The Spin Doctor

I’ve been putting a good spin on things around the Big Blue House lately. 

Last week I took a beginning spinning class at Yarn Harbor.  I’ve been spinning for about 6 months and am fairly confident in my spinning, however, after taking a class at Sock Summit in August I felt like there was more that I should know.  So, when in doubt, start at the beginning.  I picked up a couple of good tips and got some reassurance that what I was doing was on the right track. 

This weekend I decided to Navajo ply some yarn that I had spun quite a while back.  It’s merino in alternating long stretches of brown and olive green.  My intention was that I’d make self-striping sock yarn out of it.  It’s been sitting on the bobbin for several months now.  Since I’ve spun this, I’ve taken two classes where the instructors have told me to spin a tighter twist.  Ummm… yeah, now I understand why.  When you ply 2 strands together (this makes the yarn stronger and more durable), you ply in the opposite direction from your regular spinning.  If you’re spinning the original yarn (called a single) clockwise, then you ply in the counter clockwise direction.  When I went to ply the yarn, it was so underspun that the yarn just went *poof* in my hands.  It dissolved back into fluffy roving.  So… what to do?  Any suggestions?  I’m thinking about just running it back through the wheel and adding more spin to it.  Will that work?

While I think on that, I’ve also been spinning some superwash merino.  It’s from Kitchen Sink Dyeworks.  I bought it at Sock Summit, so I’m pretty sure that I’m attributing it to the correct dyer.  I do remember that they gave me a Voodoo Donut while I was shopping.  I thought that was brave, handing a customer a Coco Puffs donut while she’s fondling your wool.  By the way, her seacell merino would make an awesome gift for any knitter.  It’s an amazing price for seacell.  And it’s purrr-ty!