Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Decluttering

I have to admit, it felt kind of nice to give myself permission to wrap up projects so that I could move on with less clutter and no more (or rather, fewer) unfinished projects weighing on my conscience.

I rather quickly plied up the two ounces of fiber that I had spun so I could get a new project on my wheel.


I think it came out pretty well at around 600 yards to 2oz.  Less yardage than I actually expected, but I'm happy with it (and even more happy that it's done.)  The fiber was from Knitnzu in a colorway from Spunky Eclectic that she selected just for me.


Despite it taking forever, the fiber itself was a joy to spin and I do look forward to spinning the other two ounces at some point.  The fiber is 80% mixed BFL and 20% silk.  Yum.

I dove into my fiber stash and found a bit of mystery fiber with no label, but I'm assuming it was mixed BFL.  There was only one ounce, which was perfect because I wanted instant gratification after that long-term project.


I had it spun and plied in less than two hours.  I wanted to try out chain plying to keep the colors separated and I think it worked out pretty well.  85 yards and no idea what I'm going to do with it, but it served its purpose.

After I finished that colorful yarn, I spent a bit of time playing around with different fibers just to play.  I never created a finished yarn, but simply sampled and tried different things out.  Then a few days ago I selected my next bump of fiber to spin up and got started.


Before I knew it, I had spun up the whole 4oz. in an afternoon.  The fiber is Coopworth dyed by Dan at Gnomespun.  Coopworth is a cross between Romney and Border Leicester, which gives it a longer fiber length that is relatively coarse.  The fiber was prepared as roving and there was no way it was going to spin into a smooth, lustrous single, so I did what I could to emphasize the fuzziness of the yarn.  I think the fiber is robust enough to create a fuzzy yarn that will still resist pilling and will wear quite well.  This is destined to become a 3-ply yarn.

And as for my weaving?  I simply cut it off the loom and hung it on my wall as is.


I'm actually quite enamored with the unfinished quality of it.  I didn't bother dealing with any loose ends, nor did I do hemstitching or secure those loose warp threads.  It won't last forever, but for now I kind of like it.


7 comments:

  1. The color of that top handspun is absolutely gorgeous! Any idea what you'll knit with it?

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  2. I agree with Silly. Gorgeous colors!

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  3. I love your wall hanging! Can't wait to see the blue once it's plied.

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  4. Sweet yarn! And I really like the wall hanging idea. I've had friends do the same thing, and also turn it into a cushion front. Don't you feel lighter already?

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  5. Looks as if you had fun with the weaving. Did you get your floor loom yet? Envy sits at my back door ;-) With more harnesses you will be able to try some Peter Collingwood techniques. What fun I had, going through his book and trying everything he had to offer. I had weaving samples all over the place. Fun, fun, fun.

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  6. It's all gorgeous. I love the wall hanging! If you hadn't said it was incomplete, I wouldn't have known.

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  7. I love your spinning! That blue is awesome, I am interested to see what it will become. I really like the wall hanging too! Very artistic.

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