Tuesday, June 3, 2008

HANDSPUN & COMPUTING SETT: PART I

Perhaps Leigh somehow knows the agonies I have been going through trying to determine the sett to use for my next handspun shawl?

Here is a photo of the multi-orange yarn I spun and plied for that shawl.  
Orange Plied Skein

I spun this yarn from Rhiannon’s Fire (orange) from Crosspatch Creations’ Triple Play rovings,  I purchased this from The Bellwether.

So far I have plied two skeins.  Each skein works out to be 260 yards.  There seems to be enough of the singles left to ply another skein of about the same length.  The total plied yarn will represent about 8 ounces of fiber.

I had been nervous about the yarn, however.  I had spun it on my electric Babe and plied it on my Ashford Traveller with high speed Woolee Winder.  Then I dunked it into the water to soak.  No twist at all.  What a relief!

The wraps per inch are 13-14.  This is a little difficult to judge because the yarn is a textured yarn so there are (relatively) thinner and thicker parts.  This is not the result of incompetent spinning.  It is the result of a fiber that is deliberately processed to result in a textured yarn.

Related Posts:  

Spinning for Weaving
Spinning Weaving Yarn with an Electric Spinner

© 2008

6 comments:

Taueret said...

That yarn is SO beautiful Peg, I just love those colours. The shawl will be stunning.

Anonymous said...

Peg, I so admire spinners. I have a wheel, I have learned the rudiments of spinning -- and it was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had as an artisan. :)

Love that colorway, and the texture looks like it will produce a really luscious shawl.

Looking forward to watching it come to life.

Cheers,
Jane

Peg in South Carolina said...

Taueret, thank you for the compliment.
Jane, yes learning to spin can be humbling! But once you learn, it's worth it. I spin mostly in those spaces between activities or when I am too tired to engage in "serious" work. And sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night I go spin for awhile and then go right back to sleep.

Dorothy said...

Very beautiful yarn, I love fiery colours. I look forward to seeing it woven.

Peg in South Carolina said...

And so do I, Dorothy. But first I have to finish plying the orange and then I have to finish spinning the second bobbin of green and then ply those. Good to hear from you. Hope you are doing better.

Leigh said...

Peg, this is gorgeous yarn. I usually don't care for orange, but this is lovely. I think I'd be afraid to try and weave with it.