There is something about the summer that makes me want to spin more than knit. I kicked off this year's summer spinning with the grey gradient that I posted about earlier. It came out so thick and fluffy that I couldn't resist knitting it up immediately.
It being thick and fluffy, it was also very warm to knit. Especially as the weather just got warmer and warmer, but I took frequent breaks and shoved it to the side and got it done. It's so luscious and soft, I can't wait until the weather turns cold so I can wear it.
I finished off the first half of a braid of fibre I bought for Tour de Fleece last year. It's meant to become a 3-ply fingering weight yarn. To knit something with... Most likely a gift, because while I enjoy spinning colour, I do not wear other than mostly black.
I've been curious about spinning wool embroidery threads for a long time and now I felt confident enough to try it out. Not the worlds most even spinning, but oh so much fun to take an itty bitty piece of fluff and see how fine I can go. The finest (dark blue, third from the top) is 48 WPI. That's pretty fine, and I know I can go even finer.
I must have been driven mad by the wool fumes, because after the success of my embroidery yarn samples, I went and bought a sampler of 24 colours of merino top to spin more embroidery threads. ...Along with an international wool sampler (8 different kinds of un-dyed wool), 6 merino/silk batts (3 different colours), 3 braids of merino top (2 different colourways).
One of the colourways was exactly the colour I wanted to knit my next cowl with, so I tore the braid into three equal length pieces and began on the first single of the planned 3-ply fingering yarn. Spinning fine takes a while and if I hadn't decided to try out a new way of drafting, I might be heartily bored of the red by now. It also helps, that it is three different shades of red, so once in a while I get really subtle barber poles, or three different solid reds, or a little less subtle barber poles. I am really interested in how this will turn out as a yarn and as a knit fabric.
This top had a very straight edge where it tore, so I'm spinning it using the 'across the top' method. I gently tugged the top sideways to make it flatter and as I am drafting, I am moving the drafting triangle gradually from one side to another. Like she demonstrates in this video, except that I don't flip the top, I go up and down, the edge on my top is really straight, and the colours run lengthways the top, not across.
Before I went mad with buying loads of fibre in one go, I decided to subscribe to my first fibre club. She's doing it for fun and to share and I was curious. Oh boy are her colours glorious! The first one reminded me of the most gorgeous sunsets (aptly named as Dragon Fire) and the second is so delicate (also aptly named Forest Elf). She is producing one braid a month and I'm considering subscribing to her next themed club as well. But first, I must go spin up some more fibre to make space.