a hair clip. Then I ran another arm's length through my hands and let the ball dangle so it would untwist. I did this for the entire 75 feet, and at the end, I had a well-balanced ball of yarn.

I feel so accomplished! I'm learning!