In Which the Pirate Makes More Yarn.

Working my way through the fibre stash, since I put some onto my Christmas wishlist…

First, I wanted to spin something cheerful! I picked this BFL from my fibre stash; it’s from Sheepish Creations. The look of the heathered BFL really appealed to me! This picture is from Sheepish Creations; I forgot to take my own pic of it but my braid was considerably more rainbow-ish than the pictures led me to believe. I liked it anyway, fortunately! It was just a little surprising when I opened up the braid.

I didn’t want a rainbow gradient yarn, so I tore the fibre in half and spun it so that I wouldn’t get too much colour matching. It worked out pretty well, coming out to 190 yards of two-ply yarn. The colours are toned down without getting muddy; they’re still bright and cheerful.

After that, I wanted to spin some more BFL. I went for a bag I’d picked up at MDSW this past year, eight ounces of pencil roving from Pucker Brush Farm. I just couldn’t resist these stormy-sky colours, and the price ($20) was excellent as well. Last year I spun up some merino pencil roving that I’d gotten from them, and I’m planning to pick up another bag next year.

Unlike the merino, I went for a slightly thicker yarn this time. I didn’t try to split the fibre into thirds; I just grabbed bits of it from the bag and spun until I had one very full bobbin and one about a third full. Then I chain-plied it all together, which went surprisingly quickly, and came up with a 230-yard skein. It’s squishy and pretty and some of my favourite colours put together.

I should probably start making some plans for some of this handspun. I’d thought to sell some of it on Etsy, and I may yet try that. It’s accumulating considerably faster than I can knit it! Spinning is so meditative, and the yarn seems to be a byproduct of that practice. I’ve only knit up a few projects with my own handspun, but I’d definitely like to work on some more. As nice as it is to wear handknits, it’s even nicer to wear handspun handknits!