In Which the Pirate Spins a Rainbow.

I used this rainbow of Corriedale to practice my longdraw spinning, getting even better acquainted with “Persistence,” the 30″ Schacht-Reeves, in the process. (Goodness, I am in love with this wheel.) I split each colour into four even pieces so that I could have two two-ply rainbows.

By the end of the spin (10 ounces/285g or so) I felt like I was getting the hang of spinning from the fold, and eventually I came up with 368 yards of two-ply yarn. The full rainbow wouldn’t quite fit on one bobbin, so I spun half and half. The plying was done on “Grace,” the Sonata, because she’s got a jumbo flyer. Twice, the two bobbins I was plying together matched up perfectly, both in the length of each colour stripe and in the total length of yarn. I love when that happens! The other two times, I had to fudge a little bit.

One of the blue-to-purple bobbins got a little out of order, too. I’m sure it will be just fine in the end, but I’m disappointed that I didn’t catch the mistake before it was too late.

When I first started the spin, I had all kinds of thoughts about what project to make with this stuff, and eventually decided on something quick and easy: a pillow! I decided to knit corner-to-corner to get it as close to square as possible while still using up all of the yarn, and used my little kitchen scale to determine the halfway point. It’s right here in the greens:

I’m considering the possibility of felting this once it’s done, but it’s knitting up far more evenly than I’d expected. I chose US 9/5.5mm needles and I’m pleased with the overall feel and drape of the fabric. Once both sides are finished, I’ll crochet them together with a wide-ish border, probably in black.

The next question is, am I going to spin the Tour de Fleece project the same way? The same thickness? The same two-ply? There are so many options!