Monday 14 June 2010

One more!

Handspun

I have spun 80 m of fingering/sport weight. Frustrated by the low yield of my previous batch, I decided to try to spin quite thin, which did in fact gave me a higher yield.

Singles

The yarn is one single plied unto itself using a centre pull ball, guaranteeing no left-over yarn from two singles. I spun the single as long as I could, until it got too unwieldy. I could only spin about half of that the first time I tried (the yarn kept slipping off the hook), but I learned a little trick to secure it so that it doesn't spin around the whorl as I'm spindling, which has doubled the output of one spindle-full.

Skein

The yarn is a lot more constant in thickness: it doesn't deviate from mean thickness for too long, and it doesn't deviate too much. It should be mostly good to knit with!

Handspun

It is not easy to gauge the thickness of the yarn in these pictures. While I knew why people put pennies in their pictures, I never really realised their importance until now! The yarn is very similar in thickness to the grey tie in the first picture (which is a fingering weight).

Handspun

I still have some more of the carbonised bamboo, and plan to spin another skein of about the same thickness, hopefully using it all up. If I can get the same yield, I should be able to do something with 160 m of bamboo, maybe a little bag or some little wristlets. Any suggestions?

4 comments:

  1. Awesome!!! Spinning bamboo isn't the easiest to do, so I am very impressed! I suggest a cowl, the softness of the fibre against your skin is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks very lovely! Good luck with the rest of the bamboo!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you!

    Ruth, I really like the cowl idea. Picking a lacy one will also maximise the yardage, and it will be something I would definitely wear. I'll have to start looking for patterns soon!

    ReplyDelete