Thursday, July 5, 2012

Spin Like The Wind

Just popping in for a quick update.

It appears that every single one of you, or at least those who voiced an opinion, felt that I should start spinning for the Tour right away and not wait for the official start date.  As I was of like mind, I sat down at my wheel immediately and began spinning.


I currently have 15oz. all spun up, 12 of which have already been plied and finished (washed, beaten, and hung to dry.)  That means I'm a little over a third of the way there with plenty of time left to finish if I continue at this pace (which, it turns out, I haven't been.  But there's still time.)

I have something cool to show you.  Or at least I think it's cool, but it's very possible that I've simply spent too much time alone in my apartment in the past few weeks.  Nevertheless, I'm going to show you anyway.  I've finished three skeins now and I washed each of them on a different day and hung them up to dry.  When I hung the second skein next to the first one, I was shocked (and a little worried) to see that it was four inches longer than the first!  And it wasn't nearly as bouncy, either.  And it's not like I hang up my yarn sopping wet, either.  I wrap it in a towel and stomp all over it and swing it around in the air above my head after I wash it and it's really only a little damp by the time it gets hung up.  I figured at that point that I had screwed everything up and had ruined all my plans of having an awesome sweater because one skein was lofty and airy and the next was kind of lifeless, but it turns out that as that second skein dried, it sprung up and shrank those four inches to match the first.  So here's a picture of the three skeins together in varying stages of dryness.  They're now all dry and look like the same yarn (and are the same length), which is good because they're supposed to be the same yarn.


This is going to be the greatest sweater ever.  I've already designed it in my head (I think.)

17 comments:

  1. Congratulations, those first few skeins look awesome! And I love the stair-stepping lengths they do. Very much looking forward to your new sweater :)

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  2. Ooh, how cool! It's like yarn-nerd cool, which is plenty cool by me. 'Cause that's how we roll. :)

    I like how, from a distance, it's green. Then you get up close and it's all crazy colored.

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  3. Yay for the poof!! (or something like that - LOL!)

    I've stopped hanging my yarns and instead just spread them out on my sweater rack. It might just be my imagination, but I think they poof up even more that way.

    Beautiful spinning! And wow, you're going to have a metric crapload of yarn when you're done.

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    1. Dave, that's a great idea to put them out on a sweater rack. I'll give it a try with my current batch. Thanks for the tip.

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  4. It will be the greatest sweater ever!

    Once you are settled, I'll send you a spin dryer thingy as a house warming!

    xoxo

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  5. I love it! Oh, and I never trust yarn until it's completely dry.

    I'm so happy that you started spinning straight away. Such beautiful yarn should not have to wait to be born.

    Btw, remind me to tell you the story of our Joan and the spin dryer. *L*

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  6. It is going to be the awesomesaucest sweater. Get that spinning done so you can start the knit!

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  7. OOH! very nice yarn, it should make a wonderful sweater!

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  8. That yarn is awesome! I cant wait to see how the sweater progresses. Maybe it could be you Ravellenic Games project?

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  9. I want to hear the Joan spin dryer story! Cool yarn.

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  10. very pretty yarn! what's the sweater going to be like?

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  11. The yarn's looking lovely. With that many batts to go and a looming deadline it's a good thing you started early. The finished yarn is turning out amazing.

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  12. You're off to a great start! That's interesting that the yarn changed so much while drying. I know your sweater will be amazing.

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  13. Oh, I'm horribly late. I love seeing what happened to your yarn. That just goes to prove how incredible your yarn must be. Can't wait to see the results!

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  14. It all looks like such an amazing process! Love, love love the color!

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  15. So? Did you get it all done? TdF's been over for more than a week. Hint, hint. :-)

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