In Which the Pirate Improves.

I am getting better at this spinning thing!

Last August, I started spinning this superwash merino from C*EYE*BER Fiber, which I bought at the 2008 Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I very carefully split the fiber into four equal parts, to make two bobbins’ worth of two-ply yarn (the Ashford bobbins are tiny; I would only have to split 100g of fiber into two equal parts to spin on the Sonata!) and got to spinning. Not very well, or very smoothly, but I was spinning!

Well, last year I only spun up half of it, into this thick and thin squooshy goodness. It averages out to 8 wraps per inch, which is a super bulky yarn. It’s very soft and pettable, though I admit I was disappointed when it came off of the drying rack. It’s not the kind of yarn I like to knit with. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it. I can’t even felt it, because it’s superwash. My guess is that I never spun the second half of the fiber because it was too difficult, too slippery, too lumpy and bumpy and no fun at all to spin.

This week I picked up the other half of the fiber with the intent of spinning a more even, slightly thinner, but still a bit thick-and-thin, yarn. Since I’m not emotionally attached to the first skein, and I have nothing else in the stash that’s superwash, I figured this would be a good practice spin for me. I was amazed – when I started the first bobbin, I found the fiber to be much more manageable than the first time around. Halfway through the second bobbin, I realized that I was getting a much more even single than I thought I could, given what a rough time of it I had a year ago!

Here’s a second pic for good measure, which better shows that I still managed to get some thick-and-thin going. I was surprised at how easy it was to spin *evenly*, how automatically my hands moved to thin out the lumps or add more fiber to a thin spot. After a wash and thwack, this should floof up a bit and be soft and squishy like its older sister… just much more knittable.

And sure enough.. it’s delightfully evened out and quite squooshy! I have almost 50 yards of it; what shall I knit?