Surprise!
I decided this weekend that my poor spinning wheel had been neglected for long enough. The most logical thing to do was, therefor, to finish all of the plying that had been languishing on my lazy Kate for way too long. Plying is not my favorite...but then I wanted to be able to start another large project with a clear conscience.
And so, I changed out the drive band, put on the plying head and grabbed the two bobbins of the long-suffering alpaca-silk. I was greatly perplexed, though, with how odd it felt as I began to ply. (We'll discuss at another time why I hadn't noticed before that....) I looked down, and found...
THAT I HAD ALREADY PLIED IT AND HAD A FINISHED YARN!
All I had to do was wind it off and wash it!
If you'll remember, this is one of the alpaca fibers that was something of a disaster to spin...and no, it wasn't a user error issue. The fiber was matted and cut to different levels, and it just wasn't pleasant to work with.
Sadly, the yarn isn't all that great, either. You'd think with a silk/alpaca content it would be deliciously soft. I have Romney singles, though, that feel better than this. Even worse, it's shedding like the dickens. When I gave it a good whack in the tub, lots of little, tiny, half-inch long black fibers came loose.
I was rather pleasantly shocked, though, when I discovered that it's a very well-balanced, even yarn. Back when I spun the singles and then plied it, I was so annoyed with the fiber that I really didn't give it any sort of attention, preferring just to GET IT DONE so that I could move on to something more pleasant. I would like to think that I'm just That Good....but that would be a bit much....
And so, I changed out the drive band, put on the plying head and grabbed the two bobbins of the long-suffering alpaca-silk. I was greatly perplexed, though, with how odd it felt as I began to ply. (We'll discuss at another time why I hadn't noticed before that....) I looked down, and found...
THAT I HAD ALREADY PLIED IT AND HAD A FINISHED YARN!
All I had to do was wind it off and wash it!
If you'll remember, this is one of the alpaca fibers that was something of a disaster to spin...and no, it wasn't a user error issue. The fiber was matted and cut to different levels, and it just wasn't pleasant to work with.
Sadly, the yarn isn't all that great, either. You'd think with a silk/alpaca content it would be deliciously soft. I have Romney singles, though, that feel better than this. Even worse, it's shedding like the dickens. When I gave it a good whack in the tub, lots of little, tiny, half-inch long black fibers came loose.
I was rather pleasantly shocked, though, when I discovered that it's a very well-balanced, even yarn. Back when I spun the singles and then plied it, I was so annoyed with the fiber that I really didn't give it any sort of attention, preferring just to GET IT DONE so that I could move on to something more pleasant. I would like to think that I'm just That Good....but that would be a bit much....SO, does anyone have any ideas of what to do with this stuff? I think I'll take it to my next guild meeting and see if they have any ideas....but I'm open to anything you all might suggest!
*Out of respect for the farmer, because I'm really hoping this fiber was a fluke, I'm not going to share the origins of this particular batch of fiber.
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