In Which the Pirate Spins the Blues.

While I was letting the rust-and-cream singles rest prior to plying, this blue blend leaped out at me and demanded to be spun. It’s 50% merino, 25% bamboo, and 25% tussah silk from Bullen’s Wullens, which I bought at MDSW back in 2010. That’s not the oldest fibre in my collection, sad to say, but I’ve gone through what I have and made rough plans for it – which fibres I can coordinate, which should be spun on their own, vague ideas of how to spin and ply, and possibly even what kind of project I might want to knit up with the finished yarn.

I challenged myself to spin a slightly thicker single than I usually do, with the intent of chain-plying to make a light worsted weight yarn so I wouldn’t have to worry about splitting into three equal parts or having any left over. Chain-plying isn’t my favourite thing to do, but then again, *plying* isn’t my favourite part of spinning, so… Anyway, I got out my trusty Spinner’s Control Card and got to work, stopping every few metres at first to double-check that I wasn’t reverting to my usual thin singles.

It seems to be working! I’m about 2/3 of the way through the fibre now, as a rough estimate. Rather than let the full length of the top drag around on the ground, I made a crochet-style chain of it using my fingers. As I spin, the next bit of chain pops free.

Spinning slightly thicker is a challenge – I should see if I can do a reasonably balanced worsted single, yikes – but I think this one is coming out nicely. It’s got a lot of twist, which should make a nice bouncy yarn. I’m excited to see what it looks like after it’s plied and washed!