Not too very long ago, Ms Janice (whose sweet dog, Ivan, recently passed, so send your hugs her way, if you can,) linked to this Etsy shop. I saw the most beautiful hand painted merino roving in her shop and I knew it had to be mine. I'm such a sucker for those nearly solid rovings.
I decided I really wanted to put my lazy kate to work and make a 3-ply that wasn't a Navajo ply. My scale has been on the fritz lately and my backup scale is somewhere in the deepest reaches of the city of boxes, we call our garage. The only thing to do was to wing it and hope for the best.
When all three bobbins were filled, it was clear that they all had a different amount of yarn on them. I plied all three until the first bobbin was empty.
I'm sure this is pretty common practice among other folks, but in case someone hasn't thought to do this, here's a technique I like that works as well for 2-plies as it does for 3. I decided to take the fuller bobbin and wind it into a bracelet for the Andean plying method. If I were working a 2-ply, I'd just take the only bobbin that had yarn left on it and wind it into a bracelet.
Once the bracelet was complete (note that I didn't cut any of the singles) I overlapped the the end tail of the bracelet, with the end of the tail from the first empty bobbin. I can now make my three ply from the one full bobbin and the two ends of the bracelet.
It's a bit fiddly, but it gets the job done.
I was either going to end up with a little extra bracelet or a little extra bobbin. I had hopped for the latter. It would have meant I could have finished the batch with a Navajo ply, maintaining a three ply through the entire skein (albeit with three different methods).
However, I had just a very small amount of bracelet left and it hardly seemed worth the effort to get it to a place where I'd only be feeding off the singles again, so I proceeded with a 2-ply to the end.
I ended up with about 3 yards of 2-ply, and almost 350 yards of 3-ply. Arguably, no waste, though the three yards of 2-ply are darn near useless.
The end product is pretty nice. There are definitely thicker areas and thinner areas, and over and under spun sections, but that's pretty much par for the course with my skill level.
The end product is about a worsted weight, with tons of sproing and softness. I'm toying with the idea of making some sort of felted bag, but maybe a scarf would get more use. Only time will tell.
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Comments (12)
Beautiful yarn! If you knit something needing seams, the 2-ply would be great for sewing up.
Posted by auntiemichal | April 26, 2007 1:37 PM
Posted on April 26, 2007 13:37
I wish I had your spinning skill! That is one of the most beautiful hand spuns I've seen in ... well, almost ever! I tried to see where it went thick and thin, and all I saw was gorgeous yarn. I can see a heavy lace, but a scarf would work. I bet it would look gorgeous in cables. Mmmm, cables in that color...
(I found you through mind of winter's blog, by the way. (: )
Posted by Abby | March 7, 2007 6:40 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 06:40
Welcome to PDX! Your dog is absolutely adorable, and the hue of the skein of yarn you spun is very pretty. Nice to find your blog! - Ilona
Posted by ilona | March 4, 2007 7:52 PM
Posted on March 4, 2007 19:52
Marnie--I love your helper and the color of your yarn is brilliant. Edna
Posted by Edna Hart | February 26, 2007 11:22 AM
Posted on February 26, 2007 11:22
Oh how I love your dog! I too had a dog that passed last year and my God, I was more upset about him than any human who has ever passed away in my life!
Squeeze your doggie's paws (they smell cheesy don't they when they've been asleep?), kiss it's cute nosie and give it a huge thwack on the rib cage until its tail wags!
I love your knitting too and have alink on my blog to your website
Posted by erssie | February 26, 2007 4:18 AM
Posted on February 26, 2007 04:18
That is lovely yarn. You are evil for alerting me to the fact that there is roving to be had in Etsy shops. It will be the end of me.
I knit up some handspun swatches this week - fun, fun, fun! And I am now formulating a spinning plan based on swatching. It's pretty exciting, because I'm going to get to use both handspun and stash.
Miss you!
Posted by Julia | February 24, 2007 11:04 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 23:04
That is beyond slobber worthy. You should see what MY spinning looks like.
The term "vomit-worthy" comes to mind.
Posted by pam | February 24, 2007 8:17 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 20:17
That's a clever way to use up those odd amounts of yarn! And why not felt handspun? Yarn's yarn, and you just want to choose whatever makes you happy to use it for.
And thanks for the love. :)
Posted by Janice in GA | February 24, 2007 5:06 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 17:06
Mmmmmmm.... *drool*
Posted by Sachi | February 24, 2007 2:23 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 14:23
That looks just lovely!!
Posted by --Deb | February 24, 2007 1:18 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 13:18
yeah, i love the color. i vote for a scarf. do you really want to felt your handspun yarn?
Posted by kat | February 24, 2007 12:20 PM
Posted on February 24, 2007 12:20
Beautiful - and that color is fantastic!
Posted by Mary-Heather | February 24, 2007 10:36 AM
Posted on February 24, 2007 10:36